Writing Tips: In Conclusion

I hope you got some ideas from reading my posts about topic sentences and detail sentences.  Today, I'm writing about one of the (what I think) hardest part of expository writing: the conclusion sentence.
Here's why I hate it so.

First of all, there are certain ways to write conclusion sentences that bu-hug me in a cotton ball rubbing kind of way. (I hate touching cotton balls. That freaky squeaky sound... bleh!)

Sentences like these:

In conclusion....
Lastly....
That is why...

They make me ca-razy.

I admit, sometimes that is all a second grader gots. And when it's all they gots, I am okay with that. But I like to aim high.

I teach my kiddos that the conclusion sentence restates the topic sentence in new words.  And I like them to do it.

If you've read the other posts, you know my drill.  We use information text from our class and school library to pick out models of the sentences we are learning to write.

Then we practice that skill in isolation. (What I mean by that is, these conclusion sentences are not part of a writing project. They are just to practice the craft of writing conclusions.)

Students work in pairs and write a conclusion sentence that restates the topic sentence.

I gave them a topic sentence to restate. The topic sentence was:

"There are no other animals on Earth that look exactly like a Zebra!"


I got some good ones! I was impressed since this was my first lesson on conclusion sentences!


"No animal looks like a Zebra."
"Zebras can not be compared to other kids of animals" (Not really true, but they are getting close!)



"There are no animals like Zebras." (Again, not really true, but they are kind of understanding!)
"Zebras don't look like other animals."
"Every animal is different, especially the Zebra."

And my absolute favorite...

"Zebras are very different than other animals like dogs."

Um.... Well, thank goodness for that!

Tee hee!

After this lesson, we just practice and practice.

Pretty soon most of my kiddos will be able to write a conclusion sentence without saying my pet peeve conclusion starters!

Hope you had a great week, everyone! Hopefully you can use this little tip! :)



7 comments

  1. Nice job!! Those are great! Your kids really are getting it! :)

    Katie
    Smiles from 2nd Grade

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks like your kids are getting good at concluding sentences! That is so hard for some of them to learn. These are really good!
    --Chrissy
    Firstgradefoundme.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. We teach writing very similarly! I agree that teaching a skill in isolation is very important!

    Happy Sunday :)

    Halle
    Across the Hall in 2nd Grade

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love all of your tips for teaching writing. that is one area where I feel like I am really lacking. Thanks for the great ideas!

    Kelly @ I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love this idea for a mini lesson!! Totally stealing! Love!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great idea! I need to work on this ASAP!

    Aloha,
    Corinna

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great idea to teach the skills in isolation instead of part of writing project! I'll have to remember that!

    ReplyDelete

Back to Top