Writing
I Descriptive writing
Descriptive writing tells what a person, place, or thing is like. Good descriptive writing does these things:
→ It uses details to create a picture.
→ It groups details together in an order that makes sense.
→ It uses describing words to tell how something looks, sounds, feels, smells, or tastes.
? The details you include create “word pictures”
Learning from writers
Notice the details in this piece of writing. How do the authors use details to create a picture in your mind?
Beautiful Music
Soliyana and Ets-Biruk are talking to a blind man. The blind man plays beautiful music on his harmonica. But he has no friends.
Soliyana’s eyes were closed, and She was smiling. After a while, Ets-Biruk turned to the man and said, “Would you like to take a walk with us tomorrow?” The music became so soft and quiet they could barely hear it. Then the dark room filled with wild, happy music. It bounced from wall to wall. Soliyana and Ets-Biruk looked at each other. They couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
-Ezra Jack Keats from Apt. 3
How the music is described in “Beautiful Music”
The music became so soft and quiet they could barely hear it. Then the dark room filled with wild, happy music.
How things look and sound in “Beautiful Music”
Then the dark room filled with wild, happy music. It bounced from wall to wall.
What details create picture of Soliyana as she listens to the music?
Soliyana’s eyes were closed, and she was smiling.
II Personal Narrative
A personal narrative tells about something that happened to you. When you write a personal narrative, you tell what you did and how you feel. A good personal narrative does these things.
→It tells a story from personal experience.
→It has a good beginning and ending.
→It uses time-order words to show that things happened in a certain order.
Read these personal narratives. Notice how the authors begin and end their stories.
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The Relatives Came It was in the summer of the year when the relatives came. They came up from Virginia. They left when their grapes were nearly purple enough to pick, but not quite. The relatives stayed for weeks and weeks. They helped us to tend the garden and they fixed any broken things they could find. They ate up all our strawberries and melons, and then promised we could eat up all their grapes and peaches when we came to Virginia. But none of us thought about Verginia much. We were so busy hugging and breathing together. -- Cynthia Rylant from The Relatives Came |
Notice the words our and we in this sentence from the story. They tell us that it is about the author’s own life.