Tuesday, March 21st, 2017 Writing Basics

Bellwork Every day you come to me, you will have bellwork to complete. You will have 5-10 minutes to complete the assignment. Turn to the first clean page in your notebooks. Title it “Writing” with today’s date. On the first line, write “Bellwork-” and the prompt. Then, with FIVE (5) complete sentences, answer the prompt. Today’s prompt: What color is the wind and why? Once you have completed your paragraph, SILENTLY read a book.

What does a complete sentence need? S.W.A.G.! Starts with a capital letter Written neatly A subject and predicate Given punctuation It isn’t a COMPLETE sentence if it doesn’t have S.W.A.G.!

Practice On your own and silently, write 10 COMPLETE sentences about whatever you want. Number them on your paper. Trade notebooks with a partner. Make sure their sentences have SWAG! Mark any mistakes you see. Talk with your partner to see what you missed!

Paragraphs A paragraph is a group of sentences about one main idea or one topic. A paragraph usually contains between five and eight sentences about that one main idea or topic. All of the sentences in a paragraph must be about that one main idea or topic. When you want to write about a new main idea, you must start a new paragraph. In a paragraph you can give information about one main idea, or you can explain one topic, or you can give your opinion about one main idea or topic. Be sure to put the sentences in an order that will make sense to your reader. You want it to be a logical and natural sounding order.

Let’s create a paragraph! BFF- Big, fat fingers (put two fingers at the beginning to INDENT) Write a general statement about a topic of your choice. Follow it up with three to five details about it. Write a concluding sentence that summarizes everything you just said, or restates the main idea in a new and creative way!