Now Add the Descriptions and Definitions

Common Core Connection

This lesson is the seventh lesson in the unit and meets one of the expectations of W1.8 (Research Writing) by teaching students to add descriptions and definitions to their informational research paragraph. The students have worked in previous lessons to create a topic sentence and details based on research information that I selected for the students based on their interests.

Lesson Overview

The students are adding descriptions or definitions to the paragraph. There is a guided practice for the whole group to work on a model, and the later section allows the students to work with a partner to create describing or defining sentences for their specific research project.

The students work with their Peanut Butter Jelly Partner and Transition often throughout the lesson.

Introductory Activity

I post some pictures of my students working on their research from the previous day on the projector. This is just one way I try to excite the class. Then I ask them to talk to their partner about how they might describe or define a detail sentence.  Hopefully they will talk about how their is a connection between the sentences. While students are talking I am assessing their knowledge and determining how much scaffolding or extra instruction I will need to add to the lesson.

Then I share the lesson plan so my students know what to expect. Then we chant the lesson goal. I can describe or define a detail sentence.