Building the Perfect Paragraph Burger View this PowerPoint and print it as a reference for how to make your own paragraph burger.

The Bun The top and bottom of your bun are like your beginning and ending sentences. You start out with an idea, something that would cover all of what will be inside the paragraph. –Ex: Swimming in a pool is an enjoyable summer activity. (TOP HALF OF THE BUN)

The good stuff! Then, once you have an idea to guide your paragraph, you fill in with the condiments, the mustard (details), the ketchup (the supporting quotes), the burger (the commentary and elaboration on what you’ve said). –Ex: When one swims in a pool, one can float freely and move about with few restrictions in an almost gravity-defying manner. –Ex: Once when I went swimming, I was able to swim from one end of the pool to the other without coming up for air. When I did come up, the heat of the summer was no longer unbearable. –Francis Mulberry says that swimming in a pool is like “knowing what it would be like to be a fish under water.” ***Notice how any of these sentences could have followed the original sentence with which I started.

Don’t forget the bottom bun! At the end of a paragraph, it is helpful for your reader if you add a bottom bun or closing sentence. Just like a burger would fall out if there were no bottom bun, without a closing sentence, you leave all your details ready to fall out! –Ex of sentence to add in the swimming paragraph: The freedom and cooling capabilities of the pool make swimming in one an ideal summer activity.