Lesson Plan of Concept of Paragraph
English Grade IV
Students’ Learning Outcomes
· Show relationship between sentences in a paragraph.
· Identify paragraph as larger meaningful unit of expression representing unity of thought.
Information for Teachers
· A paragraph is a short-term portion of writing that’s about seven to ten sentences long. It has a topic sentence and backup sentences that all narrate closely to the topic sentence. The paragraph form denotes to its general construction, which is a group of sentences concentrating on a single topic.
· A paragraph is a group of sentences which all narrate to one main idea or topic. Real paragraphs have four main features: a topic sentence, unity, agreement, and tolerable development..
· Relate the process of combining sentences to make a paragraph with a familiar activity, like joining bricks to make a wall or joining the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to make a picture.
· Unity of thought means that all ideas are associated and narrate to one topic.
· While teaching the lesson, the teacher should also consult the textbook at all the steps where and when required.
Material / Resources
Chalk/marker, board, textbook, charts
Worm up activity
· Read out some disconnected sentences to the students.
· Then read out a short paragraph.
· Invite students’ comments on the difference between the two.
· Ask them question such as:
Ø Which one did you enjoy more? Why?
Ø Which one can you remember more easily? Why?
· Sample disconnected sentences:
1) There was a white rabbit in a park.
2) There was a monkey in the jungle.
3) Two children lived in a house.
4) A hungry lion was looking for food.
5) It was a rainy day.
· Sample paragraph:
(A white rabbit lived in a park. One day he smelt some carrots in a house. He ran inside the house through an open window. There he saw Bubbly and Gouda eating carrots. He jumped on their table and ran away with one carrot!)
Development
Activity 1
· Tell the students that they will make a paragraph wall today.
· Write the topic on the board ‘Possessions That Make Me Happy’.
· Create sets of 12 students.
· Each pair gives a sentence about the topic. Write these sentences on the board without making any correction. You will have eight sentences from each pair.
· When all sentences have been engraved, ask the students “Are all the sentences making sense together? Have some ideas been repeated? Have we used pronouns? Can we re-order the sentences to make more sense of meaning?” Can we connect any sentences by using the words we studied earlier? (e.g. but, and, firstly, then, finally) (This is for the revision of transitional words).
· Request them to re-write the paragraph to develop the preparation. Students can do this in pairs but all must write in their notebooks.
· Remind the students that they must write the main sentence first, then body and then end.
· They must use pronouns and transitional devices (joining words to show relationship in sentences in the paragraph).
Activity 2
· Two pairs sit together and check each other’s work.
· They can look at each other’s work to see how their friends have arranged the sentences.
· They must use all sentences given on the board.
· They must also see if they have used the pronouns and transitional devices. Help them to correct each other’s work.
· Move around in the class and help students improve their work.
Sum up / Conclusion
· Ask some students to read out their work loudly to the class.
· Generously appreciate the good work, as an encouragement, and motivation for others.
· Conclude the lesson by telling the class that sentence connection is very important to have unity of thought.
Assessment
· Assess students’ responses in class and their written work.
· Involve the students in solving problems given in the exercise at the end of unit/chapter.
Follow up
· Underline the pronouns and joining words (transitional devices) in any passage of the textbook.
· Encourage them to:
Ø Use these devices in their oral communication too.
Ø Practice writing more paragraphs on other topics.