Writing

Descriptive Writing

Seashells

Grade 1

Objective

• Today we will observe a seashell and write a descriptive paragraph.

cfu-What is our objective?

Connection to Prior Learning

What other topics have we described this year?

*seasons

*food

*gifts

How can we describe things?

• We can use our senses.

• Our sense are

• sight

• sound

• touch

• smell

• taste

A Famous Description of a Seashell

• Listen – How many examples do you hear of her words painting a picture?

next slide

A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg(paraphrased)

This is a snail shell,round, full and glossy as a horse chestnut. Comfortable and compact, it sits curled in the hollow of my hand. Milky and opaque, it has the

pinkish bloom of the sky on a summer evening, ripening to the rain. On its smooth symmetrical face is penciled with precision a smooth spiral, winding

inward to the pinpoint center of the shell. Now it is as the moon,solitary in the sky, Now it is an island set in

an ever widening circle of waves. It is alone, self-contained, and serene.

Point to the features of your shell as you describe it.CFU – talk to your partner/ / share examples of a picture being painted with words in this poem.

Prewriting:Sketch Your Shell

Share results

Pass out shells

Word Bank

• In instructional writing it is appropriate to use a dictionary, thesaurus, or personal word list to devise a word bank of nouns, adjectives, and verbs.

• These may be listed on the board as they are generated and then used orally to describe the shell.

Working with ELLs

The Five Senses- Ask Yourself

• See- What do you see?

• Feel- What does it feel like?

• Sound- Can you hear the sea?

• Taste- What do you imagine it would taste like?

• Smell- What do you smell?

TPR

Organizing Observations

• Shell• R F D( reasons, facts,

details)

* pink and /purple rim • Opening like a cave• Sound of the sea• Edge is scalloped• Pointy top

• Curled in my hand sits a small shell.

• MORE- example,elaborate,evidence

• like a sunrise• swirls open• wind and waves

crashing• candy dish• like a drill

model

List the yellows first; then add the reds.Practice orally different ways of starting/saying the sentence.

Try a think/pair /share

Draft * Edit * Revise

• The side of the shell opens like a cave. • The colors are pink and brown. It makes me

think of sunrise.• When I put the shell next to my ear, I hear the

whooshing sound of the wind and sea.• Around the edge I feel a texture that is as rough

as sandpaper.• The pointy top is shaped like a drill.

1. Draft your details.2.Read each sentence to your partner.3.Point to each word as you read.4. Underline the first letter of each sentence and each end mark.5. Correct spelling, grammar, and revise awkward sentences.

model

To be done sentence by sentence

Concluding Sentence

What does it do? It restates the main idea of your paragraph. It does not add new information.

• How do I write one? 1. Restate the main idea of the paragraph using different

words. This small shell in my hand is a true gift from the sea. 2. Ask a question What could be better than a gift from the sea?

3. Bring the description to an end.

Gently, I carefully return the shell to the sea.

Publish

Seashell Curled in my hand is a small shell. The side

of the shell opens like a cave. The colors are pink and brown like an early morning sunrise. Next to my ear, I hear the whooshing sound of the wind and sea. Around the edge, I feel a texture that is as rough as sandpaper. The pointy top is shaped like a drill. Gently, I carefully return the shell to the sea.

Share

• Let’s hear what you wrote!