English Lesson Plan: Introductory Paragraphs

Objective: Students will write the introductory paragraph to their five paragraph essay.

Lesson Opening

1. Ask the children to remind you what you've done in class for the past two weeks. Remind them about reading the myths and forming paragraphs from them and about coming up with a topic sentence for the entire essay. Explain that we are going to be writing one paragraph each day. At the end of the week, we will have five.

Guided Practice

1. Begin filling out the overhead with your topic sentence. It is "The Greek gods worked out their problems by fighting, but the Native American gods solved their problems in other ways.

1. Explain that in the introductory paragraph you do not need to give any important details. You simply are trying to come up with a beginning that hooks the reader in and explain your topic sentence.

1. This is your rough draft paragraph: "How do you solve problems with others? Do you get mad and fight? Do you talk things out? Both Native Americans and Ancient Greeks believed in many gods. The gods often didn't agree on things. However, the Greek gods worked out their problems by fighting, but the Native American gods solved their problems in other ways."

1. Explain to the students that in the introduction and conclusion, it makes sense to put your topic sentence at the end of the paragraph.

Independent Practice

1. Explain to the children that they should not copy your paragraph, but they ought to use it as a model. If children get really stuck and don't know what to write, they can use your paragraph and put it in their own words.

1. Allow the children to talk as they write. Explain that their work will be better if they make sure and get help from their table. Explain to them that this is a very difficult assignment, and they will not get it right away. Make sure they use the "ask three before me" rule.

Closing

1. Have volunteers read what they wrote. Ask the students to give suggestions or compliments.