Descriptive Writing
Objectives:
To identify concrete nouns
To generate sensory details to describe given objects
To write a descriptive paragraph with concrete and sensory details and spatial transitions
Concrete details
Concrete details
general noun
concrete noun
Sensory details
Share out sensory details: fruit
Read this descriptive paragraph:
The landscape was full of mystery and of life. The autumn was in full bloom. The sun cast a golden light upon the adobe walls and the cornfields; it set fire to the leaves of willows and cottonwoods along the river; and a fresh, cold wind ran down from the canyons and carried the good scents of pine and cedar smoke, of bread baking in the beehive ovens, and of rain in the mountains. There were horses in the plain and angles of geese in the sky.
N. Scott Momaday
What is the topic sentence?
The landscape was full of mystery and of life. The autumn was in full bloom. The sun cast a golden light upon the adobe walls and the cornfields; it set fire to the leaves of willows and cottonwoods along the river; and a fresh, cold wind ran down from the canyons and carried the good scents of pine and cedar smoke, of bread baking in the beehive ovens, and of rain in the mountains. There were horses in the plain and angles of geese in the sky.
N. Scott Momaday
Identify the concrete and sensory details:
The landscape was full of mystery and of life. The autumn was in full bloom. The sun cast a golden light upon the adobe walls and the cornfields; it set fire to the leaves of willows and cottonwoods along the river; and a fresh, cold wind ran down from the canyons and carried the good scents of pine and cedar smoke, of bread baking in the beehive ovens, and of rain in the mountains. There were horses in the plain and angles of geese in the sky.
N. Scott Momaday
Show; don’t tell
Show; don’t tell
Show; don’t tell
“Show! Don’t Tell!”�Independent practice
The girl played at recess.
Spatial Transitions
Identify Spatial Transitions
The sun was still red and large: the sky above cloudless, and light blue glaze poured over baking clay: but close over the ground a dirty grey haze hovered. As they followed the lane towards the sea they came to a place where, yesterday, a fair-sized spring had bubbled up by the roadside. Now it was dry. But even as they passed some water splashed out, and then it was dry again, although gurgling inwardly to itself. But the group of children were hot, far too hot to speak to one another: they sat on their ponies as loosely as possible, longing for the sea.
Richard Hughes
Descriptive paragraph assignment: