Tuesday, December 8, 2015 Remember that yesterday we talked about the differences between these two sentences: Ice cream is good. Creamy, smooth and sweet, ice cream is the perfect solution to life’s little troubles.

What makes a good topic sentence? (Or, thesis statement, controlling idea, main idea, etc.) Your topic sentence is your promise to the reader. It focuses and controls the essay (or in this case, the paragraph). ABCs of an Effective Topic Sentence A- The topic sentence ASSERTS. It makes a point. B- The writer of the topic sentence must BE an insider. Writers should make a point about an aspect of the topic that they have personal insight on. C- The topic sentence must be CLEAR. Strong topic sentences are usually simple and straightforward. A strong topic sentence includes: your topic and the point you want to make about your topic.

1.Cold breath, white snow, huddling together: these things make winter my favorite time of the year. 2.Spending time outside, exploring nature, and enjoying the beautiful weather make summer awesome. In summertime, it’s hot and people can swim all the time. 3.Summer is a hot, enjoyable time of the year. 4.Warm, leisurely and fun, summertime is the greatest season of them all. 5.Cold, fun and frosty, winter is my favorite season. 6.Fall, with its colorful, aromatic leaves and perfect temperature, is the best season there is.

If/then statements If I look forward to visiting my cousins every year, then I dread the annual trip to see Great-Aunt Snarky. If unicorns are the most wonderful creatures, then vampires are the monsters that bring fear to my heart. If soccer practice is the joy of my life, then doing chores is the bane of my existence.

1.If summertime is the end of a glorious life, then winter is the dreaded middle-school years. 2.If wintertime is the beautiful, elegant snow, then spring is the rain that lasts for what feels like an eternity. 3.If winter is as cozy as a cushion, then spring is as rough as a rock. 4.If fall is the apple of my eye, then summer is the rotten core. 5.If winter is the perfect season, spring is the perfect mess.

6. If winter is a breath of fresh air, then spring is an frightening attack of asthma. 7. If winter is what brings up the spirit to my soul, then fall is the gloomy days that I fear. 8. If fall is the season of my dreams, then winter is the stuff of my nightmares. 9. If winter is my favorite because of the warm hot chocolate and coffee from Starbucks, then summer is my second-favorite because of the warm, hot sun.

1.Write the topic sentence of your FIRST paragraph. (This is the season that you love!) 2.Write an if/then statement that compares your favorite season with your least favorite season.

Example of Seasonal Paragraphs Colorful, temperate and aromatic, fall is the greatest season to me. I love the way the leaves change in fall; the many colors in my neighborhood remind me of an artist’s paintbox. The weather is mild and perfect for playing outside in the fallen leaves. When I run with my dogs, I thoroughly enjoy the smells and sights of the world around me. Fall is also the time of my favorite holiday: Halloween! I think that the beauty of fall is only surpassed by the chilling sights that characterize my favorite holiday. If fall is the season when the senses come alive, winter is the time when they go into hibernation. The flowers die in winter, the leaves lose their glorious color, and my backyard becomes a muddy mess. Although I don’t exactly hate winter, that season is my least favorite because I’m stuck indoors and the world loses its beauty. As I prefer warm, sunny days to cold, dreary ones, even our mild Texas winters are much too frosty for me. Christmas is awesome, and hot chocolate is delicious, but if I had my choice, it would be fall all year long.

Example of Seasonal Paragraph Warm, leisurely and fun, summertime is the greatest season of them all. I love summer’s heat, the laid-back attitude, and the long days of no school. Summertime is also when we get out of school, so in many respects, it could represent the passing of years in a person’s life. Teaching is the only profession that in this way mirrors life, and if you look at sixth graders as being in their infancy at the beginning of the school year, then by summertime, they have become wizened with experience and ready to pass their knowledge on to a new group of sixth graders. If summer is the glorious end to a beautiful year, winter is the dreaded teen-age years.

Revising your paragraphs Work with a peer to revise one another’s writing. 1.Read the writing. Does it make sense? Are the sentences awkward? Do I have good understanding of how the writer feels about the two different seasons? 2.Look for the ABCs in the topic sentences of each paragraph. (Do they ASSERT, does the writer BE an insider, are they CLEAR?) Does the sentence include the topic and make a point about it? 3.Does the writing flow? Does it include transitions – FANBOYS, AAAWWUBBIS words, conjunctive adverbs – to help you move from one idea to the next? 4.Is the writing coherent and focused or does it jump around from one idea to the next randomly? 5.How are the conventions? Does the writer use correct punctuation, capitalization, grammar and spelling?