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Ten short paragraph sets describe Native American practices, revealing a bit of their deep understanding of the natural world. (All content within this material comes from The National Museum of the Native American in Washington DC, thus ensuring that content is authentic and culturally appropriate.)
When children symbolize sentences that are then used to study some aspect of paragraph writing, they develop a deeper connection to the way that word function within sentences and the way that sentences function with paragraphs.
As a resource for grammar, these paragraphs:
are suitable for a variety of skill levels – each paragraph has the original text and a simplified version modified slightly to remove more advanced parts of speech like infinitives, participles, and gerunds.
are ready-to-use: sentences are presented as a mute chart to allow room for symbolizing directly onto the page. They can be printed as a handout or laminated for dry-erase or transcription work.
can be individual work or partner activity.
are accompanied by a Control-of-Error
As a resource for paragraph writing, these paragraphs can be used to create writing mini-lessons on any one of several isolated concepts:
A paragraph is about a single topic: cut the sentences for several paragraphs apart and mix them. Children sort the sentences into single-topic piles.
Sequencing ideas within a paragraph: cut the sentences apart for a single paragraph and demonstrate experimenting with the order within a paragraph. Compare to the original and say what you like better and why. Optional: children do the same with other paragraphs from the set.
Writing Topic and Concluding Sentences: Consider the 3-4 sentences on each mute chart to be the body of the paragraph. Children write topic and concluding sentences for the paragraphs.
Writing a multi-paragraph essay: children choose up to 3 paragraphs from the set, write topic and transition sentences for each paragraph, and write a concluding paragraph.