The Paragraph Writing Strategy

Pretest

My favorite sport is basketball. The first time I played was when my older cousin got a hoop when I was in first grade. At first I was just playing for fun and playing with out control of the ball. Soon I new a bunch of new tricks. By the time I was in fourth grade I wasn’t awsome but a lot better.

PosttestBasketBall

My favorite sport is basketball for numerous reasons. First it involves practically your whole body in the sport. For example, you need your legs to run and jump, your arms to dribble, shoot, aim and to steal the ball or get a rebound, you also need you eyes and mouth to communicate with your team and to observe the ball. Next, It’s a team or one on one game. If some one else wants to play you could put them on a team, or if two people wanna play eachother they could play one on one or a head to head. Finally, basket ball is a surprising game you may learn something new everytime you play.

For example, you could learn how to put the ball through or under your legs, or to cross your opponent in many different ways and you could also learn new techniques along the way. To sum it up, basket ball is my favorite sport because it involves almost every part of your body, is a team or one on one game, and your always learning new things as you play.

Parts of a ParagraphTitle

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Paragraphs are made up of several…

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

s e n t e n c e s

Paragraph Part Sentence Type

Introduction Topic Sentence

Body Detail Sentences

Conclusion Clincher Sentence

Sentence Types Used in Paragraphs

Parts of a ParagraphTitle

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Topic Sentence

In which part will you find the topic sentence?

Topic Sentence• Is usually the first

sentence

• Introduces the main idea

• Sometimes introduces the details

There are 3 types of Topic Sentences

Types of Topic Sentences

General Topic Sentences

Clueing Topic Sentences

Specific Topic Sentences

General Topic Sentence

Names the main idea of the paragraph.

General Topic Sentence

Examples of General Topic Sentences

Mr. James is my favorite teacher.

I went to Hawaii on vacation.

We are going to fix up our house.

Examples of General Topic Sentences

• The hot trend in advertising these days is to hire real, live stars.

• Not much is left of a town known as Nora, Nebraska.

Types of Topic Sentences

General Topic Sentences

Clueing Topic Sentences

Specific Topic Sentences

Clueing Topic Sentence

• Names the main idea.

• Gives a clue about the details.

Clueing Topic Sentence

Examples of Clueing Topic Sentences

• Mr. James is my favorite teacher for three reasons.

• I did several exciting things when I went to Hawaii on vacation.

• We need to do a variety of projects to fix up our house.

Examples of Clueing Topic Sentences

• There are several models of cars I would consider buying.

• Tents come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

• The citizens of Lawrence have three main reasons for building a new high school

Examples of Clueing Topic Sentences

• There are several models of cars I would consider buying.

• Tents come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

• The citizens of Lawrence have three main reasons for building a new high school

Clue WordsMany Various Differences

Several some Similarities

A number of Categories Advantages

Number (“Three”) Groups Disadvantages

Kinds Steps Jobs

Types Stages Uses

Parts Ways Causes

Roles Effects variety

Pieces Features Reasons

Members Examples Sources

Characteristics Different Assortment

Highlight the clueing words

There are many types of trees.

There are many types of trees.

Types of Topic Sentences

General Topic Sentences

Clueing Topic Sentences

Specific Topic Sentences

Specific Topic Sentence

• Names the main idea.

• Names the specific details to be covered.

Specific Topic Sentence

Let’s see if our predictions

were correct !!!

Examples of Specific Topic Sentences

• Mr. James is my favorite teacher because he is funny, interesting, and very fair.

• When I went to Hawaii on vacation, I surfed, went swimming, and skydived.

• We are going to fix up our house by putting on a new roof, painting the inside, and buying all new carpets.