Activity Objective

The goal of Five Senses Graphic Organizer: A Planning Strategy for Descriptive Writing is to provide students with a strategy to organize and guide their writing by introducing a graphic organizer that encourages students to use their five senses.

What You Need

Prep Time:

10-20 minutes
- Prepare Five Senses chart

Task Time:

30-40 minutes
- Teacher and students discuss recent event
- Teacher presents Five Senses chart
- Students brainstorm ideas for Five Senses chart
- Students complete individual Five Senses chart and write a report on a recent event
- Students share reports

Materials Required:

Teacher:
- Chart paper
- Markers

Students:
- Lined paper
- Pencils

What You Do

Teacher Role:

Direct instruction:
- when introducing writing task and presents Five Senses chart

Modeling:
- while students brainstorm ideas for Five Senses chart and teacher completes chart

Consultant:
- while students complete individual chart and write report

Student Grouping:

Whole class:
- during discussions, presentation of chart, brainstorming session and sharing

Individual:
- during report writing

Assessment Ideas:

- Use a checklist to track use of interesting words and details in their graphic organizer and report

- Use a rubric to assess students' ability to write a report

- Record anecdotal comments on students' report as a formative assessment

Quick Tips

Activity Extensions:

- Create a whole class book of the school event by including each student's report in the "big book"

- Have the students write a second draft of their report and allow them to choose to write their report as a small book, comic or written paragraph

- At the writing center have information for report writing available including the Five Senses chart and non-fiction texts

- Record the new and interesting words on a separate piece of chart paper with the heading "Expand Vocabulary"

Additional Comments:

- Before brainstorming ideas to include in the graphic organizer it is important for students to activate their schema. Encourage students to tell about the event in detail so that all of the students are able to participate fully.

- Post a new Five Senses chart up as an anchor chart in the classroom and continue to refer to it during writing workshops. Providing students with multiple opportunities to practice using a specific strategy or graphic organizer will help them become more familiar with using it during the writing process.

- Providing opportunities for students to write about meaningful events to which they are familiar and creates a real context for learning. Within a context for learning students are enthusiastic and motivated for writing.

Other Adaptations/Modifications:

- Provide proximity seating during whole class instruction for students who require cues for refocus