Use the ideas you conceptualized as you draft the paragraph on a separate sheet of paper …  Include a topic sentence.  Write five or more complete thoughts telling about five or more elements of the community. Sample: Gardenesia, a small town community, contains several unique elements. Although the population is not quite ten thousand, Gardenesia has many thriving flower and seed producing businesses. A large statue of our founder, Gertie Greenthumb, is in the center of town in Petunia Park. Tourists will want to visit all three of the city’s parks to see the interesting variety of gardens. Gardenesia is warm, around seventy degrees, all year long. Weekly rains keep everything green and growing. One highlight of the year for local residents is the annual Flora Festival held the entire month of September. Did you notice the alliteration? Gertie Greenthumb Petunia Park green and growing Flora Festival

Revising/Feedback Wednesday  Please read your partner’s paragraph.  On the bottom of their paper…  Write down one interesting fact from the paragraph.  Copy the most descriptive sentence from the paragraph.  Count the # of elements; write the number.  Yes or no? Are all the sentences complete thoughts? Do they begin with a capital and end with a period?  When you get your paper back, look over it, revise as needed, and do the final copy.

When you finish, put your completed final copy in the basket and read a book of your own.  Draft the map of your community on a scratch piece of paper. Include five or more specific places. Consider your motif (theme/design pattern) when naming the places.  Get your draft okayed by Mrs. Carmack.  Create the final of the community map on your worksheet paper. NEATNESS COUNTS. Color enhances your work and makes it look more like a final draft.  Be sure to capitalize all proper nouns and proper adjectives!!!!  Check everything over carefully.

Informative Writing Review Setting up our claims and ideas

Relationships of Ideas Organizing Ideas: How to structure our informative writing MAIN IDEAS, CLAIMS, THESIS STATEMENTS, BIG IDEAS (We will think of these as green.) E

Setting up an essay is like sorting ideas. How would you sort the following pictures?

Setting up an essay is like sorting ideas. These pictures are sorted by the type of person who might use each item.

Setting up an essay is like sorting ideas. These pictures are sorted by the type of item.

T=chart format is one way to sort ideas.   Claim: Claim: The claim is your big idea. It is the statement you will try to prove in your essay. In an essay, we write the claim in the introduction (the first paragraph) and the conclusion (the last paragraph). It is not in the body paragraphs. Supporting ideas/subcategories(yellows) Supporting ideas/subcategories(yellows) Details (reds) Remember, each supporting idea in an The reds are ALWAYS examples, essay will be a new paragraph. explanations, commentary, and Add a transition word to each yellow. evidence.

T-chart Let’s practice!  Claim: ___________________ (your community name) has two important geographic elements.

There are many other ways to sort our ideas when we are getting ready to write an essay.  Paper folding  Graphic organizers  Formal and informal outlines

Paper folding

Paper folding Let’s practice!  Claim: ___________________ (your community name) has four distinguishing features that make it unique.

Graphic organizers Claim Support #1 (yellow) Support #2 (yellow) Support #4 (yellow) Support #3 (yellow)

Sample graphic organizers

Graphic organizer Let’s practice!  Claim: _______________ (your community name) celebrates three important holidays.

Outlines  FORMAL  INFORMAL

Outlines Let’s practice!  Claim: The city of _____________________includes ______________________, __________________________, and _____________________________.

Select one of your (practice) writing organizers as your final claim and the framework for your visual essay.  Start the visual essay by selecting one of the supporting ideas/subcategories.  Write a draft of that paragraph, including a topic sentence and clear, specific examples with details such as data, people/place names, dates, etc.

Revising Friday  Check your own paragraph for:  Did you include a specific number or date in your paragraph?  Did you include a specific place in your paragraph?  Did you include the name of a specific person in your paragraph?  Do you include a specific item in your paragraph?  If not, please add a sentence that includes at least ONE of the options above.  NOW RECOPY YOUR PARAGRAPH ON THE FINAL SHEET.  COMPLETE THE VISUAL THAT ILLUSTRATES YOUR WRITING.

Revising/Feedback Monday  Please read your partner’s paragraph.  Check for the following and fix if needed:  Do the sentences start with a capital letter?  Do the sentences have a complete subject and predicate?  Do the sentences end with correct punctuation?  Do the sentences use homophones correctly (their, there, they’re, etc.)? Are other words spelled correctly?  NOW RECOPY YOUR PARAGRAPH ON THE FINAL SHEET.  COMPLETE THE VISUAL THAT ILLUSTRATES YOUR WRITING.

Revising Tuesday  Check your own paragraph for the following:  Do you have a subheading that is correctly capitalized?  Do you have a detailed picture explaining the information?  Does the subheading, paragraph information, and picture all go together?  If not, please fix this section.  NOW RECOPY YOUR PARAGRAPH ON THE FINAL SHEET.  COMPLETE THE VISUAL THAT ILLUSTRATES YOUR WRITING.

FINAL REVISING:  Go back over your work. Check it against the scoring guide.  WHEN IT IS PERFECTLY READY TO BE GRADED, TURN IT IN TO THE BASKET!!!!! SCORING GUIDE.Less than required Meets requirementsExceeds requirements Elaboration of Evidence: Clear, specific examples, including data, place/people names, etc Text Structure: Subheading, paragraph information, and graphic are all cohesive/related. No irrelevant data Conventions: C—First word in a sentence and all proper nouns/proper adjectives capitalized. U—No fragments or run-on sentences. P—End marks on all sentences. S—Correct spelling, including homophones