By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Writing a Process Essay

Writing a Process Essay

Once you finish prewriting, you are ready to create the first draft of your ideas. These writing activities will help you create a strong beginning, middle, and ending for your process essay. You'll also read another student's essay to see how all of the parts came together.

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

Write your beginning paragraph.

Write your lead sentence and move to your focus statement.

Lead Sentence

Detail Sentences

Focus Statement

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Prewriting for Process Essays

Prewriting for Process Essays

Prewriting is your first step in writing a process essay. These prewriting activities will help you select a topic to write about, create a focus statement, and gather and organize your details before you begin a first draft.

Prewriting to Focus Your Ideas

Plan your writing.

Use this sheet to plan your process essay.

  1. List three things that you know how to do really well.
  2. Which of these three processes would you like to explain in an essay?
  3. What tools and materials do you need for this process?
  4. What steps would you list for doing this process?
  5. What special thought or feeling do you have about this process?
By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Reading a Process Paragraph and Essay

Reading a Process Paragraph and Essay

Before you explain a process, you'll want to see how others did so. This lesson shows you a process paragraph and a process essay, explaining each part. As you read them, think about how the writers put ideas together and how you might explain ideas in your process writing.

Reading a Process Paragraph

A process paragraph has three main parts. The topic sentence states the process. The body sentences describe the steps. The ending sentence wraps up the process. This paragraph describes the process of building a tree house.

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Sample Paragraph

Tree-House Summer

Topic SentenceLast summer, my friends and I built a tree house in my back yard. We started by designing the tree house. Body SentencesThen we listed materials we needed and found a store that sold building supplies. We took our list and the money we had saved and went shopping. We loaded everything into my dad’s van and headed back. The first thing we had to do was build a frame for the floor of the house. (My mom helped with that.) Next we used a rope to raise all the wood up into the tree. We then carefully nailed the boards to the frame, and we soon had a floor. After that, we added walls and a roof. Ending SentencesWe now had a great place to hang out for the rest of the summer!

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Warm-Up for Process Essays

Warm-Up for Process Essays

A process essay leads readers through a series of steps for getting something done. This lesson will help you think about different processes and which ones you might explain in an essay.

What Is a Process?

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Writing a Process Essay
(c) Thoughtful Learning 2016

A process is a series of steps for getting something done. For a bird, building a nest is a process. For a bee or a squirrel, gathering food is a process. And for a student, writing a process essay is, itself, a process.

What processes do you know how to do? What processes could you explain to others?

When you write a process essay, you explain how to do something or how something works. Each paragraph in your essay focuses on a step in the process. The sentences follow time order, leading the reader from start to finish.

Process writing helps you get the job done!

Watch the video "What Is a Process?"

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Editing and Publishing Narrative Paragraphs

Editing Narrative Paragraphs

After making big changes to improve your paragraph, you need to make little changes (editing) to correct any remaining errors. You'll look for problems with sentences, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, usage, and spelling. The following activities will help you edit your writing.

Editing for the Right Word

The words to, two, and too are easily confused because they sound exactly alike. However, each word means something different.

  • Two means the number 2.

    My family owns two dogs.

  • To indicates direction. It also is used with verbs.

    • I rode my bike to the zoo to see the polar bear.

  • Too means “also.”

    • Jason likes karate, too.

Choose the right word (two, to, too).

Select the correct word in parentheses.

  1. My ( two, to, too ) brothers are coming ( two, to, too ) the show. My ( two, to, too ) brothers are coming ( two, to, too ) the show.
  2. Are you going ( two, to, too ) see the movie, ( two, to, too )? Are you going ( two, to, too ) see the movie, ( two, to, too )?
  3. Quinn and I are like ( two, to, too ) peas in a pod. Quinn and I are like ( two, to, too ) peas in a pod.
  4. The ( two, to, too ) squirrels jumped from tree ( two, to, too ) tree. The ( two, to, too ) squirrels jumped from tree ( two, to, too ) tree.
  5. I’m ready ( two, to, too ) spend some time with my cousins. I’m ready ( two, to, too ) spend some time with my cousins.
  6. Vinny ran ( two, to, too ) his room ( two, to, too ) find his ( two, to, too ) video-game controllers. Vinny ran ( two, to, too ) his room ( two, to, too ) find his ( two, to, too ) video-game controllers.
  7. Horses like apples, and I do, ( two, to, too ). Horses like apples, and I do, ( two, to, too ).
  8. ( Two, To, Too ) of my best friends live in my neighborhood. ( Two, To, Too ) of my best friends live in my neighborhood.
  9. I used a search engine ( two, to, too ) find information about ( two, to, too ) art contests. I used a search engine ( two, to, too ) find information about ( two, to, too ) art contests.
  10. I, ( two, to, too ), enjoy reading books. I, ( two, to, too ), enjoy reading books.
By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Revising Narrative Paragraphs

Revising Narrative Paragraphs

Once you finish writing your narrative paragraph, you'll be ready to start revising. When you revise, you think about the "big picture": your topic and details and the way you build your paragraph using transitions. These activities will help you revise.

Revising for Time Order

Review the order of actions.

Use a time line to list the actions from your paragraph. Review the list to make sure the actions are in time order (in the order they happened). Rearrange any actions that are out of order.

  1. Action 1
  2. Action 2
  3. Action 3
  4. Action 4
  5. Action 5
By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Writing a Narrative Paragraph

Writing a Narrative Paragraph

Once you finish prewriting, you are ready to write your paragraph. These writing activities will help you create a topic sentence, body sentences, and an ending sentence. You'll also read another student's paragraph to see how all of the parts came together.

Writing the Topic Sentence

Your narrative paragraph should begin with a topic sentence. It names the topic and shares a specific thought or feeling about it.

Sample Topic Sentence 1:

Whitewater rafting with my family was a crazy adventure.

  • Topic: Whitewater rafting with my family
  • Special Thought: A crazy adventure

Sample Topic Sentence 2:

I’ll never forget the time I saw the playful polar bear.

  • Topic: The playful polar bear
  • Special Feeling: Never forget seeing it

Write your topic sentence.

Respond to the first two items below, and use your responses to help you write a topic sentence for your narrative paragraph.

  1. Name your topic.
  2. Share a specific thought or feeling about it.
  3. Write your topic sentence.
By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Prewriting for Narrative Paragraphs

Prewriting for Narrative Paragraphs

Prewriting is your first step in writing a narrative paragraph. These prewriting activities will help you select a memory to write about, create a focus statement, and gather and organize your details before you begin a first draft.

Prewriting to Choose Your Topic

Your narrative paragraph will share a special memory from your life. Here’s how you can get started.

Gather writing topics.

Finish the sentence starters below to collect writing ideas for your narrative. Draw a star next to the topic you like best.

  1. One of my favorite times with my best friend was . . .
  2. I’ll never forget the holiday when . . .
  3. I’ll never forget my family vacation to . . .
  4. One crazy thing my family did was . . .
  5. I’ll always remember the first time I . . .
  6. An exciting time in my neighborhood was when . . .

Teaching Tip

Students may also decide to use a writing topic from the “My Memory Wishes” activity.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Reading a Narrative Paragraph

Reading a Narrative Paragraph

Before you capture your own memory wish in a narrative paragraph, you should read a similar paragraph created by a different student. As you read and respond to the paragraph, think about how the writer made the memory come to life for the reader.

Reading a Narrative Paragraph

A narrative paragraph tells a true story from the writer’s life. It has three main parts. The topic sentence introduces the topic of the story. The body sentences tell what happened in the story. And the ending sentence wraps up the story. The sample paragraph tells about a special trip to the zoo.

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Sample Paragraph

Polar Bear Games

Topic SentenceI’ll never forget the time I saw the playful polar bear. My family and I were at the polar bear pen at the zoo. Inside the pen, a white polar bear named Amelia was wrestling with a log. Body SentencesThe bear rolled around and tossed the log into the air. Then she batted it into a giant swimming pool. But the polar bear wasn’t done with the log just yet. She leaped into the water and disappeared. “Let’s go down to the water-window!” I said, so my sister and I raced down to find her. Next, we pressed our faces against the glass, and the playful polar bear swam right in front us.Ending Sentences And guess what? She had the log tucked under her arm!

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Warm-Up for Narrative Paragraphs

Warm-Up for Narrative Paragraphs

Writing a Personal Narrative
(c) Thoughtful Learning 2016

This lesson will help you think about important memories you have that you would like to share in a narrative paragraph.

What Is a Narrative Paragraph?

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A narrative paragraph is a short piece of writing that captures an important moment in your life. Narrative is another word for "story."

Your mind is like a bank for memories. It saves and stores special moments from your life for you to remember and enjoy. For example, what about that day that you hit the winning home run? In a narrative, you pull out a memory from your mind bank and tell the story to others. This unit will show you how to turn a special moment from your life into a story for readers to enjoy.

Thinking About Special Memories

Wouldn’t it be neat if you could experience something great all over again? Imagine if a genie granted you the power to relive three of your favorite memories. What memories would you do over?

Here’s how one student used his three memory wishes.