Tips for teaching concluding sentences to 2nd graders.

📚 What's the Big Idea?

Concluding sentences are like the final piece of a puzzle that completes a paragraph. They wrap up the main idea and leave the reader with a lasting impression. For second graders, it's all about making sure they understand the paragraph is finished and they are reminded of what it was about!

🎯 Learning Objectives

• 🎯 Students will be able to identify the concluding sentence in a paragraph.
• ✍️ Students will be able to write a concluding sentence that summarizes the main idea of a paragraph.
• 🗣️ Students will be able to explain the purpose of a concluding sentence.

📝 Materials

• 📃 Chart paper or whiteboard
• 🖍️ Markers
• ✂️ Pre-written paragraphs (with and without concluding sentences)
• 📒 Student notebooks or worksheets

☀️ Warm-up (5 minutes)

Paragraph Puzzles:

• 🧩 Present the students with short paragraphs printed on strips of paper, cut into sentences.
• 🤝 Have them work in pairs to arrange the sentences into a logical order to form a complete paragraph.
• 💬 Discuss with the class how they knew where the paragraph should end. Introduce the idea of a 'finishing sentence'.

🧑‍🏫 Main Instruction

1. 🔍 Identifying Concluding Sentences

   • 🧐 Start by showing examples of well-written paragraphs *with* concluding sentences.
   • 🗣️ Read the paragraphs aloud, emphasizing the concluding sentence.
   • ❓ Ask students what the sentence does. Guide them to understand it summarizes the paragraph.
   • 💡 Examples:
     • "In conclusion, dogs make great pets because they are loyal and fun."
     • "To sum up, eating healthy foods helps us grow big and strong."

2. ✍️ Writing Concluding Sentences

   • 🪜 Break down the process into simple steps:
     • ✅ Remind students to identify the main idea of the paragraph.
     • ✅ Encourage them to restate the main idea in different words.
     • ✅ Show them how to use phrases like "In conclusion," "To sum up," or "Therefore."
   • 📝 Provide sentence starters:
     • "In summary, this shows that…"
     • "To conclude, we can see…"
     • "Therefore, it is clear that…"

3. ✂️ Paragraph Completion Activity

   • 📃 Give each student a paragraph *without* a concluding sentence.
   • 🧑‍🎓 Have them write their own concluding sentences to complete the paragraph.
   • 🤝 Share and discuss the different concluding sentences as a class.

✅ Assessment

Concluding Sentence Quiz

1. Present short paragraphs. Ask students to choose the best concluding sentence from a set of options.
2. Present short paragraphs. Ask students to write their own concluding sentence.