1.1
What Makes a Good Personal Narrative?
WARM-UP
TEACH
READ, LISTEN, SPEAK Explain that the tone a writer uses conveys the writer’s feelings about a subject. Share the three sentences you wrote from yesterday’s For Tomorrow homework as an example. Have students discuss in small groups the sentences they wrote. Invite groups to describe the tone used in each sentence. Have students decide which words and punctuation the writer used to convey that tone.
Refer to page 211 and discuss how the introduction, body, and conclusion function within a personal narrative.
ACTIVITY C If students need prompts to get started writing their sentences, suggest that they write about getting a new sibling, making a friend, going on a family vacation, meeting their best friend, or trying a new hobby.
PRACTICE
ACTIVITY D Remind students that the body of a personal narrative describes the details of the event and that it is important to make sure that these details are relevant. When students have finished the activity, have them share their word webs.
ACTIVITY B After students have completed the activity, invite volunteers to share their answers. Then discuss how students decided which sentences belong in the introduction, body, and conclusion.
GRAMMAR CONNECTION Take this opportunity to talk about concrete and abstract nouns. You may wish to have students point out concrete and abstract nouns in their Read, Listen, Speak examples.
ACTIVITY B Each group of sentences comes from a different personal narrative. Decide which sentence would be part of the introduction, which would be part of the body, and which would be the concluding statement of the narrative.
1. • I couldn’t believe it when my dad pointed to our box seats behind the dugout on the third-base side.
• A stop at our favorite pizza restaurant on the way home was the perfect ending to my perfect day.
• It had started out being an ordinary Saturday, when all I wanted to do was sleep in.
2. • The butterflies are quiet, I’ve already made some new friends, and I know this will be the best school year ever.
• It was the night before my first day at middle school, and the butterflies in my stomach were in a flutter.
• I smiled as a friend from my last school sat down next to me. 3. • After three stories and two glasses of water, she finally gave in and took a nap.
• With a crying toddler, milk spilled on the floor, and the doorbell ringing, I wondered if I would make it as a babysitter.
• An exhausted but proud first-time babysitter, I beamed and said, “Everything’s fine!” when the parents returned.
4. • Weavers learned how to twist its fibers into cloth, and shoemakers made shoes from its bark.
• It’s no wonder with all these uses that the Egyptians valued papyrus so highly!
• The whole life of ancient Egypt seemed to depend on the papyrus plant.
ACTIVITY C Think about an interesting event from your own life. Write a sentence that could be part of the introduction about that event, a sentence that could be in the body, and a sentence that could be part of the conclusion. Keep in mind the things you read about personal narratives on pages 212 and 213. Egyptian papyrus
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214 • Chapter 1
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Chapter 1