Here’s a fun recipe for writing a paragraph! Using the analogy of following a recipe, the directions below guide students to create tasty compositions. Kids will prepare a topic, combine ideas, garnish with interesting words, and adjust flavors.
Recipe for Writing a Paragraph
Ingredients
1 topic sentence
1 main idea
Handful of supporting details
5-7 sentences
2-4 sentence variations
Active verbs
Strong nouns
Pinch of adjectives and adverbs
1 closing sentence
Directions
- Prepare a topic sentence that introduces the main idea.
- In a medium-size paragraph, combine main idea and supporting details into 5-7 sentences.
- As flavors begin to develop, drain off excess “to be” verbs such as is, am, are, was, and were.
- Stir in a large helping of active verbs and strong nouns. Replace several subject-verb sentence starters with more interesting sentence variations.
- Arrange sentences neatly on a bed of lined paper, moving sentences and words around to achieve the desired effect.
- Garnish the composition. Use just enough adjectives and adverbs to add flavor and color.
- Wrap up the paragraph with a satisfying closing sentence.
- Misspelled words and incorrect punctuation will add bitterness. So sweeten the paragraph by making necessary adjustments.
- Sample the composition. If it’s too thick, remove excess words or phrases. Substitute spicier words for repeated or bland ones. If the paragraph needs seasoning, pepper it with a few more vivid words to taste.
- Serve it to several hungry readers. As per their suggestions, adjust the arrangement or ingredients.
WriteShop curriculum will not only teach your child how to write solid paragraphs, it will show you how to teach homeschool writing.
All WriteShop products teach children the steps of the writing process. But WriteShop Junior and WriteShop I & II in particular will help your kids write tasty paragraphs using strong words and interesting sentences.
