Summer Workshop Time! Paragraph Game

 It is always so fun to plan a summer workshop.  The genres of writing can stay the same or differ slightly than the school year, but the environment is pleasant, relaxing, and almost vacation-like.  (Who DOESN"T write while on vacation?!)

Summer workshops this year are in backyards or via Zoom, and I will continue to add entertaining reads to this section of the blog all summer long.

The first assignment we open up with is a Paragraph Writing Partner Game.   The kids first partner up with someone who shares a similar interest in topics.  Topics vary, but always have a summer theme.  For example:

~The Best Thing About Summer

~The Best Theme Park

~The Best Roller Coaster

~The Best Video Games

~Sunburns

~School (previous grade)

and more!

Then, they roll the dice or draw numbers.  The number they get corresponds with a sentence pattern they must use as the next step in their paragraph.  Examples may be:

~Use two vivid adjectives

~Start your sentence with an attention-getting adverb

~Use a dependent clause that tells where or when

~Vary your punctuation

~Start your sentence with a "Because"

and more!

These rising 6th-7th graders wow'd me with their vocabulary and their teamwork.  See if you can spot what makes each sentence unique.  Enjoy!

Summer

by Beckham and Benjamin (rising 6th graders)

     The burning heat scorched my skin as I jumped into the cooling waters of the poo.  Calmingly, I floated through the pool, letting go of all responsibilities I had during the school year.  I got out of the pool to dry off, but I got attacked by the vicious pool cleaner.  As the pool cleaner attacked me, I screamed at the top of my lungs.  It' going to be a long summer!

Roller Coasters

By Bobby and Ori (rising 6th graders)

     Roller coasters are the best!  This has been proven by Lucas who said, "Roller coasters are fun!"  Obviously, roller coasters are extreme.  When people get on the ride, they shoot up at lightning speeds, and swerve down doing loops and going upside-down.  As they enter the station, a man in a hat throws up, and the people get out of the ride desperately trying to get away from him.  Clearly, if roller coasters make people puke, they're the best.

The Best Vacation Destination

by Nicolyn (rising 7th grader), Ella (rising 6th grader), and Vivienne (rising 6th grader)

    Clearly, Hawaii is the most incredible destination in the U.S.  Playful dolphins surround these Hawaiian islands.  Because of this, you experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to swim with these magnificent creatures and many others.  It does not only have dolphins; it has many other creatures, such as the tiger shark or the green sea turtle.  Ella declares that, "Whether you're swimming with the dolphins, playing with the turtles,, or snorkeling with the tiger sharks, Hawaii is obviously the best travel destination!"

The Paragraph Game

My older students understand that a paragraph can be about only one topic.  However, the challenge to writing engaging, interesting paragraphs is to have a variety of sentence patterns and starters.  "The Snowflake" sentence-building activity taught the students various ways to create a sentence.   Now my challenge as a teacher was to present a lesson on paragraph writing that was entertaining and challenging.

"The Paragraph Game" was an idea I thought up at one of those moments when I should have been trying to go to sleep, but was instead planning ahead for workshops.  I must say, I am glad I didn't fall asleep early!

Here's how it goes (and I recommend this only for students in grades 3 and up):

1. Students are given a list of 10 or so sentence writing cues.  These may include:
- Start a sentence with a "when" phrase
- Start a sentence with a "where" phrase
- Start a sentence with "Because"
- Include an interesting verb
- Put an adverb in your sentence
- Write a quote sentence
And more!

2. Students pair or group up based on their topic choices/interests.

3. Each group is given a bag filled with papers numbered 1-10.

4. Each person takes turn drawing a number.  The number they draw corresponds to a sentence style or pattern, and the group has to come up with a way to write that type of sentence in their paragraph.

5. One "pass" is allowed, if the pattern simply won't work or sound right.

6. Students know they are done when they have a 4-8 sentence paragraph, and the last number they draw just leads nicely to a conclusion.

5th graders Annika, Ellery, and Michelle selected the topic "Favorite Vacation Spot."  They chose to do a story-style paragraph where they describe a day in Disneyland.  I love this!

     Annika, Ellery, and I took a vacation to Disneyland.  Dizzily we got off the twirling Teacups.  We rushed off to get to the next ride, which was Splash Mountain.  When we got there, the speaker exclaimed, "Prepare to get wet!"  Because Ellery didn't want to get wet, she whined the entire time.  Finally Ellery calmed down when Annika and I told her we would buy her cotton candy after the ride.  "Splash Mountain" was thrilling and we got soaking wet.  Quickly we hustled to "Haunted Mansion."  At the end of the day, we all went home with huge smiles on our faces.

I can't even begin to describe the teamwork these three girls used to write this super paragraph.  They were open to advice and truly worked as a unit to write this.  I am proud of them! It can be harder to work with two other people, especially with the potential of everyone having different ideas. 

Call me biased, but I absolutely loved Alex's (5th grade) and Katie's (3rd grade) paragraph.  See if you can tell why!

     "Awesome Authors and Artists" provides many fun creative writing projects with amazing art work to go with it.  Excitedly, students work together to create interesting paragraphs in the Paragraph Game.  "'Awesome Authors and Artists' is a wonderful class where kids can learn a lot and still have fun!" exclaimed 3rd graders Mira and Anja.  Because a few people left out details in the description of their snowman, there were a few wacky-looking snowman drawings in the "Snowman Draw Game."  The great assignments and excellent teacher make "Awesome Authors and Artists" an amazing class!

Okay, maybe it's obvious why I chose this paragraph to blog.  Even Alex realized it would be an excellent advertisement, and convinced me I should blog it for that reason alone.  But that's not the only reason I chose it!  Notice the wonderful adverb starting sentence two; the fabulous adjectives used; the appropriate use of a quotation sentence; the fantastic conclusion.  This is a very well-written paragraph, especially considering the fact they were challenging themselves with different sentence styles and rules the entire time!

My classrooms were abuzz with teamwork and collaboration the day we did this game.  I will definitely be making this a permanent assignment in my curriculum!

Powerful Paragraphs

Following our lesson on detailed sentences, both groups received instruction in effective paragraph writing.  The students were great with the concept of staying on topic.  One area of weakness for most students I meet is what I call "boring starts/patterns."  I teach a 5-step process that encourages varying sentence patterns while staying on topic.  The Junior group did this beautifully with a topic called "Backwards Animals."  We had a great time brainstorming crazy animal names by spelling them forwards and backwards!  Then we imagined what this new creature would....
- look like
- eat
- act like
- live
and more!

Once the brainstorming was over, we wrote 1-2 paragraphs, staying on topic of course!  Here are two wonderful examples, with one scary creature and one sweet animal!

The Yeknom
By Marston, 2nd grade

 

     The yeknom is a vicious creature.  It has hands on its body to kill animals, then eat them.  Its hands are really sharp.  When it eats, its heart stops due to anger it feels during its meal.  I wouldn't want to have it as a pet!


The Epa
By Shefali, 4th grade

   

     The epa is a kind and gentle animal, but very interesting.  It lives in the water during the day, but can sometimes come out.  During the night, it comes out of the water and it digs a deep burrow, then covers the hole with sticks.  When it needs something, it opens its trunk to fly.  I don't think there's any animal as cool as the epa!

My Seniors class had a little different assignment.  They played a game in partners that involved drawing numbers representing sentence starters/patterns from a bag.  Some examples were:
- Start with Because.
- Include a "where" or "when" phrase.
- Include two vivid adjectives
- Write a sentence with one strong verb
- Start with an adverb
- Include a quote sentence
And more!
They had to use the pattern/starter that they drew and create a sentence that flowed with the one before it, while staying on topic.  They did a fabulous job with this, and showed great teamwork skills.

Arushi and Sophia (both 6th grade) chose a topic from my list: A favorite vacation spot.  They wrote a beautiful paragraph with this game.  Listen to these descriptive words!  It sounds like it's straight from a travel brochure!

     Truly, Hawaii is one of the most amazing summer vacation destinations ever!  The weather, which is always beautiful, is easily enjoyed at the beach.  Because the ocean is very refreshing, people can beat the heat by going for a swim.  Touring the volcanoes is an adventurous activity for people to explore every day.  Some elegant resorts have exciting water slides to slide down into a big and deep pool.  "Surf's up!" shouts a surfer, as he catches a ride on a huge wave.  The island is a magical place for special events such as weddings and luaus.  Isn't Hawaii the best place to spend your summer vacation?

After writing with a partner, the students had to try one on their own.  They could either play the game, or choose their favorite sentence patterns from the game in any order they wanted.  Here are two nice contrasting paragraphs about food!

Bacon
By Sammy, 6th grade

     My favorite food is bacon.  I absolutely love when the bacon is right in the middle of chewy and crispy.  Because bacon isn't very healthy, I don't eat it very often, which makes bacon all the more special.  One of my favorite sounds is the sizzling sound that it makes.  Bacon is a wonderful, tasty food.

A Yucky Food
By Eugene, 5th grade

     Brussel sprouts are the most yucky and gross things in the world!  When my mom cooks some, she gives me a little.  I don't like the taste, so I add something to it.  Truly, brussel sprouts are disgusting enough to make me say, "Yuck!"
  

Creative Paragraph Writing

After delving into the art of writing descriptive sentences and passages, we focused on writing paragraphs on various topics.  Since this assignment hit right around Valentine's Day, the theme was "Something We Love."  People, places, or things; it didn't matter as long as the students felt enough emotion about their subject to last them five sentences.  Our lesson focused on varying our sentence patterns (no two should start the same) and ending with a great conclusion.

Pet dogs were a popular topic with my third graders!  Here is a great one by Ryan (3rd grade).

     My dog Lucky is very nice and cute.  She is always either licking or playing, and is very adventurous.  Her favorite thing to do is to play in the field by the barn.  When she is in the barn, she plays, chases, and doggie talks with other dogs that are walking by.  However, the thing that really stands out about Lucky is her sense of adventure for being a troublemaker.  I really enjoy being around my playful dog.

Here is another well-written paragraph by Noah (3rd grade).

     My new puppy Lulu is fun.  She is very adorable.  Her toys are all ripped up from her sharp teeth.  Whenever she's near me, she jumps up on my lap.  Don't you wish you had a puppy like this? 

We wrote these on Valentine's Day, so a few students chose the holiday as their topic.  Here is a great paragraph by Sarah (3rd grade) that recaps her day:

     Valentine's Day is exciting, especially when it is at school.  At the end of school, we get to have a really fun party with some of our classroom parents.  This year in 2012, we had three parents there.  Every year we have a treat, and this year we had cookies and some cheese puffs.  Valentine's Day was really fun this year!
 


My older classes participated in a more complicated game assignment.  "The Paragraph Game" was one the students showed a lot of enthusiasm for!  Our classroom was abuzz with partners working together and drawing numbers out of a bag, either excited about their draw or challenged by what the number on their card meant for them!  Each number, 1-10, corresponded to a sentence type or pattern.  Here are a few samples:

1. Write a sentence with at least two strong adjectives.
2. Write a sentence with an adverb.
3. Start a sentence with an adverb.  (This one was a challenge!)
4. Vary your punctuation- use " ", ?, or !
5. Start a sentence with "Because."
6. Include a phrase that tells "when" in your sentence.

And more!

The students picked a topic they both agreed upon from a long list of choices, such as "A Yucky Food," "A Favorite Class," "Animals," "A Famous Person," "A Favorite Sport," etc.  They then took turns drawing a number from the bag, and the object of the game was to think creatively to write a sentence following the corresponding number pattern.  If it felt too forced or was just too difficult, they were allowed one "pass" per game.  (Most students didn't take any!)  They would know when to conclude their paragraph when, as a partnership or group, they both felt that their most recent draw was a nice conclusion sentence.  (For example, "Start a sentence with an adverb" and "Vary your punctuation" worked well with this.)  Paragraphs could be between four and eight sentences long.

This game led to some very creative, humorous, and entertaining paragraphs with such a wonderful variety of sentence patterns that it was impossible to become bored reading them!

(*Note to other teachers: This is NOT a good technique to use for beginners.  I did this with my more advanced group who had already been exposed to the concept of varying sentence patterns.  I created this game in order to challenge them to think outside the box while coming up with sentences that connected and stayed on topic.  It was definitely a fun challenge!)


Sulwen, Crystal, and Claire (all 4th graders) worked together on the topic of "A Yucky Food."  I love what they came up with.  I can tell which sentence pattern number they drew because each sentence is unique and different!

Brussel Sprouts

     Truly, brussel sprouts are so disgusting that they make me sick.  "Blech!" I say as I spit out my brussel sprouts.  They're green and gross.  Whenever I have brussel sprouts for dinner, I angrily push them off my plate.  Because they are repulsive, I always stay away from them.  They are so appalling that I have nightmares about them.

Cody and Henry (both 5th grade) took the game a little different route.  They decided on the topic of "A Favorite Game," but instead of writing an informative paragraph, they wrote a mini-story about a tough recess.  It turned out great! 

4-Square

     Surprisingly, I survived Bob's deadly pass and got him out in four-square.  "Whoa!" I shouted, as I realized that I got him out.  Because I got him out, Bob started crying.  A yard duty quickly came running to us to see what happened to Bob.  When she came to us, Bob lied and told her that I was being mean to him.  That wasn't very fair!  I was the one playing fair!

I continue to be impressed by what these students come up with in my workshops!