As I recently worked with a class of 5th graders, it was apparent they had mastered opinion paragraph writing. Their topic sentences were solid, their big idea sentences clear and their detail sentences were examples of how a long and luxurious sentence should be written. It was time to challenge these writers.
In Social Studies we had been reviewing and mastering note-taking skills. The learning objective for the next few days in writing would be to combine note-taking and opinion writing, two skills the students had already mastered. The new skill we were adding would be taking our opinion writing to a multiple paragraph essay with the inclusion of an introductory and concluding paragraph.
We began with a prompt. The prompt was timely, as many of the students were planning their holiday vacations.
You will read informational articles about three different National Parks / Monuments. Think about the reasons that encourage people to choose a historical place to visit on vacation. Read the information about each location. Choose one site from the list and write an essay persuading someone to visit the site you chose. Include three reasons people would choose to visit this historical site.
These 5th graders quickly realized that before choosing a location they must first gather information about that park. To help narrow their search, I told them they must choose between Gettysburg, Little Big Horn, and Mesa Verde. These parks were chosen as they might not be as well-known to the students, forcing them to use their research skills, not simply background knowledge.
Students were asked to research all three parks, looking for reasons people might choose to visit this area. This led to a conversation with students about what things influenced people to choose a specific place. For example, the entry fee might be $9.00 per person. Taken alone, that is merely a fact. How might ticket cost become a reason people would choose a destination?
Independently taking notes on each park was the first step. Students were given a class period to randomly gather notes on each park – no organization was required at this point. Students independently collected their research on notebook paper. At the conclusion of this time period, everyone chose a location in which they were interested. Using large chart paper, common groups gathered and compiled the information they had found.
Referring back to the prompt, students reviewed their task. Each student must choose a park and then write a multi-paragraph essay, convincing the reader that their choice is best. Taking their notes, students sorted their ideas into three Big Ideas and composed a plan. They were ready to begin their writing!
The concept of taking each Big Idea and its Supporting Details and turning it into a separate paragraph was easy for these writers. However, the question soon arose, “What type of topic sentence do we use?” This was the perfect segue into the need to stretch a topic sentence into a topic paragraph.
When we began to master various topic sentences, we did not learn each type in a single day. In the same way, we learned different ways to write a topic paragraph slowly. We began by practicing three different ways to introduce a topic paragraph. The purpose of the initial sentence is to capture the readers’ attention. Information about the topic would follow after this attention grabbing sentence.
After dividing a piece of paper into quadrants, we labeled three of the sections Question, Hyperbole, and Statistical Information. These were the types of attention grabbing sentences we would use to introduce out topic paragraph. Using one of the parks as a topic, we began with writing a hyperbole, or exaggerated sentence. (This is definitely a student favorite!)
Mesa Verde, the best park in the world, will lead you to an explosion of exhilaration. It is a whole new world when it comes to thrill.
Now that you have grabbed your reader’s attention, you must now inform them of the information to follow in your essay. As you have already organized your ideas on a plan, this step is easy. Simply list the big ideas found on your plan in a sentence.
This National Park is best known for its pueblo homes, hiking trails and tours.
Students repeated the process using both a question and statistical information as attention grabbers. They now had three topic paragraphs from which to choose.
Writing the body of the essay was a familiar task. Through the use of extended details, each big idea on the plan became a separate paragraph. The students quickly completed this portion of their writing and were soon ready to write a conclusion.
A concluding paragraph of a multiple paragraph essay also has additional requirements. We learned that a concluding paragraph must contain the following three sentences:
· A concluding sentence, similar to a single paragraph
· A reminder of the big ideas
· A call to action
As a writer, however, you get to choose the order of these sentences. We again folded a piece of paper to help us focus our practice. The students practiced arranging these three sentences to conclude their writing until they found the most interesting order.
The students were proud of their accomplishments and asked to publish their writing. After revising and editing their drafts, the final essays were ready to be typed and published. Their notes, plans, topic paragraphs and conclusions were filed in their writing binders to use as guides for the next essay they would write. These 5th graders had spent multiple daysengaged in a topic. Through writing an introductory and concluding paragraph, these writers had stretched their writing from a single paragraph to a multiple paragraph essay.
