Grade by Grade
D. Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts · Creating Complex Texts

Creating Complex Texts: Unit Review

D1.1 D1.2 D1.3 D1.4 D1.5 D2.1 D2.2 D2.3 D2.4 D2.5 D2.6 D3.1 D3.2 D3.3 A1.1 A1.2 A2.1 A2.2 A2.3 A2.4 A2.5 A2.6 A3.1 A3.2About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can plan, develop, research and organize ideas for complex texts.
  • I can draft narrative, persuasive, informational and digital texts with a voice and tone that fit.
  • I can check my writing for bias and think about different readers.
  • I can revise, edit, publish, present and reflect with specific next steps.

Words to know

secondary audience
Other people who may also read or use a text.
summarize
To tell the main ideas briefly, in your own words.
verify
To check that something is true or trustworthy.
flashback
A scene that jumps back in time.
claim
The main point you are arguing.
storyboard
Sketches that plan each shot of a video.
bias
Favouring one side, person or group unfairly.
re-sequence
To change the order of sentences or paragraphs.

Let's review!

In this unit you planned complex texts with more than one purpose or audience, generated and developed ideas, researched by summarizing and verifying sources, and organized your content. You wrote complex stories, persuasive essays, explanatory reports and feature articles, and digital and media texts. You worked on voice and tone, checked your writing for bias, revised by adding, deleting and re-sequencing, edited with spell and grammar checkers, practised keyboarding, and published, presented and reflected.

This review has a few questions from every lesson. Try each one, then press Show answer. Many writing answers can differ from the model; check that yours does the same job.

PlanDraftReviseEditPublishReflectthe writingcycle
Every lesson in this unit fits somewhere on the writing cycle. Reflecting on one text helps you plan the next one.
Narrativemotivation, theme,flashback, pacingPersuasiveclaim, evidence,reasoning, rebuttalInformationalcause and effect,features, quotationsDigital / mediahierarchy, storyboard,credits, privacyComplex texts I can writeIn all of them: voice and tone, fair perspective, revising, editing
The four kinds of texts from this unit, and the skills that run through all of them.

Planning Complex Texts: Purpose, Audience, Form and Medium

1

Name the purposes and the primary and secondary audiences: A school newsletter article inviting families to a science fair and explaining how projects are judged.

2

Is audio a form, a purpose or a medium?

3

Explain why a picture checklist would suit young children better than a paragraph for a message about handwashing.

Generating and Developing Ideas from Many Sources

1

Name two strategies for generating ideas and one for developing them.

2

Develop this thin idea: Fall is nice.

3

Why should you learn from a community's own voices when writing about it?

Research: Gathering, Summarizing and Verifying Information

1

Summarize in one sentence: Loons are diving birds. They have heavy bones, which help them dive deep. Their legs are far back on their bodies, which makes them strong swimmers but clumsy on land.

2

What does it mean to verify a fact?

3

A fact appears only on one anonymous website. Should you use it?

Organizing Content: Classifying, Sequencing and Outlining

1

Which tool would you use to plan the steps of a science experiment report?

2

Cut the irrelevant note for How do bats find food at night?: A) Bats use echolocation. B) Some bats eat insects. C) My aunt is afraid of bats.

3

Write a reflection sentence comparing two planning tools.

Narrative Writing: Building Complex Stories

1

What does a flashback do in a story?

2

Speed up: She opened the door. She went outside. She walked down the steps. She walked to the sidewalk.

3

Name a theme for a story where a boy who was teased learns to stand up for a new student.

Expository Writing: Persuasive Essays and Opinion Pieces

1

Name the three parts of a strong body paragraph.

2

Which evidence is stronger: Lots of kids want it or Our survey of 60 students found 48 want it?

3

Write a rhetorical question for an essay about keeping parks clean.

Informational Writing: Explanatory Reports and Feature Articles

1

What structure fits Why does a lake freeze from the top down?

2

Name two ways a feature article can begin.

3

Make objective: The amazing museum has the coolest dinosaur bones ever.

Creating Digital and Media Texts: Infographics, Videos and Web Pages

1

What planning tool would you use for a 1-minute video?

2

What should be biggest on an infographic?

3

Name one way to use music in a video responsibly.

4

Name two things to keep out of a public video.

Voice and Tone: Sounding Like Yourself in Every Genre

1

Rewrite in a formal tone: Hey Mr. Patel, can we get more soccer balls?

2

Name the tone: The house was silent. Too silent.

3

Write a line of free verse with personification about rain.

Point of View, Perspective and Bias in My Writing

1

Find the loaded words: The heartless company destroyed our beautiful forest.

2

Rewrite fairly: Teenagers are always on their phones.

3

How might a reader who uses a wheelchair interpret an article that says Everyone can easily reach the new library, if the library has only stairs?

Revising: Adding, Deleting and Re-sequencing for Clarity and Focus

1

Put in a logical order: (a) Finally, we hung the birdhouse. (b) First, we cut the wood. (c) Then we nailed the pieces together.

2

What does deleting off-topic sentences improve?

3

Feedback says: Change your story into a poem. Your assignment is a story. Use it?

Editing and Proofreading: Spell Checkers, Grammar Checkers and Keyboarding

1

Fix: Me and my freind goes skating every saturday.

2

Why might a spell checker flag Iqaluit?

3

Name one keyboarding habit that builds automaticity.

Publishing, Presenting and Reflecting: Growing as a Creator

1

Rewrite as a specific next step: Make my slides better.

2

Name two presentation skills.

3

Why analyse how well your published text worked?

Joke break

Why did the essay join a gym?

It wanted stronger body paragraphs!

How to use this review

  • Do three or four sections at a time; you don't have to finish in one sitting.
  • Say or write your answer before you press Show answer.
  • For writing questions, compare with the model: does yours do the same job? (For example, does your rewrite remove the loaded words?)
  • Star any section that felt hard, and go back to that lesson.
  • Finish with the quiz.
Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

A flyer that tells families about a food drive and asks them to donate has which purposes?

2.

Which is a summary?

3.

What is the best way to verify a surprising fact?

4.

Which planning tool best fits a biography?

5.

Which technique explains a character's motivation by jumping back in time?

6.

In a persuasive body paragraph, what follows the evidence?

7.

Which sentence is objective?

8.

Which sentence shows bias through loaded words?

9.

A checker changes colour to color in your Canadian report. What should you do?

10.

Which is a specific next step?

For parents and teachers

Use mistakes to choose what to revisit. Each review section matches one lesson.

  • Can't name a second purpose or audience, or can't explain how a form helps the reader: revisit Planning Complex Texts: Purpose, Audience, Form and Medium.
  • Vague ideas, or generalizations about groups of people: revisit Generating and Developing Ideas from Many Sources.
  • Copying instead of summarizing, or trusting unverified sources: revisit Research: Gathering, Summarizing and Verifying Information.
  • Keeping irrelevant notes, or paragraphs in a confusing order: revisit Organizing Content: Classifying, Sequencing and Outlining.
  • Stories that list events, or unclear flashbacks and dialogue: revisit Narrative Writing: Building Complex Stories.
  • Evidence without reasoning, or unfair persuasive language: revisit Expository Writing: Persuasive Essays and Opinion Pieces.
  • Opinions in reports, or missing cause-and-effect links: revisit Informational Writing: Explanatory Reports and Feature Articles.
  • Cluttered infographics, no storyboard, or privacy and copyright slips: revisit Creating Digital and Media Texts: Infographics, Videos and Web Pages.
  • Slang in formal writing, or tone that doesn't fit the form: revisit Voice and Tone: Sounding Like Yourself in Every Genre.
  • Loaded words, overgeneralizations or missing perspectives: revisit Point of View, Perspective and Bias in My Writing.
  • Only fixing spelling when asked to revise, or ideas out of order: revisit Revising: Adding, Deleting and Re-sequencing for Clarity and Focus.
  • Homophones, run-ons, agreement errors, trusting the checker completely, or hunt-and-peck typing: revisit Editing and Proofreading: Spell Checkers, Grammar Checkers and Keyboarding.
  • Decorating instead of designing, or vague reflections: revisit Publishing, Presenting and Reflecting: Growing as a Creator.

Writing grows slowly across the year. Praise ideas and voice first, and work on only one or two conventions at a time.