Stoplight Paragraph Writing

Who do you admire most? Why?

Topic sentence

DetailsDetailsDetails

Concluding Sentence

GREEN

TOPIC SENTENCE

Example:

I admire Yogi Berra for many reasons.

GREEN = GO; Tell me where you’re GOINGRESTATE QUESTION, GIVE ANSWER

YELLOW

SLOW DOWN

GIVE DETAILS/EXAMPLES/REASONS/FACTS

Example:

Yogi compiled amazing stats as a catcher and hitter for the New York Yankees.

YELLOW

Example:

He won ten World Series while serving as a team-captain for the American

League power-house.

SLOW DOWN

GIVE DETAILS/EXAMPLES/REASONS/FACTS

YELLOW

Example:

Berra was admired by all of his teammates and respected by his

opponents due to his competitive nature and unbelievable skill.

SLOW DOWN

GIVE DETAILS/EXAMPLES/REASONS/FACTS

RED

STOP!!!!!!!

Make sure you have GIVEN DETAILS/EXAMPLES/REASONS/FACTS

compiled amazing stats catcher

New York Yankees ten World Series

team-captainadmired by opponents/ respected by teammates

RED

CONCLUSION

Restate questionEnd with concluding thought

Example:

For these reasons, Yogi Berra has always been a baseball player I have admired.

I admire Yogi Berra for many reasons. He compiled amazing stats as a catcher for the

New York Yankees. Yogi won ten World Series while serving as team captain for the

American League power-house. Berra was admired by his teammates and respected by his opponents due to his competitive nature and unbelievable skill. For these reasons,

Yogi Berra has always been a baseball player I admire.

Alternate Learning Styles Visual: highlighters

• After the kids write a paragraph, they highlight the following:

topic sentencedetailsconclusion

Kinesthetic: role play• I cut paragraphs into sentence pieces • The kids must circulate around the room reading their

sentence to find the topic sentence, details, and conclusion that complete the paragraph part they were given

What is your dream job/career?

YOUR TURN TO PRACTICE:

Why do you think Yankee Doodle put a feather in his cap and called it “Macaroni”?