6Traits Digest #123 - Monday, January 10, 2000
Expository beginnings
by "Susan Nixon" <susan@desertskyone.com>
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Subject: Expository beginnings
From: "Susan Nixon" <susan@desertskyone.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 18:10:54 -0700
1) Begin with a question. (Graphic =3D ?)
Have you ever tried to make an apple pie?
2) Begin with an announcement. (Graphic =3D a horn)
Beginning tomorrow, apple pies will be served every day in the cafeteria.
3) Begin with something startling. (Graphic =3D !)
Apple pies killed thousands!
4) Begin with a quotation. (Graphic =3D " ")
"If apples keep the doctor away, we should eat more apple pies," remarked
my sister yesterday.
5) Begin with a puzzle or riddle. (Graphic =3D drawing of a puzzle =
piece)
What's red, yellow, green or stripped, and keeps doctors away?
6) Begin with a personal experience or comment. (Graphic =3D stick =
figure)
Apples were the bane of my early childhood existence.
7) Begin with something that relates or induces emotion. (Graphic =3D =
smile
face with tears falling down)
I never cried as hard as I did the day my dad spanked me for starting a
fire in the apple orchard.
These are the 7 things I've come across. The graphics are just =
suggestions
from my second grade class, and the apple writing is spur of the moment
examples from my demented brain. I hope these will help.
I also included in my mini-lesson the concept of the 5 paragraphs through
the hamburger graphic. Top bun =3D introduction, 3 main idea paragraphs =
=3D
lettuce, tomato and hamburger patty, bottom bun =3D wrap up ideas.
I suggested that to make their lives really easy, the introductory
paragraph should include three ideas that related to the theme of the
piece. An example that I remember comes from a boy whose mother recently
had another baby. He wrote something along these lines:
All my new baby brother does is cry. It really bugs me! He cries when
for no reason at all. He cries because he wants milk. He cries when he
needs his diaper changed. He just cries and cries and cries.
In this paragraph, there is an introductory announcement. It is followed
by three times his brother cries. This will provide the basis for his 3
main idea paragraphs. He will give more details about times his brother
cries for no reason, times he cries when he's hungry, and (I can hardly
wait!) times he needs his diaper changed. Then his wrap up paragraph, I
told them all, has to restate the introduction, but in a different way.
This makes his life much easier, from an organizational standpoint.
I've simplified things a bit for my second graders, of course. =3D) I =
hope
this helps. The original idea came from a post which also included
several writing sites, some of which didn't work, and the others of which =
I
passed along to you last week.
Susan Nixon
2nd Grade
Phoenix, AZ
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