Grade 5

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Warm-Up For Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

Warm-Up for Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

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.

Watch the video "Command Sentences."

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By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

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 means—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

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 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.

List three things that you know how to do really well.
Which of these three processes would you like to explain in an essay?
What tools and materials do you need for this process?
What steps would you list for doing this process?
What special thought or feeling do you have about this process?

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

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

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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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.

My ( two, to, too ) brothers are coming ( two, to, too ) the show. My ( two, to, too ) brothers are coming ( two, to, too ) the show.
Are you going ( two, to, too ) see the movie, ( two, to, too )? Are you going ( two, to, too ) see the movie, ( two, to, too )?
Quinn and I are like ( two, to, too ) peas in a pod. Quinn and I are like ( two, to, too ) peas in a pod.
The ( two, to, too ) squirrels jumped from tree ( two, to, too ) tree. The ( two, to, too ) squirrels jumped from tree ( two, to, too ) tree.
I’m ready ( two, to, too ) spend some time with my cousins. I’m ready ( two, to, too ) spend some time with my cousins.
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.
Horses like apples, and I do, ( two, to, too ). Horses like apples, and I do, ( two, to, too ).
( Two, To, Too ) of my best friends live in my neighborhood. ( Two, To, Too ) of my best friends live in my neighborhood.
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.
I, ( two, to, too ), enjoy reading books. I, ( two, to, too ), enjoy reading books.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

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.

Action 1
Action 2
Action 3
Action 4
Action 5

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

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.

Name your topic.
Share a specific thought or feeling about it.
Write your topic sentence.

Grade 5