Welcome!
Need to write an essay?
...and don't know where to start? Whether you're a homeschool parent or a teacher, this easy-to-use packet breaks down the five-paragraph essay-writing process into a five-day approach.
In just five days, your student will be comfortable planning, writing, and editing an entire five-paragraph informational essay.
Plus, you can use the printable materials again and again -- for any type of information/expository essay!
Each day, students complete a series of tasks designed to lead them through the entire essay-composition process. Along the way, they'll encounter checklists, reminders, and worksheets that will aid in their work.
Their revised and polished essay will be proof of all their hard work.
While other essay materials or classes might cost hundreds of dollars, this 37-page detailed packet, full of worksheets and materials, costs only $10.
That's right. $10. For just $10, your student can write an essay THIS WEEK.
Why wait?
How can this packet help?
Writing an essay is a BIG task. It's okay for writers (and teachers and parents!) to feel intimidated. My goal with this lesson is to break the steps of essay writing into manageable chunks.
How to use this packet: The lessons are divided into days. Some days have more work than others, but each contains clear, understandable steps. Each day, students should review the materials and then complete the homework. Most days have a graphic organizer or worksheets for compiling work. Students should save these, as they will use them to compose the essay.
Once the essay is written -- it's not DONE! Day 5 is all about revising. Some students enjoy this process. Some students don't. The goal here should be to 1) make sure the essay is, at the very least, organized correctly (I provide a sentence-by-sentence rubric for that); 2) revise at least one sentence. Even minor improvements are still improvements. If the student can take just one sentence and revise it to be longer, stronger, and more precise, they have taken a big step.
Day-by-day instructions
Day 1: Students will learn what an essay is, the types of essays, what an essay can be about, and how to compose and evaluate a basic five-sentence paragraph. Work on Day 1 includes selecting a topic and composing a practice paragraph (about any topic) to evaluate.
Day 2: Students will learn the structure of an essay and how to brainstorm about their topic. Using their brainstorming, students will also select three main ideas for their body paragraphs. Students will organize the information for their essay using a graphic organizer.
Day 3: Students will review proper paragraph structure and examine example paragraphs. They will then use their brainstorming to discern details for each body paragraph. Finally, they will use the graphic organizer to compose the three body paragraphs for their essay. Students should also evaluate their paragraphs for content and organization.
Day 4: Students will write the introduction and conclusion, complete with a thesis statement in both. The introduction will be a classic three-sentence introduction that ends with a thesis. Students will write several different hooks for their introduction before choosing the most effective one. For the conclusion, students will learn methods of restating the thesis and will follow that with either an amplified message or a counter-argument to end the conclusion on a profound note.
Day 5: Students will evaluate their completed essay for organization and mechanics. They will also choose 2-5 sentences from the essay to revise for strength and style. Also included are parental/teacher evaluation sheets.
Organization & evaluation materials
BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE!
The One-Week Essay also provides reusable tools for parents and teachers -- tools that can be used for practically any essay. These include checklists for body paragraph construction, evaluation materials, and plenty of worksheets on writing everything from the first to the last sentence.
Printable Materials: Brainstorming Worksheet, Body Paragraph Graphic Organizer, Body Paragraph Checklist, Write a Hook Worksheet, Introduction Worksheet, Conclusion Worksheet, Revised Sentences Worksheet
Evaluation Materials: Organization Checklist (student), Mechanics Checklist (student), Essay Evaluation: Content, Essay Evaluation: Mechanics, Essay Evaluation: Writing Style (for evaluators)