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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 15 of 20

Plan & Organize Writing

Topics, planning tools, text forms and organization

What your child practices

Children practice the steps before and while drafting: choosing a focused topic, planning tools, choosing a text form for the audience, and organizing ideas in a clear pattern.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 7W2 · planning tools, text forms and patterns for organizing writing

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Choose a focused topic and plan with brainstorming or an organizer.
  2. Choose a form that fits your audience: a journal for personal reflection, a report for facts with headings.
  3. Organize with a clear pattern: time order, compare and contrast, or cause and effect.

Example: Which pattern fits a paragraph showing how two cities are alike and different? Alike and different means comparing. This is the compare and contrast pattern. Answer: compare and contrast

Plan & Organize Writing in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 15 of 20 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Reading Strategies and before Word Choice & Voice.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Grouping ideas logically in a paragraph means…

    • starting with the conclusion only
    • putting related details together
    • mixing all the details
    • using one long sentence

  2. Question 2

    Jot notes are…

    • the final draft
    • full paragraphs
    • a list of titles
    • short notes of key words and facts

  3. Question 3

    Which form would you use to explain how to make a paper airplane?

    • a journal
    • a poem
    • procedural (how-to) writing
    • a narrative

  4. Question 4

    Thinking maps help writers…

    • organize ideas visually before drafting
    • check grammar
    • print copies
    • choose a title

  5. Question 5

    Which tool is best for planning a story with a beginning, middle and end?

    • a Venn diagram
    • a calendar
    • a story map
    • a bar graph

  6. Question 6

    Which mentor text would help you write a strong opening line?

    • a published story with an exciting first line
    • a phone book
    • a calendar
    • a receipt

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