My dissertation is structured as follows: introduction, background, methods, findings in the form of a PowerPoint presentation designed for teachers at my school and "Reading Teacher" article, and implications. Introduction: In response to my students underperforming in language arts I developed my research question; How can I use research pertaining to reading and writing connections to design and implement an inquiry unit of instruction for my third-grade classroom? Background: I explored what research says about reading and writing connections in elementary classrooms. Methods: I conducted a teacher action research self-study where I studied myself as I planned an inquiry unit to enhance student learning by utilizing reading and writing connections to increase student writing composition and overall informational reading comprehension. Findings: I created the following five axioms: solid design foundations lead to daily successes, start with simple tasks and move to complex, scaffold content and process, student educative talk fosters learning, students are more invested when they have choice and can create. Implications: My study is unique because it addresses connecting reading and writing to grow students' literacy skills through not only a teacher action research lens but of a self-study as well. My study also opens additional doors for teachers providing them a formula and resources to study the ways in which they create lessons or units to improve the work that they do. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]