4th - 6th Writing, April 17

Lesson:
This year seems to have gone quickly. I wish we had more time together, because I would like to teach so much more to this class. Still, these students have worked hard and progressed quite well. I am pleased with their overall development as writers so far.

In the first part of the class period, I took some time to address problems that many of the students have been having in several areas. We briefly reviewed sentence problems like comma splices, run-on sentences, and fragments. Then we discussed tricky pronoun issues like the need for pronouns to refer clearly to their preceding nouns and to agree in number and gender with their verbs.

The students had made what for most, if not all, was their first attempt at a compare/contrast essay. Reading aloud several students' papers, I was happy to see that they had understood and practiced the concept. We will return to this for another assignment after this.

Since the co-op year is almost over, I decided to introduce the five-paragraph essay for those students who are ready for it. Normally, I would save this only 000rfor fifth graders and up, but this class is strong and capable. With such a large range of age and experience in the class, I will not expect all of the younger students to grasp this type of essay. In fact, I do not expect any of the students to master it fully in the time we have left; however, I do want to lay this foundation for their future academic writing.

Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay

Just as a sentence is a group of words that go together to state a complete idea, and a paragraph is a group of sentences that go together to discuss one main topic, so an essay is a group of paragraphs that go together to discuss one subject.

I drew a flow chart on the board (which I do not know how to reproduce on here) and briefly described the format of a five-paragraph essay. It is actually a simple structure that only requires three main ideas. Essentially, a five-paragraph essay unpacks a topic in three points, one point per paragraph, with an introductory paragraph at the beginning for set-up and a concluding paragraph at the end for wrap-up.

The most important sentence in an essay like this is the thesis statement, which serves as the topic sentence of the entire essay. The thesis statement should be the last sentence of the introductory paragraph. It will consist of a statement with three points about the subject.

Examples of thesis statements for five-paragraph essays:

Three desirable aspects of a good friendship are compatibility, kindness, and loyalty.

Some parents choose homeschooling as a way to provide their children with close family relationships, solid academics, and strong moral values.

Football, basketball, and baseball are the most popular team sports in the United States.

Christians can grow in grace through Bible study, prayer, and fellowship.

Since the thesis statement provides the framework for the essay, many writers find it helpful to compose the thesis first.


The Introductory Paragraph:
The purpose of the introductory paragraph is to capture the reader's interest and to provide whatever background information is needed or helpful for the thesis. A good essay will open with a strong 'hook', then set the stage with perhaps a definition, a narrative, an example, a brief history, a quotation, etc. It is helpful to think of an introductory paragraph as a funnel which will begin with broad information, then gradually narrow down to focus on the thesis statement at the end.

Though it occurs first in the essay, the rest of the introductory paragraph (except for the thesis statement) is sometimes written last.

Three Body Paragraphs

Once the thesis with those three main points are set in order, they then provide the topics for the three main paragraphs that comprise the body of the essay. Each of the three stated points is discussed in detail in its own paragraph, in the same order as listed in the thesis statement.

As with all paragraphs, each of these three body paragraphs will need a topic sentence, some detail sentences, and a concluding sentence. The detail sentences will inform, explain, give examples, etc., to develop the topic. The concluding sentences will often repeat or reflect the topic sentence in different words.

In addition, each body paragraph topic sentence will need a transition expression to keep the subject flowing smoothly from point to point. With the thesis statement written, it becomes fairly easy to write the topic sentences for the three body paragraphs.

Some examples of body paragraph topic sentences with transitions:

While kindness between friends is important, loyalty is the crucial ingredient that holds friends together through times good and bad.

Along with Bible study, Christians grow in their faith through prayer.

The Concluding Paragraph:

The thesis statement, which is placed last in the first (intro) paragraph, is flipped around, restated in different words, and placed first in the last (concluding) paragraph.


After the thesis statement recap, each body paragraph is recapped in turn in a sentence or two. Then the last paragraph wraps up gracefully with a general summary, overall statement, opinion, prediction, or quotation.


NOTE: I need to get this published as I head out the door to help with the third day of achievement testing. I will come back later to finish these posts.