LEARN NC

15 Week 5: Conclusion paragraphs

By Briana Corke Pelton

Provided by Kenan Fellows Program.

In this expository writing lesson, students will write convincing conclusion paragraphs.

Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • Brainstorm what information would be most useful in a conclusion
  • Use strategies to write a convincing conclusion

Teacher planning

Time required

At least a one-hour time block for the whole group is needed (and possibly more time for students to complete their independent writing).

Materials needed

  • Student inventor’s logs or science notebooks

Student handouts

Focusing plan
Open as PDF (14 KB, 1 page; also available as Microsoft Word document)

Opening and conclusion plan
Open as PDF (18 KB, 1 page; also available as Microsoft Word document)

Modified opening and conclusion plan for English language learners
Open as PDF (14 KB, 1 page; also available as Microsoft Word document)

Expository writing peer and teacher rubric
Open as PDF (30 KB, 1 page; also available as Microsoft Word document)

Pre-activities

Students should have completed earlier Invention Convention lessons.

Activities

  1. The teacher should begin this lesson by reviewing the purpose of expository information and invite student participation. The teacher should question students about the purpose of expository writing about inventions. The students should respond that this writing will help people to know more about their inventions.

    2. The teacher should then pair the students to work together for three to five minutes brainstorming answers the following question, “After reading your engaging opening and your informative paragraphs, what would be important for someone to read in a conclusion as the last information about a new invention?” After brainstorming and listing ideas in pairs, the students will share with the whole group. Some ideas may include:

    • How the invention is useful for most people
    • An anecdote about a person using the invention
    • How the invention works better than other common types of the invention
    • Why it would be worth it to buy
  2. Once the class has generated this list, or something similar, the teacher should challenge the students to plan and draft a convincing conclusion. The teacher should challenge the students to utilize at least two of the strategies that were brainstormed. The students should use the opening and conclusion plan to plan their conclusions.

Assessment

The teacher should informally interview students to see which strategies the students chose to implement. If the teacher observes that students are not using the strategies relevant to this type of expository writing, then the teacher should work with the student to select and utilize and appropriate strategy.

Modifications

Because the strategies listed utilize possible situations in the future, ELL students will have to learn the subjunctive tense. One easy way to introduce this tense to students is through “if-then” sentences. “If-then” sentences can be best used in an anecdote about a person using the invention. In the example of a student desk lamp invention used to see in dark spaces inside desks at school, the teacher can help the student to write, “If you can’t see, then you can turn on the light. Everyone uses a desk sometimes” or “If you can’t find your pencil, then the lamp will give light. Everyone loses a pencil sometime.”

North Carolina curriculum alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 4

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.06: Compose a draft that conveys major ideas and maintains focus on the topic with specific, relevant, supporting details by using preliminary plans.
    • Objective 4.07: Compose fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using self-selected and assigned topics and forms (e.g., personal and imaginative narratives, research reports, diaries, journals, logs, rules, instructions).