I’m Melting!!! Write an Expository Paragraph (Day 1 of 3)
Objective
Big Idea
Focus of the Lesson
This is the first of a three part lesson to construct a five paragraph essay. Writing an essay this long is a challenge for my second grade students, so we are working on it over several days. I want to be very deliberate about the process so the students can understand the process of how to write organized paragraphs with clear details to support the main idea, as well as introductory and concluding paragraphs.
We are writing about a melting snowman because the students have been studying states of matter. Instead of writing any informational text, I chose to use this science text because I want the students to get a cross-curriculum experience. The Common Core standards represent a shift toward writing about informational topics, including introducing a topic, using facts to develop points, and providing a concluding sentence (W.2.2) This lesson is an important step towards supporting students to practice writing an informative/explanatory paragraph conveying complex ideas and presenting information clearly and accurately. Second grade students can usually write a paragraph with details, but need practice to weave a succinct introductory and concluding paragraph into a paragraph with a strong main idea and details.
When writing about an informational topic that you are studying, make sure the students are really FAMILIAR with the topic. When they are learning new writing skills, they need to be secure with the information they are writing about.
Materials
- Lesson vocabulary words from the Reading/Writing word wall: main idea, key details, topic sentence, concluding sentence, informational text, expository
- lined paper for the students
- Paper and markers for illustration
- 'Topic & Concluding Sentence Starters' chart Created in a previous lesson
- 'Points of Informational Text' worksheet (one for each student)
- 'I'm Melting' powerpoint
- whiteboard set up
I taught several lessons that lead up to this. The kids learned how to find the main idea by using repeated words in Points of Informational Text-Main Idea and Details and then how to write a topic/concluding paragraph in the lessons Strip the Paragraph with Strong Introductory and Concluding Sentences and Writing Great Topic & Concluding Sentences.
Let's Get Excited!
Underlined words below are lesson vocabulary words that are emphasized and written on sentence strips for my Reading & Writing word wall. I pull off the words off the wall for each lesson, helping students understand this key 'reading and writing' vocabulary can be generalized across texts and topics. The focus on acquiring and using these words is part of a shift in the Common Core Standards towards building students’ academic vocabulary. My words are color coded ‘pink’ for literature/’blue’ for reading strategies/’orange’ for informational text/'yellow' for writing/’green’ for all other words)
Get students engaged
- Show the powerpoint slide 1 with the melting ice and snowman
- Get ideas for vocabulary and write them on the board. This is our discussion of vocabulary for the board and here's the final vocabulary list that we created.
Common starting point
- "We write topic sentences and concluding sentences for paragraphs" - reference the sentence strips This is what we used in the last 2 lessons to distinguish them as main idea sentences.
- "We use repeating words to find the main idea." Refer to the top arrow on the organizer and repeated words as those that occur again and again-we circled them in the last 2 lessons
- "We’ve looked at key details in a paragraph." Refer to the organizer with the arrows
Teacher's Turn
Give the purpose of the lesson
- "We’ve used the main idea to write topic and concluding sentences." Refer to the previous lesson's project - if you're doing this lesson in isolation, show the introductory/concluding sentences of some informational text
- "Today we're going to write one paragraph. This will be expository, which means it describes an idea - you can't use the word 'I' or 'my' in your writing."
- "This one paragraph today is just the beginning - we'll be writing 3 paragraphs about states of matter and put them together to write an essay!!
Review strategy – guided practice
- "When we write, we use a main idea and think of 3 details." Refer to the organizer
- "Each detail should have some words from the main idea. The main idea words should 'repeat' in the paragraph."
- "Add an introductory and concluding sentence with words from the main idea."
Demonstrate project
- "The main idea is melting ice." Here's my organizer on the whiteboard with main idea/key details.
- Discuss how to go from main idea to a paragraph-here's the transition from ideas to writing. I used green marker to distinguish this sentence and because we used green sentence strips in the previous lesson to make these sentences.
- "Make sure you use the main idea in the detail sentences." This is how I demonstrated how to use main idea words in detail sentences.
- "Write a topic and concluding sentence." This is how I explained how to write concluding sentences.
- Here's the teachers' paragraph.
Students Take a Turn
Organize the ideas
- Look at the powerpoint slides 3-5– brainstorm words and write them on the board as a group
- Students use the worksheet - write a main idea words on the line & add 3 ideas under the line
Write the paragraph
- Students compose a topic and concluding sentence with the main idea.
- Students write 3 detail sentences with at least one main idea word. This is how I prompted a student to using main idea details in the paragraph.
- Here are 2 examples of my students' work - sample paragraph 1 and and sample paragraph 2
- Remind students to use good sentences. This is how I prompted one student to use capitalization and punctuation and another student to use use capitalization.
Share What You've Learned
Students share their ideas
- Volunteers to come up and share their work. Here's an example of a student artifact.
- Comment on how writing pieces about the same topic can can different details
- Encourage those that use good introductory and concluding sentences and detailed sentences
Scaffolding and Special Education: This lesson could be easily scaffolded up or down, depending on student ability.
Students with academic challenges should be paired with a good writer. Idea generation should be equitable, but the organization and actual sentence writing may be challenging. You could also work with them in a group to write a paragraph together.
Encourage students with more ability to use some of the higher level vocabulary – ‘evaporate’, ‘condensation’, and ‘change states of matter’.
