When children are introduced to paragraph writing, it becomes a challenging task for parents to help them. Through paragraph writing, children are introduced to the idea of “writing on your own”. Writing a paragraph requires children to think and write simultaneously, which they are usually not habituated to do. They will ask for your help more often now, and you will be searching for ways to make them comfortable with writing on their own.
Not all children are born writers; they may find it difficult to express their thoughts on a piece of paper. However, there are still ways through which we can enhance paragraph writing for children. What are these ways and how to teach a child to write paragraphs? This article will provide you with all the necessary steps to make paragraph writing for kids an easy exercise.
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Structure of a Paragraph: The Three Basic Parts
While multiple paragraphs make a whole essay, there are different segments of sentences that make one complete paragraph. A child must understand what constitutes these different parts of a paragraph. There are three basic parts of a paragraph, they are:
#1. Topic Sentence- Main idea
#2. Supporting Detail Sentences- details of the main idea
#3. Concluding Sentences- wraps up the entire paragraph
Once children are made aware of the parts of a paragraph, the ability to write better paragraphs grows on its own. For paragraph writing, the guidance for children should come after the guidance for parents who wish to teach their children the art of writing coherent and complete paragraphs.
How to Teach Paragraph Writing to Kids? Guidance for Parents
#1. Rule of Thumb for Paragraph Writing
While teaching paragraph writing for the first time, children are taught the rule of thumb used to indent a paragraph. Indenting means leaving a blank space between a margin and the beginning of a sentence. This rule is used to suggest starting a paragraph and ensure that a particular idea falls under a particular paragraph. In this way, an essay is composed with multiple paragraphs, where each of them explains a different idea.
For the use of the rule of thumb, tell your child to hold the thumb of the hand they do not write with, and then the length from the tip of the thumb to the first knuckle will be the ‘indent’ for the first sentence of a paragraph. Always tell your child to indent the first sentence of a paragraph.
When do We need to Indent?
#. When there is a change in the idea
#. When you begin with a new point
#. When your readers need a pause
#. When you have to write a contrasting point
#. For introductions and conclusions
Although it may be difficult for children to learn indenting at first, you will witness their practice turning into a habit with patience and effort. And, by developing these habits early on, children will always have the chance of becoming excellent writers in future.
#2. The Hamburger Paragraph
A hamburger can be used as an excellent analogy to teach children different parts of a paragraph. Let’s see how it can help children.
The Top Bun- Topic Sentence
Like how the top bun becomes the first layer of a hamburger, the topic sentence is the first layer of a paragraph. It comprises the main idea which the paragraph is all about. The starting line should make the main idea of the paragraph clear and concise. This helps children to avoid any irrelevant sentences and keep them connected to the topic or the main idea.
For example, if the paragraph is about “Dolphins are friendly animals”, then your topic sentence can be:
A simple line, “Dolphins are friendly animals.”
A hook question, “Are Dolphins friendly towards humans?”
Or just a thought, “Animals are such agreeable friends- they ask no questions; they pass no criticism.”- George Eliot
Children as beginners may not be able to gather a well-known saying or a thought. Therefore, they should first get habituated to start a paragraph with a simple line to introduce the topic directly.
The Salad- Details
Like the salad, the details in a paragraph becomes the fixings between the topic sentence and the concluding sentence. The details here follow the topic sentence and make the largest part of a paragraph. Unlike the topic sentence and concluding sentence, the details occupy three-four lines or more.
For example, when the topic is “Dolphins are friendly animals”, the following can be your filling
How they are friendly
How they do not harm humans
What is the human-dolphin relationship in various fields, dolphin shows
The Bottom Bun- Concluding Part
The bottom bun of the hamburger is the concluding sentence of a paragraph. The last sentence either summarises the whole paragraph or restates the topic sentence with a more affirming voice.
The concluding sentence for the above Dolphin topic can be:
Dolphins have intelligence and empathy towards harmless humans.
Dolphins are social animals who are friends with human beings.
#3. Sorting
Once you have taught the basics structure of a paragraph, your child should get busy with reading and writing more. This will help them learn various ways of practising sorting sentences into the three basics parts mentioned above. Let’s learn a few games of sorting paragraph writing for kids
Sorting Strips
In this, various strips of a particular paragraph are given to the child, and then he or she has to categorise and arrange the strips under the topic sentence, detail and concluding sentence. But, how to write a paragraph for kids? For this, you can cut strips from a simple paragraph of a children’s book, newspaper or magazine, or you can also create your own child-friendly paragraphs. Make sure to give topics they are familiar with, like their pet, favourite toy, or favourite food.
Turning Lists into Paragraphs
You may now give children a topic sentence and ask them to write details and the concluding sentence. A reversal can also be done by giving the child a concluding sentence to build the details and the topic sentence on it.
Conclusion
When children learn to write paragraphs, they learn how to align their thoughts with words, and this alignment always needs a structure. When children are taught how to structure their thoughts, they are on their way to becoming good writers and thinkers. At the Real School Of Montessori, we focus on providing children with space to think well and do well. Their creativity is given a boost through our various teaching programmes. For more information, visit the website of the Real School Of Montessori.
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