Paragraphs

Paragraphs

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about deciding where to start new paragraphs.
  1. Makere had to write his opinion about school uniforms. He organised his ideas well but he forgot to put in paragraph breaks. Read Makere's piece of writing. Then go back and draw a line (​​​) in each place a new paragraph is needed. The first one has been done for you.
 
ARE SCHOOL UNIFORMS A GOOD IDEA?
 
At some schools all the students have to wear school uniforms, and at other schools students can decide what they want to wear to school. Personally I think school uniforms are a good idea. There are a number of reasons for my opinion, which I will explain. The first reason why I think school uniforms are a good idea is that they give you a feeling of belonging and school pride. When you wear a uniform you look the same as everyone else at your school and that helps you feel as if you belong. If you go on a school trip people can recognise what school you are from because of your uniform. This helps you stand out from the students at other schools and also gives you a feeling of school pride and belonging. Another reason why school uniforms are a good idea is that they save money. Instead of having to buy a whole lot of different clothes your parents just have to buy one uniform that will last until you grow out of it. If you have younger brothers or sisters they can wear your uniform after you have grown out of it. That saves money too. Having a school uniform means that you don't have to worry about what you are going to wear each morning. Instead of trying on about three different outfits you just put on your school uniform straight away. This saves time. One advantage of this is that you can sleep in longer in the morning. In schools where there is no school uniform people can tease you about the clothes you wear. My friend goes to a school where there is no uniform and some people tease him because he gets his clothes from the Warehouse. It is not very nice to be teased about what you wear. If you have a school uniform everyone looks the same so no one can be mean about what other people wear. As you can see, there are many reasons why it is good to have a school uniform. Uniforms help develop a feeling of school pride, they save money, they save time, and they stop people from being teased about what they wear. For all of these reasons I am sure you will agree that uniforms are a good idea.
 
  1. On the lines below explain how Makere could work out when he needs to start new paragraphs in his writing. 
 
 
 
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper only.
Level:
3
Curriculum info: 
Description of task: 
Students read an essay on school uniforms then mark where the paragraph breaks should occur. The assessment focus is on organisation.
Curriculum Links: 
This resource can be used to help to identify students’ ability to create texts to meet the writing demands of the New Zealand Curriculum.
 

Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Writing:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use a text structure that is appropriate to purpose
  • demonstrate knowledge of how language works
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Writing at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with within the Writing Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
  

Y6 (09/2001)

a)

Award 1 mark for each correctly placed line. The correct answers are indicated in the box below.[If students have inserted more than four paragraph breaks, use the first four they insert for assessing this task.]

4 correct – very difficult3 correct – very difficult2 correct – difficult1 correct – easy

b)

You need to begin a new paragraph when you have/begin a new topic/subject/idea.

moderate