Descriptive Paragraph
Katherine Howard
Writing 1
Turn In
Your
Observation
Paragraph!
Blue Like
Journals
are Due Today
too!
Today
• Detail Practice
• Paragraph Model
• Prewriting - Clustering
Pick a Card
• Don’t show anyone your card.
• Write five clues about the noun on individual
notecards. Use as many adjectives as you can.
Use your senses to explain the noun.
• Read the sentences to the class and have
people guess what the noun is.
• Make sure to use spatial order in presenting
your clues.
Example
• It is a beautiful and amazing animal.
• It gallops in the sunny hills of an imagery
land.
• It has four large hooves with shiny golden
“shoes.”
• Its long white mane glistens as the cool
breeze blows it back as it runs.
• It has a thin twirling horn between its
glistening dark black eyes.
UNICORN
Pick a Card
• Don’t show anyone your card.
• Write five clues about the noun. Use as many
adjectives as you can. Use your senses to
explain the noun.
• Read the sentences to the class and have
people guess what the noun is.
Details pg 63
Read the following topic sentences for
descriptive paragraphs. Then discuss with a
partner or group some possible details to
describe the place. Next, decide on the best kind
of spatial order to use in the description: right to
left, left to right, top to bottom, bottom to top,
far to near, outside to inside, and so finally.
Finally, write your details in spatial order on the
lines.
My Banana Garden
Behind my childhood home, there is a large piece of land that is
surrounded by banana trees growing in wild disorder. Crowds of
banana trees grow freely everywhere. Their green leaves are so thick
that sunlight cannot pass through. Underneath the trees, the ground is
so moist that wild mushrooms and plants grow there all year around.
In the center is a wild field where the children of my village often fly
kites. Every evening, just before sunset, some birds arrive to look for a
place to rest their tired wings. They want to land in the dark banana
garden, but the banana leaves are too wide to make into nests. The
birds cry out and then fly away, seeking a better place to nest. During
the rainy season, it rains for days and days, and the banana leaves
become glossy and slick. The rain also makes the banana garden
produce a very strange melody. On rainy days, I used to sit near my
window and listen to this wonderful song. Now, whenever I hear the
plop-plop-plop of raindrops on the roof my small, tidy apartment in
the city, I remember the beautiful, wild banana garden of my
childhood.
My Banana Garden
• What is the topic sentence? What is the
controlling idea?
• Underline the adjectives and 5 senses.
• Find the spatial order words.
• How is this paragraph ordered?
Discuss with a partner.
My Banana Garden
Behind my childhood home, there is a large piece of land that is
surrounded by banana trees growing in wild disorder. Crowds of
banana trees grow freely everywhere. Their green leaves are so thick
that sunlight cannot pass through. Underneath the trees, the ground is
so moist that wild mushrooms and plants grow there all year around.
In the center is a wild field where the children of my village often fly
kites. Every evening, just before sunset, some birds arrive to look for a
place to rest their tired wings. They want to land in the dark banana
garden, but the banana leaves are too wide to make into nests. The
birds cry out and then fly away, seeking a better place to nest. During
the rainy season, it rains for days and days, and the banana leaves
become glossy and slick. The rain also makes the banana garden
produce a very strange melody. On rainy days, I used to sit near my
window and listen to this wonderful song. Now, whenever I hear the
plop-plop-plop of raindrops on the roof my small, tidy apartment in
the city, I remember the beautiful, wild banana garden of my
childhood.
My Banana Garden
Behind my childhood home, there is a large piece of land that is
surrounded by banana trees growing in wild disorder. Crowds of
banana trees grow freely everywhere. Their green leaves are so thick
that sunlight cannot pass through. Underneath the trees, the ground is
so moist that wild mushrooms and plants grow there all year around.
In the center is a wild field where the children of my village often fly
kites. Every evening, just before sunset, some birds arrive to look for a
place to rest their tired wings. They want to land in the dark banana
garden, but the banana leaves are too wide to make into nests. The
birds cry out and then fly away, seeking a better place to nest. During
the rainy season, it rains for days and days, and the banana leaves
become glossy and slick. The rain also makes the banana garden
produce a very strange melody. On rainy days, I used to sit near my
window and listen to this wonderful song. Now, whenever I hear the
plop-plop-plop of raindrops on the roof my small, tidy apartment in
the city, I remember the beautiful, wild banana garden of my
childhood.
My Banana Garden
Behind my childhood home, there is a large piece of land that is
surrounded by banana trees growing in wild disorder. Crowds of
banana trees grow freely everywhere. Their green leaves are so thick
that sunlight cannot pass through. Underneath the trees, the ground
is so moist that wild mushrooms and plants grow there all year around.
In the center is a wild field where the children of my village often fly
kites. Every evening, just before sunset, some birds arrive to look for a
place to rest their tired wings. They want to land in the dark banana
garden, but the banana leaves are too wide to make into nests. The
birds cry out and then fly away, seeking a better place to nest. During
the rainy season, it rains for days and days, and the banana leaves
become glossy and slick. The rain also makes the banana garden
produce a very strange melody. On rainy days, I used to sit near my
window and listen to this wonderful song. Now, whenever I hear the
plop-plop-plop of raindrops on the roof my small, tidy apartment in
the city, I remember the beautiful, wild banana garden of my
childhood.
Behind to in front
Past to Present
Word Dictionary
WORD:
WORD:
Guess:
purpose
Definition
Connection
Sentence
Synonyms:
Sketch/Image:
Antonyms:
Purpose
There are three reasons to write:
• inform
• change someone’s mind (persuade)
• entertain
The internet has a wide variety of writing pieces
that people look at and read for many purposes.
Where Do You See Descriptive
Writing?
Reviews
• People describe if the food is good and how the
atmosphere is.
www.zagat.com - restaurant reviews
• Students describe how the teacher teaches and what things
he/she does to make her/his class good or not.
www.ratemyprofessor.com - teacher reviews
• Vacationers express the reasons to go on a vacation to that
specific place.
www.tripadvisor.com - vacation reviews
• Movie critics describe if the movie is worth going to see or
not.
www.rottentomatoes.com - movie reviews
Prompt
Review a restaurant. Describe your favorite
restaurant. Make a topic sentence with a
controlling idea. Include support sentences and
details. Make sure to end with a conclusion. Use
adjectives and your five senses to paint a picture
of the restaurant. Organize the paragraph using
spatial order. Check your capitalization. Write at
least 150 words.
Prewriting Technique #2
pg 72
Clustering
When you cluster, you start by writing yur topic in a
circle in the middle of your paper. As you think of
related ideas, you write these ideas into smaller
circles around the first circle. The related ideas in
each small circle may produce even more ideas and
therefore more circles around it. When you have
run out of ideas, you r paper might look something
like the following model on this page.
You Try It
food
outside
Your Favorite
Restaurant
inside
Homework:
Complete the sheet
and finish your
cluster. Then write a
paragraph
describing your
favorite restaurant.
This is your second
grade.
Continue to write in
your Like Journals!
Conferences next
week! Bring your
paragraph!