Grade 3

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Reading an Opinion Paragraph and Essay

Reading an Opinion Paragraph and Essay

Before you write your own essay, you can read an opinion paragraph and essay that others wrote. As you read, think about how the writers put ideas together and how you might support an opinion in your essay.

Reading an Opinion Paragraph

An opinion paragraph has three main parts. The topic sentence states the opinion. The body sentences support the opinion with reasons. The ending sentence restates or emphasizes the opinion.

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Sample Paragraph

Keep Art

Topic Sentence:
Opinion Waterford schools must keep the art program. The School Board has said that art may be cut because of money issues. Before they decide, the board members need to understand certain things about art. First of all, art helps students learn. When students work on an art project, they plan, experiment, and make choices. Working like this will help them learn in all their classes. Body Sentences:
Reasons Second, art helps students express themselves. In art classes, students create their own projects rather than answer questions or read chapters. And finally, art helps students understand their world. Art is part of our culture, and students need to participate in this culture. Because of its value, the School Board should Ending Sentence:
Call to Action think of creative ways to keep art rather than just cutting it.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Warm-Up for Opinion Essays

Warm-Up for Opinion Essays

An opinion essay makes a case for a personal feeling you have about an important topic. This lesson will help you think about your opinions on different topics and your reasons for feeling the way you do.

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What Is an Opinion?

Writing Opinion Essays
(c) Thoughtful Learning 2016

An opinion essay explains a writerā€™s view about an important topic. Stating an opinion is easy: ā€œI love that movie!ā€ you might say, even though your friend might feel differently, or ā€œI canā€™t wait for gym,ā€ even though a classmate dreads it. Giving reasons for your opinion is not as easy. It requires you to think about why you feel the way you do.

Writing an opinion essay is all about careful thinking. Your opinion statement must be well thought out, and it must be supported by reliable reasons. As a result, opinion essays usually require some research. Once you have gathered your reasons, you can arrange them from most important to least important, or the other way around. In the end, your goal is to produce an essay that convinces your reader to agree with you.

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Thinking About Opinions

For an opinion to be strong, it must be believable and worthy of arguing for. It must also be based on a foundation of solid thinking. Here is a strong opinion statement.

  • Lincoln School should consider starting a chess club.

    (A phrase like should consider signals that an opinion is probably reasonable.)
By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Editing and Publishing Summaries

Editing Summaries

After revising your summary, 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 instructions will help you edit and publish your writing.

Editing in Action

When you edit, you check to make sure your paragraph is correct.

  • Paragraph Before Edits

    Editing

  • A proper noun was capitalized and a usage and agreement error was fixed.

    Editing

  • Paragraph After Edits

    Editing
By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Revising Summaries

Revising Summaries

Once you draft your summary, take a quick break and come back to it to see it freshly. When you revise, you make sure the source is cited and all the key ideas are in order. These activities will help you revise.

Revising to Cite Sources

In your topic sentence, you should add the title and author of the text you are summarizing. By doing so, you cite the source of the ideas. Try these strategies:

  • Add an introductory part:

According to ā€œK-Pop Goes Globalā€ by Frances Blake, Korean pop music is gaining a worldwide following through a mix of sound and technology.

  • Make the title the subject:

Frances Blakeā€™s article ā€œK-Pop Goes Globalā€ describes how Korean pop music is gaining a worldwide following through a mix of sound and technology.

  • Add an introductory part and make the author the subject:

In the article ā€œK-Pop Goes Global,ā€ Frances Blake writes that Korean pop music is gaining a worldwide following through a mix of sound and technology.

Cite the source.

Use some of the strategies above to add the title and author to the following topic sentences. Then add the title and author of ā€œThe Modern Day Magellanā€ to the topic sentence of your summary.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Reading an Article and Summary

Reading Summaries

Before you write your own summary of an article, you'll want to see how others did so. In this lesson, you'll read a sample article and summary. As you read them, think about what parts of the original article are included in the summary.

Reading a Sample Article and Summary

A summary identifies the key information in a text, condenses it, and states it using the writerā€™s own words. Read this article about a popular type of music and think about the main idea and key information.

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Sample Article

Title

K-Pop Goes Global

Author

by Frances Blake

Korean pop music, or ā€˜K-popā€™ as itā€™s more commonly called, has already taken over Asiaā€™s music scene and is gaining more fans in the West all the time. Beginning But what is it about K-pop that is attracting so many listeners? Itā€™s K-popā€™s unique blend of sound and technology.

To begin with, the music of these young Korean pop stars is unique and captivating with its energetic mix of musical styles, including hip-hop, techno, R&B, and even dubstep. Middle

Where American or British pop groups rarely have more than four or five members, itā€™s common for K-pop groups like Girls' Generation to include nine or ten singers. Members of the groups are recruited at an early age by Korean record companies, and the young musicians must train for two years singing and dancing before they can join a group. ā€œEvery time they perform a song, itā€™s got to be perfect,ā€ says record company owner Yi Yuen.

Ending

Itā€™s not just the music that attracts fans to the genre. K-pop groups produce larger-than-life music videos complete with multicolored light shows, impressive choreography, and several outfit changes. Listeners keep track of their favorite K-pop groups on the Internet and follow group members on social media Web sites like Twitter. One music video by the group 2NE1 has over 100 million views on YouTube. K-popā€™s international influence shows no signs of slowing down soon.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Warm-Up For Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

Warm-Up for Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

Writing a Process Essay
(c) Thoughtful Learning 2016

Summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting all involve using key details from other sources in your own writing. This lesson will help you get a feel for summarizing.

What Is Summarizing?

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Summarizing means identifying the key information in a text, condensing it, and putting it in your own words. In this unit, you will learn the steps to writing an effective summary. You will also learn about two other research skills called paraphrasing and quoting.

All three skills will help you decide what ideas from other sources are most important. These skills will allow you to write about information from other sources and use the information fairly.

Thinking by Summarizing

Read the comic strip below called Black Ducks. Study the pictures, read the speech bubbles, and think about the key information. Then read the summary that explains the comic strip.

Episode 74

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Editing and Publishing Process Essays

Editing Process Essays

After making big changes to improve your process essay, 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 Command Sentences

Commands usually start with verbs.

Clean the cage. Change the bedding. Fill the bottle.

What about a subject? Commands have implied subjects: you.

(You) Clean the cage. (You) Change the bedding. (You) Fill the bottle.

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By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Revising Process Essays

Revising Process Essays

Once you finish a first draft of your process essay, set it aside for awhile. When you return to it, you can see it anew. That's what revising meansā€”seeing your work with new eyes. When you revise, you look at your essay from your reader's perspective to make sure you have included all of the important ideas and placed them in the best structure. These activities will help you revise.

Revising to Elaborate Details

To explain something, you need to elaborate. When you elaborate, you use different types of details to explain an idea.

Step 2: Get a cage

Next, you need to get a cage for your hamster.

Detail 1: Metal cages

Metal cages let the air flow through.

Detail 2: Plastic cages

Plastic cages can have all kinds of tubes for exercise.

Detail 3: Cage features

You need a water bottle, food dish, and wheel for running.

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?
Grade 3