Transitions, transitions, transitions. The goal of any writer is to create a smooth, flowing piece, filled with interesting information, that their readers will enjoy. My 6th grade students are writing about a planet that they studied in science class. They researched the planet and filled out their planet chart during science. Then, we wrote all of the information into an informative paragraph in my ELA class.
I started the lesson off by having the students write the information on their planet into sentences using sentence starters. Next, I showed the PowerPoint from my HUB 6th Grade Expository Guide on transitional words and phrases. FYI- it is a great mini lesson and available in all Expository guides! I made a copy of the transitional phrases PDF for each student to have. From there, I had the students choose one boring sentence in their writing that they could make better. We revised these simple "before" sentences into elaborated complex ones by starting with a subordinating conjunction, including a word referent, and a transitional word or phrase from their handout.
Check out these before and after sentences!