Paragraph Writing

1) Core Curriculum: Incorporate compositional elements in writing (beginning, middle, end, sequence, supporting details, word choice). (3-WD-3)

Grade Level: Three     Subject: Reading/Language Arts

 2) Overview: The students will create a paragraph. They will make a paragraph sandwich. The students will use the strategies they have learned to create effective paragraphs to e-mail to pen pals.

3) Focus Question: How can you include a beginning, middle, supporting details and end in writing for it to become an effective composition?

4) Time Frame: Two 1-hour class period

5) Resources/Materials

Overhead

Oversized pieces of a sandwich made out of construction paper

2 slices of bread

Piece of meat

A tomato

Some lettuce

A piece of cheese

Small versions of the above sandwich for each child or have them create a sandwich in groups

http://www.stofal.edu/network/iecc/

Writing Paper

Pencil

6) Culminating Activity: Students will write paragraph to share with pen pals in other countries. They will share information about our country.  The teacher will use a rubric to assess the first piece of writing sent to penpals.

7) Rubric for Paragraphs

0                    No paragraph written

1                    Paragraph written, but no beginning, middle, supporting ideas, end,

2        Paragraph written, indented with a beginning and ending, but no supporting details

3            Paragraph written, indented with a beginning and supporting details, but no ending

4            Paragraph written, indented with a beginning, supporting details, and a ending

Activity One: The teacher will talk about what ingredients it takes to make a sandwich. The students are shown the kind of sandwich the teacher will be making. The teacher will talk about how you need a piece of bread on the top and a piece of bread on the bottom to hold the sandwich together.

Next, the teacher will tell the students that a paragraph is just like a sandwich. It needs an opening (beginning) sentence and closing (ending) sentence to hold the paragraph together. Like the bread, the opening (beginning) and closing (ending) might look almost the same. The teacher need to remind the students of the good fillings found in a sandwich. The stuff inside the paragraph is needed to make it sound good.  The teacher will chose a topic and write the topic sentence on the first piece of bread. The teacher will allow the students to come up with supporting sentences and put them on the fillings of the sandwich (e.g. a tomato, lettuce, etc.) Finally we will write a closing (ending) sentence on the bottom piece of bread.  After the sandwich is made, the teacher will model transferring the sandwich sentences onto a paper in paragraph form.

The teacher and students will read and review the paragraph written.

Activity Two: The teacher will review activity one. The students will be allowed to create their own sandwiches. As they finished writing a sentence on each piece, it will be stapled to the top of writing paper. Under the sandwich the students will have lines to write the finished paragraph. The

Teacher will check the sandwiches to make sure the students have written a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a closing sentence. If the sentence includes all parts, the teacher will allow the students to post the sandwich in the classroom. If the student needs additional help with the sandwich, the teacher will help with corrections.

Activity Three: The teacher will go to the following website: http://ww.stolaf.edu/network/iecc/

The teacher will establish a penpal with the class from the above website. The teacher will choose a penpal from another country. The students will share information with the pen pals concerning our country (e.g. region of country we live in,climate,etc). . The students will be required to write the information in paragraph form.  The teacher will set guidelines as to what can be e-mailed to the penpals. The teacher will make sure that  each student has a e-mail address. The teacher will use the rubric for a paragraph to evaluate the first piece of writing the students e-mail to their penpals.