10/05/07 By Friday your 5 paragraph descriptive essay is due.
9/24/07 Our Objective this week is to continue working on editing our five paragraph descriptive essay. By Thursday, I hope we can get them typed and placed in a portfolio. Here are the steps we have taken so far:
First you were given a topic. The suggestion was to write about someone you knew. On the paper you were to brainstorm three things that this person liked to do, or words to describe his or her personality.
Paragraphs begin with a topic sentence, which summarizes the single topic, or main idea, expressed in the paragraph. The remaining sentences of the paragraph explain and develop this idea or topic.”A well-written paragraph has one idea, follows a sequence and is complete. One Idea: A well-written paragraph develops one idea, Follows a sequence: The paragraph is understandable and in order
Complete: give enough facts, details, examples, and reasons to support the topic sentence and adequately develop the topic.
Write a summarizing topic sentence for each of the three assigned paragraphs. In the sentence, state the persons' name and describe the one idea or hobby or activity the person enjoys.
MY EXAMPLE: using my dog, Misty.
1. My dog Misty likes to do tricks
2. My dog Misty likes to take walks
3. My dog Misty likes to show affection
Step one: Topic or Subject Example: My Dog Misty Step Two: Write a Topic Sentence using the three ideas about your subject.
Example: My dog Misty likes to do tricks, take walks and show affection.
The topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph; it summarizes the single topic, or main idea, expressed in the paragraph.
“The topic sentence must have a subject and express an idea about the subject. When writing a paragraph about a person, the subject is the person's name, and the idea is what is being told about the person.”Supporting Details
The supporting details are the remaining sentences of the paragraph, after the topic sentence. There are usually between 6 to 8 sentences that explain and develop the main idea or topic.
EXAMPLE:Topic Sentence: My dog Misty likes to do tricks, take walks and show affection.
My first paragraph supports the first idea of Misty liking to do tricks.
Example: My dog Misty likes to do tricks, and his favorite trick is to sit up and beg for a treat. It took Misty one week to learn this great trick. Misty will sit up in a begging position for 5 minutes or until my husband or I get up and give him a treat. After he gets his treat he will lie back down on his pillow and fall asleep. I don’t think dogs know that one should not snack just before a nap; it could cause bad dreams. Misty does this trick so much, that now we wish we didn't teach him this skill. Still, another time that Misty does his trick is when he wants to take a walk. This time, he will sit up in the begging position near the door.
My last two sentences of the paragraph are going to transition me or move me to the second paragraph, which will talk about Misty liking to take walks.
When thinking up ideas for your paragraph use any of the following:
Use examples and illustrations
Use detail: If you say the person is happy or fun; why is this person happy, how can you tell? Visualize the person’s face, actions or dress
Use a story or example of the person’s character; use descriptive words such as:
Jaunty: having or showing a carefree self-confident air
Jovial: full of fun and good cheer, jolly
Bizarre: very strange or odd
Boisterous: rough and stormy, noisy or lacking restraint
Nocturnal: relating to, or occurring at night
USE THE FOLLOWING FORMAT WHEN PUTTING YOUR IDEAS ON PAPER:
Paragraph 1
Topic Sentence followed by detail.
1)Topic Sentence ________________________________________________________________________________________________DETAILS: ______________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Paragraph 2 Topic Sentence: ___________________________________
Details about this topic: ________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________
_________________________________________ ________________________________________ Paragraph 3 Topic Sentence: ____________________________________________
Details about this topic: __________________________________________ __________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________
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