Powerful Paragraphs!

 Once the students got good practice with strong sentence writing, it was time to move on to paragraphs!  In this assignment, they were given a sheet of paper with 10 options for sentence styles.  For example, they could choose:

~Use two or more adjectives

~Start a sentence with "Because"

~Replace a boring verb with a vivid verb

~Vary the punctuation

~Use a "when" or a "where" clause or phrase

And more!

The subjects were nature pictures they got to choose on their own.  The students could write a paragraph describing their picture, a mini science report, or a short story about their photograph.  After students did one paragraph on their own, they could write another with a partner.  Enjoy these samples, and see if you can spot how many different sentence variations there are!

 Cheetahs

by Cho (4th grade)

    Cheetahs are magnificent, lightning quick animals. They are the fastest animals in the world on the ground and can run up to 75 miles per hour. In the hot savanna, cheetahs live alone except when they’re mating and having cubs. Sometimes, brothers live together to help each other hunt and bring down prey larger than they are. Because of humans chopping down their territory, hunting cheetahs for Instagram likes, and predators over-powering them, there are only 10,000 cheetahs left in the world. Only 40% of cheetah cubs survive to adulthood. To ensure their survival, will you help keep them safe?

By Jioh and Zibo, 4th grade

Powerful Paragraphs

 After learning what makes a great sentence, we moved on to paragraph writing.  The theme was variation of sentence patterns, to keep the reader interested.  Our topic?  Spell real animal names backwards!  Then write a paragraph on their habitat, diet, appearance, or personality.  There were five steps the students were to follow:

1. Write an interesting introduction, which includes your animal as the subject, and an expressive adjective in the predicate.

2. Replace your subject with a pronoun, and give a reason to support your first sentence.

3. Continuing to support your topic sentence, make sure this sentence has a super strong verb.

4. Start this sentence with a "where," "when," "while," "because," etc. to vary the sentence patterns.

5. End with a super conclusion that connects to the first sentence!

Enjoy these samples!

The Abilities of the Hsifyllej, by Zibo (4th grade)

        In the barren desert, the hsifyllej is a fierce hunter.  It kills pretty by slashing powerfully using its four large claws.  When dueling with humans or its own kind, the hsifyllej can fire spikes off its shell.  Since it does not have much food, it travels around a lot, and it is able to make dense extremely quickly while keeping an eye on the rocks that fall from cliffs.  Those are the ways the hsifyllej can get prey.

The Appearance of the Hsifyyej

        Hsifyllej look quite exotic.  It is most tan and brown with plates covering its scorpion-like body.  It has four claws, and four pairs of legs, with twelve limbs in total.  The spikes on its shell and tail sharpen with it is on high alert.  Its teeth even go lower than its head!  What a cool looking beast!

The Niugnep, by Arielle (5th grade)

        The Niugnep is a very funny looking.  It has a giraffe neck, antennae like a ladybug, a dog-like body with dragon wings.  You'll also discover he has a fluffy bunny tail.  Because he is so big and sweet, he loves cupcakes!  The Niugnep is the most unique animal I've ever seen!

The Tibbar, by Charlize (5th grade)

        The tibbar is a cute-looking animal.  It is shaped like a tiny baby panda, except it has deep blue arms, legs, and ears, and an aqua green body.  It wears a pink bow at the top if its head.  Whenever it walks, its blow sparkles brightly and boldly.  The tibbar is quite the adorable animal!

        The tibbar's habitat is in a place called "Animal Forest."  "Animal Forest" is loaded with all different kinds of animals.  However, unlike the other animals' dens, the tibbar's den is magical.  The inside of its den is rainbow and sparkly.  It has a blue dining table and chairs.  It also has a red bean bag and a purple TV.  The tibbar is really quite lucky to have all of these accessories, because no animal in the forest has cable TV!  Because the tibbar lives in a secretive place, it has a lot of advantages!

Fantastic Paragraph Writing: Come read these travel brochures!

After mastering super sentence writing, it was time for a lesson on paragraphs.  To come up with a topic, the students were to spell a real vacation destination, city, state, country, or amusement park backwards.  After working very hard to get the correct pronunciation of our new vacation spots, we tried to figure out what clues the name gave us as to the type of place this would be.  "Saxet" became a musical town in the south (Read: Texas backward!), Napaj (with an emphasis on the first syllable) became a sleepy place, and Sasnak became not anything like Kansas, but an adventurous jungle.  Read these super paragraphs and see if you would like to come visit these unusual places!  (And while you're reading, please note how the students attempted to start every sentence differently-- some with clauses or phrases, some with "Because," some with a pronoun, and more.  Also, every paragraph has a vivid introduction and nice conclusion.)

"Saxet," by Abby (4th grade)
     Saxet is a very musical town, with great food and very hot weather!  Its beaches have foamy, white waves slapping the shores, and restaurants lining the sand.  Because of its strange shape, this tiny island off the coast of Texas is shaped like a cowboy hat.  Saxet has a country music festival once every week!  The most popular festival is Eessennet, where settlers from Tennessee come to visit and eat at the fabulous restaurants!  Anyone who likes country music and country style food should come and visit really hot Saxet!


"Napaj," by Savannah (5th grade)
     Napaj is a very unusual place because of its shape, which is why people love it.  It is shaped like a giant bed.  People there sleep for a minimum of eight hours.  During the winter, the Napajiens hibernate near a pile of food, which they are famous for.  Some of the food they eat are Napaj style noodles with bacon, eggs, and meatballs, Starbursts, and brussel sprouts.  If you like cool, fun, and sleepy adventures, get your ticket to Napaj now!


"Sasnak," by Cody (5th grade)
     Sasnak is a jungle where the Sasnakians roam.  The Sasnakians are friendly creatures, and they rule the jungle.  When a tourist comes to Sasnak, they get to have a free safari ride around the whole jungle.  Sasnak is a huge tourist attraction, and there is no person who doesn't like this place.  If you like cool weather, animals, and safaris, then this is the perfect vacation destination!


"Ocixem," by Ricardo (3rd grade)
     Ocixem is a delightful place.  It is very colorful too.  This place has flowers swaying calmly near the soft grass in the park.  It also has soft sand on the quiet beach.  People there are so happy that they never scream, and they only eat soft squishy mangos.  This place is so wonderful!


But not ALL of these places are delightful to visit!  Ryan (4th grade) took his in a different direction.... Beware!

"Ippississim," by Ryan (4th grade)
     Ippississim is a jungle of death, worse than all treacherous jungles combined!  Because the jungle is so dangerous, nobody ever goes there.  Every animal there is a human hunter.  There is also the homework giving teacher, such as the evil huffinater.  The hotel is very bad.  Meteorites shoot the hotel every night, but there's another hotel that's worse.  Whoever steps in meets their doom.  That's why Ippississim is the worst destination for you!


Call your travel agent now.... Tickets are hard to come by to these fantastic (or dangerous) places!