Lesson
3
:

Writing a Narrative About Understanding

Grade

Grade 3

UNIT

8

Understanding

Last Updated:

May 26, 2025

In Unit 8, Lesson 3, “Writing a Narrative About Understanding,” students will write narratives about how they, or a character they create, have shown understanding. Students will develop real or imagined experiences or events with a narrator and/or characters. Their narratives will include dialogue, descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings, temporal words and phrases to signal event order, and a sense of closure.

SUGGESTED TIME:

20 minutes

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

  • Demonstrate comprehension of the word understanding 
  • Create a narrative that develops real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences
  • Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally
  • Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations
  • Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order
  • Provide a sense of closure
  • Demonstrate understanding of standard English sentence structure and grammar

REQUIRED MATERIALS:

  • Prohuman Grade 3 Unit 8 Worksheet 3: Writing a Narrative About Understanding

VOCABULARY:

  • Understanding: I seek knowledge and try to learn the truth. I think about other people’s views that might be different from mine.

ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3.A

Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3.B

Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3.C

Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3.D

Provide a sense of closure.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.4

With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1.F

Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1.I

Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2.C

Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET

Self-Awareness A1

Understand and explain why different situations may set in motion or give rise to different emotions (e.g., learning something new or difficult, meeting someone new)

Social-Awareness A4

Explain a time when you put yourself in “someone else’s shoes” in order to understand their perspective and point of view

Social-Awareness A5

Explain what empathy means (e.g., the ability to sympathetically understand and personally identify with the emotional states, needs and feelings of others)

Responsible and Ethical Decision-Making A1

Write and share with your classmates an ethical principle you wish everyone in the world would follow all the time (e.g., all people are created equal, be honest, be kind)

LESSON PROCEDURE

Today we will write a narrative about understanding.

  1. We read two stories about understanding, one about the characters in Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker, the other a true story about Garrett Morgan.
  2. Our stories should do five things. Let’s go through all five things and provide examples of each.

    First, our stories should establish a situation.

    Example: Zara wanted to understand how to bake a cake. She felt excited to learn.

    Second, our stories should introduce a narrator and/or characters.

    Example: Zara was in the kitchen with her mom.

    Third, our stories should use dialogue to show the response of characters to situations.

    Example:

    “I want to understand how to bake cookies,” said Zara.

    “I will help you to understand,” said her mom.

    Fourth, our stories should use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.

    Example: First, Zara’s mom took the ingredients out of the pantry. She took out flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips and set them on the table. Then, she helped Zara measure each ingredient and dump them into the bowl. Next, Zara’s mom took out the eggs and showed Zara how to crack them into the bowl. After that, Zara mixed the batter with a spoon and put the dough in small balls on a baking pan. Finally, her mom taught her how to set the oven to 350 degrees and bake the cookies for ten minutes.

    Fifth, our stories should provide a sense of closure.

    Example:

    Zara was happy that she now understood how to bake cookies.

    “Thanks for helping me to understand how to bake cookies, mom,” said Zara.

    “You’re welcome,” said her mom. “It is great to understand new things.”
  3. Now you will write your own story on your worksheet.

NOTE: Collect and keep the worksheet on the following page for the next day’s lesson in which students will share their stories with a partner.

GRADE 3 UNIT 8 WORKSHEET 3: WRITING A NARRATIVE ABOUT UNDERSTANDING

Understanding: I seek knowledge and try to learn the truth. I think about other people’s views that might be different from mine.

ACTIVITY: Write a story about how understanding was shown by you or a character you create.

Beginning:

Middle: 

End: 

Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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