It seems to us as adults that there’s no big problem with writing a paragraph. We may not always be sure when to start a new paragraph, but certainly putting several sentences together isn’t much of a stretch. The thing is, we’re looking at the process after years of trial and error. Kids in grades 3-5 are approaching them as a vital basic skill. So, why is it complicated?
Pick a subject
Before you can structure an effective paragraph, you need to know what you’re writing about – specifically. Are you writing about dogs in general, or are you writing about your dog, or about training dogs, or about what dogs eat? For most essays in the elementary grades, students write from a prompt – a question the teacher supplies. If used as the guiding principle for the paragraph, the rest will fall into place. But first …
Prompt to Opening Sentence
Let’s say a teacher gives a prompt like, “What is your favorite Color?” If a kid knows how to make that into an opening sentence, they will not only will they have a head start on the rest of the paragraph but also be able to write a paragraph that answers the prompt. We play a game with kids, where we give them several prompts and have them write opening sentences with them. Pretty quickly, they get the hang of it. So, for the prompt just mentioned, they might write an opening sentence like “My favorite color is blue for many reasons.” It’s clunky but to the point.
Add Reasons
A basic paragraph has five sentences. The opening is one. The reasons – details – supply three more. For our example, a kid might write, “I like the way it makes me feel. My favorite soccer team wears blue jerseys. It’s fun to mix green with yellow to make blue.” Again, not winning a Pulitzer here, but we’ve stated our favorite color is blue and provided reasons.
Finish Up
We say that a closing sentence should “shake hands” with the opening sentence. By this, we mean that it must be related and seal the deal, so to speak. A closing for this paragraph might be, “Blue beats the other colors every time.”
Bottom Line
If you’re entering the third grade, you’ve mastered writing a sentence. You’re moving on to longer pieces of writing. Before you can do that, you need to have a solid grip on the basic paragraph. Why? Because that one paragraph can be expanded to a robust eight sentences, or once kids know about transitions, to three paragraphs, or even five. Turning a prompt into an opening sentence, choosing details that support that opening, and writing a strong closing sentence is an essential skill set for success in writing.