Stoplight Paragraphs

 Have you seen this method of teaching

paragraph writing before???

I stumbled upon this idea 6 years ago here.

Then, I kind of forgot about it until now.

Maybe because the next year I moved to 4th for

one year, then to 2nd the following year and that's

where I've been ever since!

I guess all that moving around made me forget a few

things! :)

We've been studying main idea for the past several weeks

and I thought it would be the perfect time to transition

to writing paragraphs.

I remembered the stoplight method and it worked great

with my kiddos this time, too.

Now, their topic and closing sentences are not perfect, but

its a start...especially for those kiddos who had never even

heard the word paragraph before!

Since we've also been working on our space unit, I decided

we'd write paragraphs about the moon.

First, we read several books all about the moon and

then made this bubble map together.

 Next, I had the kids make a bubble map in their journals

and they picked 4 or 5 facts from our class map

to add to theirs...what they wanted to include in 

their own paragraph.

We went over the rules to writing a paragraph

and the stoplight method...

 Obviously, the green and red lights are switched

on a paragraph stoplight {as opposed to a real stoplight!}.

It just makes more

sense for the topic sentence to be green and 

for it to be at the top...like, 

"GO! Start your paragraph!"

We wrote a paragraph together first, to practice the rules.

I cut 1" strips of green, yellow, and red

construction paper, and I just chose

a color for the background that I knew the colors

would pop against.

I handed out only the green strips first and the kids

wrote their topic sentences. I demonstrated this

first, using the topic sentence from our class paragraph.

 I pointed out that they needed to start writing at the edge of

the sentence strip and one of the kiddos raised 

their hand and said, "But,  don't we need to indent???"

It almost brought a tear to my eye, thinking,

"Why, yes! Yes we do!!! But not yet!"

Some kiddos will need more than one green strip to fit

their entire topic sentence on and that is ok.

When everyone was ready, I passed out 1 yellow strip and the

kids got started on their supporting sentences, one at a time.

Finally, we got to the closing sentences and we used the red

strips.

The next day, I showed them how they were going to take their

sentences strips and turn it into a paragraph!

First, I had them lay their sentences out on their desk in order

like this...

{notice some sentences take more than 1 strip}

Cut off any excess on ALL of the sentences.

  I demonstrated how to lay their topic sentence on their paper

and indent. BEFORE we glue it down, we have to see

if the whole sentence will fit. 

If not, we cut the strip after the last

word that will fit and the rest will go down on the second line. 

My entire topic sentence did fit, but most will not!

{EDIT: A few people have left comments since I published this about

how my topic sentence is not really a topic sentence. I realize I could

have chosen something a little more simple, like, "There are many

interesting facts about the moon." as the first sentence. However, I also feel that mine is a topic

sentence, as I use the words, "The moon," at the beginning and state a simple

fact to grab the readers attention! Several of

our expostitory texts from our reading series included paragraphs where

there was NOT a cookie cutter topic sentence, yet my students were still

required to identify the main idea of the paragraph. This is just ONE

example of a paragraph I used with my kiddos. I also explain to my
students that the main idea is not always found in the topic sentence, but
also the closing sentence. Just thought I would clarily. :)  If you disagree,
then that's your own cup of tea!}

Here I am positioning the other sentences, and trimming 

after the last word that will fit on that line...

I really like this activity because it's a hands-on approach to writing

a paragraph. I think this helps some of the kiddos grasp the

concept, "Oh, if there isn't room to write the next word, I go

down to the next line and it's no big deal!"

This also helps those who want to always start on a new line

at the end of each sentence. They can see that they should

use the rest of the space available on the line they are currently

on to start the next sentence. "Don't waste any room!" I tell them. :)

I can literally see that lightbulb turning on over and over again on

their faces!

The kids worked VERY hard on these so I decided to display it

out in the hallway.

 I split this lesson into two days and I would highly recommend that!

 Here's a anchor chart displaying the stoplight paragraph

if you'd like to use this in your clasroom. Just click the pic

to download.

 

I hope this all makes sense...if not feel free to email me if you

have any questions!