One of my favorite paragraph writing assignments is "No Boring Sentences." I present my students with 10 sentence starters/styles, and they are to pick 5-7 of them to form an innovative, powerful paragraph that is exciting to read, because no two sentences are alike! They get to choose from three choices:
1. Describe an animal/nature picture.
2. Write a one-paragraph informative "animal report" paragraph about your picture.
3. Write a one-paragraph short story about your animal picture.
In the following paragraphs, you will find all sorts of awesome sentence styles. You will find vivid verbs, sentences that start with "Because" clauses, strong adjectives, cleverly placed adverbs, a variety of punctuation, and more! Enjoy these three samples representing the three choices above!
Choice #1: The Wolf, by Claire (6th grade)
This beautiful grey wolf has his eye on some mysterious prey. He has his tongue stuck out, as if he can already taste his meal. Abruptly, he pounces on the prey, killing it with one well-placed scratch. Dragging the body of the dead animal in his mouth, he lumbers clumsily through the snow towards the cave he has come to call home. The day, as well as the life of the prey, has come to a timely end.
Choice #2:
The Deepest Diver
by Nirav (5th grade)
Sperm Whales are enormously powerful creatures. They are 66 feet long and have the heaviest brain in the world. These massive creatures are also the deepest diving mammals, and one Sperm whale can dive down far enough to see the wreck of the Titanic. Because of their amazing diving abilities, a Sperm Whale can hold its breath for 100 minutes! They use echolocation to find enormous squid to power their huge bodies. They live in the frigid water of the Arctic and Southern oceans. Truly, these are such magnificent dwellers of the deep!
Choice #3:
A Funny Hamster
by Samuel (4th grade)
My dad bought me a tiny brown dwarf hamster with fluffy fur and long whiskers for Christmas. Obviously, it was super hard to take care of, because the hamster would climb the cage and poop outside of the bars. One day, the hamster did something I didn’t expect it to do: it climbed the bars on its cage, all the way until it reached the top. I screamed, “Mom, the hamster’s climbing the cage!!” Just when my mom came to my room, the hamster leaped down from the bars and landed on its wheel, and started to run normally again. Because of that, my mom got mad because I started chuckling. It was such a funny moment!
Choice #3: The Fox's Meal
by Theo (5th grade)
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