Holiday Presents



During the next few weeks, you will be hearing so much about presents: buying, wrapping, giving, receiving, etc. For Paragraphs a Week this week, you will be writing about presents. On the back of this sheet make a four-way flow chart. Label box #1 How-to-wrap, box #2 What it looks like, box #3 What will happen to it, and box #4 Why it's the best. Think of a present you would like to GIVE. Take a few minutes and jot some notes in each box regarding that present.

You will be writing four paragraphs this week:
1. An explanatory paragraph telling how-to-wrap the present
2. A descriptive paragraph telling what the wrapped present looks like
3. A narrative paragraph telling what will happen to the present
4. A persuasive paragraph telling why the present is the best present given

Refer to your notes as you write your draft. Remember each paragraph is a different type of writing, yet they are all about the same topic: A PRESENT YOU ARE GIVING. Don't forget you will need a topic sentence for the entire group of paragraphs as well as a concluding sentence that sums up the entire topic. In addition, you will need transitional sentences to take your reader smoothly from one topic to the next.

CHECK the boxes as you edit (1 pt toward PURPOSE):
___ 1. Proper format for either typing or handwriting (1 pt. toward PRESENTATION)
___ 2. Clearly REWORKED rough draft (1 pt. toward PRESENTATION)
___ 3. Neat final in ink or printed (1 pt. toward PRESENTATION)
___ 4. Five elements of good writing, especially PURPOSE and DIRECTION
___ 5. Signature of the adult who proofread your paper (1 pt. toward PRESENTATION)
___ 6. 5-8 sentences per paragraph for a total of 20-32 sentences (4 pts. towards DIRECTION)
___ 7. All three papers stapled together with the final on top (1 pt. toward PRESENTATION)

Return to the Paragraph a Week Index.