Monday
Monday: Topic and Topic Sentence
Rocket sets a cardboard model of the skate ramp on the Signal Desk. It has two sides and a painted line.
"This week I explain the ramp," he says. "Everything about it. Every board."
Raven lays three rows of index cards beside the model. "Everything is not a topic. What do you notice about these cards?"
Rocket reads them. "Your notes. The two sides, the rules, the drain, the tarp."
"Facts," Raven says. "An explanation is built from facts you can point to, not from everything you remember."
Nova hovers over the first row of cards, her light steady. "Start with one sentence that tells the reader what you will explain," she says. "The rest will line up behind it."
Learn it: what an explanatory text does
An explanatory text teaches a reader about a topic. It does not tell a story, and it does not argue for one side. It explains.
The topic sentence tells the reader what the piece is about and hints at how it will be organized.
Raven thinks aloud: "The mentor text says every part of the Signal Desk has a job. So I know the piece will go part by part, and each part will get its job explained."
This week you write your own explanatory text about the skate ramp. Every fact comes from Raven's notes below, and nowhere else.
- Name the topic in one clear sentence.
- Hint at the plan: part by part, step by step, or reason by reason.
- Keep the topic small enough to explain well in a few sections.
Read it: a mentor text
This explainer ran in this week's Signal. Its first sentence is the topic sentence.
The Signal Desk is a porch corner that works as a newsroom, and every part of it has a job.
The long wooden table is where drafts are written and read. It seats four writers with room for a stack of paper.
Above the table hangs the corkboard. Story ideas go there on cards, joined by string to show which stories connect.
Beside the corkboard sit the jars of pencils. Each jar holds one kind: soft pencils for drafting and hard pencils for neat copies.
Finally, the reading lamp lights the table after dusk, because many drafts are read aloud in the evening.
Together, these four parts turn a porch corner into a place where a newspaper gets made every week.
- Read the question.
- Tap your answer.
Read it: the given text
These are Raven's notes about the skate ramp. Your explainer this week uses only facts from these notes.
The ramp sits at the end of Maple Street, beside the path and the storm drain.
Neighbors built it from wood over three weekends, and the crew painted it.
It has two sides: a low side for beginners and a tall side for experienced skaters.
A painted yellow line down the middle keeps the two sides apart.
The sign lists three rules: helmets on, one skater at a time on the tall side, scooters welcome.
Rocket checks the storm drain after every rain so the bottom stays dry.
The ramp is busiest after school and on Saturday mornings.
In winter, neighbors cover it with a green tarp and tie the corners down.
| About explanatory writing | True or false? |
|---|---|
| An explanatory text teaches a reader about a topic. | ? |
| An explanatory text should argue that the reader must agree. | ? |
| The topic sentence can hint at how the piece is organized. | ? |
| Facts in your ramp explainer may come from anywhere you like. | ? |
- Read the question.
- Tap your answer.
My topic sentence hints at the plan, such as part by part.
I can point to a note in the given text for every fact I plan to use.
Topic chosen, first sentence written. Tomorrow you turn the three groups into three sections.