Focus Lesson Planning Sheet

Focus Lesson Topic / Paragraphing To Organize Our Thoughts (grade 3)
(adapted from Calkins and Martinelli, 2006)

Materials

/ Chart paper
A short narrative written by teacher without any paragraphing for demonstration purposes
A timeline created for this narrative
Previously begun student timelines and personal narratives
Writer’s Notebooks or paper

Connection

/ We have been talking about how when writers relive the memories of the episodes they are writing stories about and then list them on a timeline tool, they often have lots to tell in that story. Today we are going to talk about a way of writing so that all that you have to say in your story comes out in an organized way, so that readers can read it easily.
Explicit Instruction
Create anchor chart
Writing in Paragraphs
-A paragraph is a group of ideas that are written together to help organize a piece of writing.
-Paragraphs help readers focus on a writer’s words and ideas.
-Writers begin a new paragraph by going down to the next line and indenting. / When I try looking for a book in a big jumbled pile of books, it’s really hard to find and think about that one book. My eyes fly right past the books in the pile and I can’t focus on any one of them. But instead when I am in a library or a bookstore and the books are neatly organized on tables and shelves so that I can really see and think about each one, it’s a lot easier for me to appreciate each one. Writing works like that too. We have so many ideas to write in our stories, so many dots on our timelines that we have thought of while reliving those episodes. It’s really important that all those thoughts are organized so that our readers can find and think about and appreciate each one. We don’t want them to be jumbled all together. When our words and thoughts are crammed all together, our readers’ eyes will fly right past them and they can’t appreciate the ideas we have written. We want them to be organized like those shelves in a bookstore. Writers write in paragraphs to organize the events of their story. Paragraphs are an organized way for writers to share all the dots from their timelines. Paragraphs are a way to group our words and thoughts together in an organized way.
Look at this story I wrote without paragraphs. A reader’s eye would probably fly right over my words without focusing on any of my ideas. Now watch me use my timeline to think about how to organize and paragraph my writing. This first dot (or first couple of dots) on my timeline are all about the same part of my memory of this story. They go together in a group. Quickly write the sentences that would tell that first part of your story complete with indenting at the beginning of the paragraph. Now this next dot (or next couple of dots) are about the next part of my memory, the next thing I see when I am reliving the episode in my mind. They go together in a group or a paragraph. I will write that next paragraph below the first. Before I start I will indent the first line. I will move over a bit before starting to write to signal my reader that this is a new group of thoughts (like a new bookshelf at the bookstore). Model writing your next couple of sentences in a new paragraph.
Guided Practice / Let’s try doing this together. Read my next few dots and think about which ones might belong in a group or a paragraph together. Give a few moments. Turn and talk to a partner about what you think. Give a few moments and then elicit responses about next paragraph. Now remind me about how I will start my next paragraph so that my reader knows a new paragraph, a new group of thoughts, is about to begin. Elicit response about going to next line and indenting.
Send Off [for Independent Practice] / So from now on, when you are working on your personal narratives, think about the dots of your timeline and think about which belong together in a group. Organize your story into paragraphs so that your reader can focus on your ideas more easily and not let the words fly right by their eyes.
Group Share / Students can share how they used paragraphing to help them organize their writing.