1. September 20
Good morning, You will need your English duo-tang, a pencil, an eraser and a highlighter ready for class. Any Subway Day orders or Terry Fox money raised should be handed in to me. You should be reading quietly by 8:07am.

2. You need: A pencil, eraser, highlighter, and your ELA duo-tang
Writing Lesson 4:
Use Transition Words to
Improve Organization
You need:
A pencil, eraser, highlighter, and your ELA duo-tang

3. Purpose
In this lesson, you will learn to trade words like “ands,” “thens” “and thens” for transition words. We will use transition words to show order in time in our writing. Our goal is to ensure our writing flows with a logical sequence of events.

4. Before Example
Sally wished that her stuffed duck was a real one and then it happened when she said the magic words she just learned. White downy feathers sprouted on her duck. Then the duck shook its webbed feet and quacked three times. Then it walked around the room.

5. Revision Tips
Read the story and circle (or highlight) all of the “ands,” “thens,” and “and thens.”
Reread and place a check (or underline) over the circles words you want to delete.
Find places where transition words could clarify the order of time.
Rewrite using transition words in the Idea Box to sow the order of events. You might have to add or delete words and combine ideas.

6. Use these transition words to show order in time:
Idea Box
Use these transition words to show order in time:
BEFORE
AFTER
NOW
PREVIOUSLY
LAST
NEXT
FIRST
WHEN
IMMEDIATELY
LATER
FORMERLY
INITIALLY
PRESENTLY
MEANWHILE
ULTIMATELY

7. After Example
Sally wished that her stuffed duck was a real one and then it happened when she said the magic words she just learned. White downy feathers sprouted on her duck. Then the duck shook its webbed feet and quacked three times. Then it walked around the room. The moment Sally mumbled the magic words and wished her stuffed duck was real, something strange happened. First, downy white feathers sprouted on her duck. Then the duck shook its webbed feet, quacked three times, and walked around the room.

8. After Example
Sally wished that her stuffed duck was a real one and then it happened when she said the magic words she just learned. White downy feathers sprouted on her duck. Then the duck shook its webbed feet and quacked three times. Then it walked around the room. The moment Sally mumbled the magic words and wished her stuffed duck was real, something strange happened. First, downy white feathers sprouted on her duck. Then the duck shook its webbed feet, quacked three times, and walked around the room.
BESIDES ADDING TRANSITION WORDS, WHAT OTHER TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN USED IN THE AFTER EXAMPLE? HOW COULD YOU ORGANIZE THE AFTER EXAMPLE DIFFERENTLY?

9. Activity 4
Jimmy made his favorite sandwich for lunch. And then he took two pieces of whole wheat bread and put on peanut butter and then some grape jam. Then he cut thin slices of banana and cantaloupe and put a slice of bologna and a slice of liverwurst on top of the fruit. And then he ate it.

10. Activity 4
Jimmy made his favorite sandwich for lunch. And then he took two pieces of whole wheat bread and put on peanut butter and then some grape jam. Then he cut thin slices of banana and cantaloupe and put a slice of bologna and a slice of liverwurst on top of the fruit. And then he ate it.

11. Activity 4A
Maria baited her fishing hook with two juicy, squiggling worms and then she cast her line far out into the pond. Then she felt a tug on her line, and the float that was at the end of the line bobbed up and down and then went under the water. Maria reeled her line in, and as she turned the reel she saw a wriggling, whiskered catfish dangling from the hook.