Virginia SOL 4.W.3

4.W.3 is a Standards of Learning standard. These are the knowledge and skills expectations under it.

• 4.W.3.A

  With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by revising for quality of ideas, organization, sentence fluency, and ...

• 4.W.3.B

  Self-and peer-edit the writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English (See Language Usage for grade l...

01

What Students Need to Do

Students revise drafts to clarify ideas, organize information, improve sentence flow, and choose precise words. They use comments from classmates and adults to decide what to change. They also edit capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphs, and grammar.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

A student can reread a draft and make changes that improve meaning, not just correct surface errors. The student can use specific feedback, read sentences aloud for flow, and organize related ideas into paragraphs. A final copy has few errors and follows grade level English conventions.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students often think revising means fixing spelling and punctuation only. They may accept every peer suggestion or give vague comments such as “make it better.” They also overlook fragments, sentences joined incorrectly, missing paragraph breaks, and words that are correct but imprecise.

04

How to Assess It

Ask students to use one paragraph from their current draft. On an exit ticket, they show one revision for meaning and two convention edits, then explain why the revision improves the paragraph.

1. 01

   Give students a printed draft to cut into sentence strips, reorder for clarity, and tape into a stronger paragraph.

2. 02

   Partners read drafts aloud and answer, “Where were you confused, and which word or sentence could be clearer?”

3. 03

   Run an editing relay where teams correct one capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence, or paragraph error on each task card.

4. 04

   Have students revise a messy school announcement so families can understand the event details and trust the final message.

• 11.W.3

  The 11th Grade version of this standard.

• 1.W.3

  The 1st Grade version of this standard.

• 10.W.3

  The 10th Grade version of this standard.

• 2.W.3

  The 2nd Grade version of this standard.