Five-Paragraph Essay Lesson Plan: Producing Writing
*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Five-Paragraph Essay Lesson Plan.
This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic, Five-Paragraph Essay, and addresses standards about developing an organized piece of writing with a clear thesis, relevant details, and a concluding statement. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
As a class, or individually, have students read Tim’s model essay, The Case For a Longer School Year. Ask:
- What argument is Tim making in his essay?
- What are his reasons or evidence for his argument?
- Is Tim’s argument persuasive? Why or why not?
- What is the purpose of the first paragraph? middle paragraphs? Last paragraph?
Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND
- Read aloud the description on the Five-Paragraph Essay topic page.
- Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
- Pair students and have them read one of the two Related Readings articles, then share what they learned with each other.
Step 3: ENGAGE
Students express what they learned about writing five-paragraph essays while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.
- Make-a-Movie: Produce a movie where you present a persuasive argument that follows the format of a five-paragraph essay. (Essential Literacy Skill: Draw evidence to support analysis)
- Make-a-Map: Create a concept map that shows the features of each paragraph in a five-paragraph essay. (Essential Literacy Skill: Summarize key details)
- Creative Coding: Code a meme that shows the benefits of using the five-paragraph essay format. (Essential Literacy Skill: Make logical inferences from specific details)
Step 4: APPLY & ASSESS
Apply: Students complete a Graphic Organizer, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.
Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Five-Paragraph Essay Quiz
Step 5: EXTEND LEARNING
Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of the writing process with these topics: Types of Writing, Writing in Sequence, Research, and Outlines.
Additional Support Resources:
- Modifications for BrainPOP Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
- BrainPOP Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.