This Lesson's Title:

Powerful First Paragraphs

Can three random nouns launch a powerful story idea?

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Northern Nevada Writing Project Consultant Cindy Reynolds.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure by Robert De San Souci. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Opening paragraphs can be the roadmap of a story. In this lesson, students will read an engaging and well-crafted paragraph from Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure, which draws the reader in. They will use the style of the author to create their own opening paragraph as the basis for a story they would like to write by playing the serendipitous (random) noun game below. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is organization; the writer's goal is to write an introductory paragraph that would make any reader want to read more.  The support trait in this assignment is idea development; strong details and a unique story idea should be encouraged as students create their drafts.

Recipient of the NNWP's
Excellent Writing Lesson Award:

Because of the quality of its resources and ideas, this WritingFix lesson was selected by the Northern Nevada Writing Project as March 2007's Writing Lesson of the Month. It was e-mailed to thousands of teachers who are members of the NNWP's Writing Lesson of the Month Teacher Network.

To find out how to become a member of this free network, click here to visit the NNWP's webpage. You can have a link to a high-quality writing lesson sent to you every month.