April 2022

Featured Strategy

Framed Paragraphs

What are Framed Paragraphs?

Framed paragraphs help students write well-developed paragraphs. They are skeleton formats containing information about the main ideas and transition words that guide the organization and the development of supportive details. Framed paragraphs offer a structure for students to use as they begin to write.

Why use Framed Paragraphs?

It provides a framework for writing strong paragraphs.
The frame guides students by providing the transitional phrases for sentences.
It can incorporate various sentence types: long and short, simple and complex.

How to Use Framed Paragraphs.

Discuss how to write a framed paragraph by using:
- A topic sentence — a general statement or opinion
- Three to five examples that develop the topic or opinion
- Transitions when needed
- A summary sentence at the end

2. Provide students with a blank frame.

3. Ask students fill in the missing portions of the frame to write a complete paragraph.

4. Encourage students to incorporate a variety of sentences: long and short, simple and complex.

Blank Template

There are many ways to create a frame for a paragraph. This simple template helps children summarize what they learned from their reading.

framedparagraph.pdf

Additional Resources

Language Arts

This example of a framed paragraph centers on Holidays and provides additional space for students to re-write the completed paragraph.

Math

This is an example of using a framed paragraph for writing a description about decimals.

Social Studies

This is an example that shows how teachers can use a writing frame to develop a "compare" and "contrast" essay.

Multilingual Learners

Support academic language conversation with sentence frames. Watch classroom video and get supporting materials here. (Teaching Channel)

Differentiated Instruction

For Multilingual Learners, students of varying reading skill, and for younger learners...

Vary the amount of information you provide in the frame. Some students may require a lot of transition words for sentences, others will need very few.
Model the frame paragraph strategy with a text that is familiar to students before asking them to complete it on their own.
Some students may enjoy making their own frame for something they've read. Students could pair up, write their own frames, and then trade texts and frames and complete the new frame.

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