5th grade descriptive writing lesson.
Student facing learning goal: I can write a descriptive paragraph using sensory details and vivid words.
Adding details to writing is a great way to engage your reader and make your writing more interesting. Do you know what the word “vivid” means? Something that’s vivid produces a powerful feeling or strong, clear images in the mind.
What is descriptive writing and how is it different from other sources of writing? Descriptive writing is used to describe a person, place or thing in such a way that a picture is formed in the reader’s mind. It can be added to a narrative to help the reader understand your story better and become more interested.
We’re going to look at a few images and silently take a minute to think about how you would describe what you see and imagine when you look at them.
An important part of descriptive writing is adding sensory details. What are the 5 senses? Sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell. Let’s go back to the picture of the flower garden for a moment. What do you see in this image? What do you think you would hear if you were there? What do you think you would smell or touch? Let’s move to the baseball stadium. What do you think you would see? What would you hear? Would you be eating anything? What would you smell or touch?
We’re going to transition to writing a short descriptive paragraph using vivid words and sensory details. You’ll have about 10 mins to describe your favorite food (or dessert). We’re going to be sharing with a partner so make sure you do your best work.
Put pencils down and switch notebooks with a partner. Read your partner’s paragraph, circle any sensory details or vivid/descriptive words you notice and then talk to your partner about what you like about their paragraph, what you circled, and how you think they could improve.
Image citations:
Illuminated Woods by Steven Kamenar on Unsplash.
Image by Matt Anderson on Unsplash.
Image by Jakob Rosen on Unsplash.
hearing by heathersabrina from Noun Project.
touch by heathersabrina from Noun Project.
smell by heathersabrina from Noun Project.
Sight by heathersabrina from Noun Project.
taste by Iacopo Neri from Noun Project.
Rachel, this is an interesting lesson idea. Your images are well chosen and I especially like that you use the same Noun project artist to create some continuity in that gallery. Helps students focus on the senses not the art. Great post!