Description Structure — Painting a Topic for the Reader

Mentor-text close-read: teacher reads aloud a paragraph from Sandra Markle that DESCRIBES an animal feature (e.g., octopus tentacles, beaver teeth). Children listen for: how does the writer organize? What kind of details are used?

• Read with informational-narrator voice
• Pause and name: 'this is DESCRIPTION text-structure'
• Ask: 'What kinds of details did Markle use?' (color, size, function, comparison)

M-3-S-WR-05-B Illustration

Reference image to accompany the Markle honeybee paragraph: close-up watercolor of a honeybee on a sunflower, with labeled callouts (size '~half inch', wings 'clear, 2 pairs', tongue 'long proboscis for nectar'). Used so children see the features 'lived' before they write their own. Print-ready 8.5x11.

Informational writers organize their writing in 5 main TEXT STRUCTURES — patterns for arranging ideas. Today we meet the FIRST: DESCRIPTION. A DESCRIPTION paragraph names a topic and then paints a picture of it for the reader using FEATURES — color, size, shape, sound, smell, function, parts. Description fits topics where you want the reader to PICTURE something or KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE. Watch the model. (Teacher reads aloud) 'Honeybees are about half an inch long, with golden-orange and black stripes across their bodies. They have two pairs of clear wings that beat 200 times per second, making the buzzing sound you hear in a garden. Their long, straw-like tongues, called proboscises, let them drink nectar from deep inside flowers.' Notice the FEATURES Markle uses: SIZE (half an inch), COLOR (golden-orange and black), PARTS (wings, tongue/proboscis), FUNCTION (drink nectar, make buzzing). A description paragraph layers FEATURES until the reader can picture the topic.

• Description = FEATURES. Size. Color. Shape. Parts. Function. Layer at least 3.

  model TOPIC (purple): 'The moon jelly is one of the most common jellyfish in the ocean.' DETAIL (blue): 'Moon jellies are about the size of a dinner plate, with a clear, dome-shaped body and four pale-pink rings inside that look like a four-leaf clover.' EXAMPLE (orange): 'For example, at the New England Aquarium, dozens of moon jellies float gently in a round tank that visitors can walk around.' TRANSITION (green): 'Besides their unusual look, moon jellies also have a surprising way of feeding.'

  prompt Teacher writes a description-structure TDET paragraph from scratch about a new topic (a specific kind of jellyfish — the moon jelly).

• Name 3 kinds of FEATURES you might use in a description.
• When does DESCRIPTION fit a topic better than SEQUENCE?

• Pick a body-paragraph focus from your roadmap that calls for DESCRIPTION (e.g., 'what honeybees look like', 'how octopuses move'). Draft a TDET paragraph using 3 features.

  scaffold Features word-bank (size, color, shape, sound, smell, parts, function) at desk
• Annotate the 3 features in your draft with a green pencil — underline each feature word.

  scaffold Green pencil + feature word-bank

• Read your description paragraph aloud to a partner. Partner names: 3 features and the text-structure.
• Star the strongest feature.

• Hold up your description paragraph.
• Predict: tomorrow we draft body 2 — and we may use a different text-structure.

• At home tonight, pick one ORDINARY object (a tool, a piece of fruit, a household item). Write 3 sentences DESCRIBING it using features: size, color, function. Bring it to share tomorrow.