Paragraph Writing Activities for K-3

As readers, your children will need to recognize ways paragraphs are developed. Two of the most common ways are through examples and cause and effect.

For all of the ideas below, you can brainstorm ideas with your children, record their ideas on chart paper, and let children write individual paragraphs. The topic sentence (given) will be developed by either examples or causes/effects. With K-3, you won’t need to teach concluding sentences as part of paragraphs.

K-3 -- As a group (with teacher modeling) – at least 5-6 sentences

K-1 – individual paragraphs – 3-4 sentences

2-3 – individual paragraphs – 4-5 sentences – These sentences will probably be longer than K-1 sentences.

# / Idea / Type of Development / Notes
1 / My teacher helps us learn.
Question to ask: What does your teacher do to help you learn? / examples / Some teachers struggle with this one because they’re too modest. You can “trade” classes with another teacher for a day. 
2 / _____ is wonderful.
Support staff or administrators / cause and effect, reasons / This activity is a “wonderful” way to recognize people who are sometimes overlooked. Have your children generate the list, then you could have individual children copy reasons. Let the entire class sign the page. Borders will work. Put the page in a frame, and present the gift.
3 / My school is a wonderful place. / cause and effect
reasons
4 / Winter (Feel free to change the season.) is a wonderful time of year. / cause and effect
reasons
5 / ____ (child’s name) is a great person. / cause and effect
reasons / If you do this one, be prepared to do one for every child in the class. 
6 / I love sweet foods.
I love salty foods.
I love crunchy foods.
I love fresh foods. / examples / Brainstorm lists; let children choose one to write about. You’ll probably want to give children a number of examples to include. You’ll also probably want to brainstorm synonyms for “good” to describe the foods.
7 / There are many ways to have fun outside. / examples
8 / There are many ways to have fun when the electricity goes off. / examples
9 / ____ is one of my favorite people. / cause and effect
reasons
10 / ____ is my favorite time during the school day. / cause and effect
reasons
11 / ___ is an interesting animal. / cause and effect
reasons / This one may require some research.
12 / ___ is an animal (insect) almost no one likes. / cause and effect
reasons / Explain why.
13 / I want to be a ____ (occupation). / cause and effect
reasons / You may want to have students talk about this idea at home before you try it with your whole class. Although the list of careers may be long the list of reasons will probably apply to many possible occupations.
14 / We should (should not) come to school in the summer. / cause and effect
reasons / You’ll want to generate lists for both sides and let children choose reasons.
15 / A dog (cat) is a wonderful pet. / reasons / 2nd, 3rd – After generating reasons for “great” pets, let children choose a pet.
16 / Thank you letters to people who serve the community – police, firefighters / cause and effect
reasons / Send the letters.
17 / A book every 1st grader(Change to fit.) should read is ___ / cause and effect
reasons / Do have a specific book in mind, but be prepared to let children choose different books.
18 / ____ is an exciting sport. / cause and effect
reasons / Do begin with a specific sport, but be prepared to let children choose different ideas to write about.
19 / ___ is an exciting career. / cause and effect
reasons / This one could include research.
20 / ___ is a dangerous occupation. / cause and effect
reasons / This one could include research.
21 / I am good at ____. / cause and effect
reasons / Be prepared to brainstorm some specific ideas, such as (1) a specific sport; (2) a specific class; (3) good habits, for example, putting everything away
22 / What could you do with this box? / examples / You’ll need a box as a visual.
23 / What could you do with this string? / examples / You’ll need a string as a visual.
24 / If I wrote a book, the title would be ____. / cause and effect/reasons / Brainstorm with your children about things they know (topics). Help your children come up with creative titles.
25 / We can get exercise without special equipment. / examples
26 / One question an animal might ask a human? Why am I _____?
Why do you _____? / cause and effect
reasons / The paragraph will be answers to the question.
27 / Why should people pay attention to winter storm warnings? / cause and effect/reasons
28 / What are some things you can’t do when the electricity goes out? / examples
29 / ____ (occupation) helps many people. / examples
30 / ____ (animal) helps people. / examples
31 / One of my favorite possessions is ___. / cause and effect/reasons
32 / One of my favorite games is ____ / cause and effect/reasons
33 / I have a collection of ___.
I know somebody who collects ___. / examples
34 / My favorite snack is ____. / cause and effect/reasons
35 / The best time of day at school is ____. / cause and effect/reasons
36 / ____ is the best book (story) I’ve ever read. / cause and effect/reasons
37 / Everyone should try to get at least eight hours of sleep each night. / cause and effect/reasons
38 / When we go to recess, I like to ___ / examples
39 / When I won $50, I was so excited. I knew exactly what I could do with the money. / examples / Some children may intend to purchase only one item, and the remainder of the paragraph could explain why.
40 / I have some interesting things in my backpack. / examples
41 / When it rains, we have to do things differently. / examples
42 / There was a spider under the table. When they saw it, people had different reactions. / examples / Some teachers like to liven up this one with a fake spider. Whatever works!
43 / When the teacher went fishing, he/she caught many things that were not fish. / examples
44 / Mr. Jones knew he should have fixed the hole in the shed roof weeks ago. / cause and effect
reasons
45 / In the story ____, Ben is (kind) (brave) (adventurous). / examples
46 / If your eyes were on your elbows, how would your life be different? / examples / Be prepare to help your children brainstorm about things they could do . . . and things they could no longer do. Life will get interesting.
47 / If you could walk on ceilings when you chose, how would your life be different? / examples
48 / If no human was more than three feet tall, how would life be different? / examples
49 / If dogs could talk and came to school, how would school be different? / examples
50 / The house was haunted. / examples

Paragraph Starters for K-3 A. Hilterbrand 1