Who Am I?

Tell students they will build on parts of their free-write to create descriptive paragraphs about themselves. They will do so by using sensory details, because most readers can relate to the five senses—sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. To give an idea of how to create sensory details in writing, show slide 5 and share this video with the class. The full URL can be found in the slide notes and in the Resources below.

After the video, assign each student to a partner. Display slide 6. Using the image of a block of cheddar cheese as an example, ask partners to work together to create a sentence that describes the visual "look" of a block of cheddar cheese. Encourage students to think in terms of describing the cheese to a blind person. How descriptive can they be? Allow a few minutes for partner discussion and writing. Ask each group to share their best example.

Display slide 7. Ask students to now consider the sensory detail of touch. How does it feel? How can they describe the texture of cheddar cheese? Can they think of other things that feel similar which they might compare it to? Allow a few minutes for partners to discuss and create a descriptive sentence. If available, allow one student at a time to touch the block of cheddar cheese. Ask each group to share their descriptions.

Display slide 8, which gives directions for the Pair Square activity. Combine pairs to make groups of four. Pass out a copy of the attached Sensory Word List handout to each student. Ask each group to add three more descriptive words to the list for each of the five senses. In a round-robin style, identify one of the senses and have students call out one sensory description their group added. Have the rest of the class add these words to their own lists. Continue this activity until students have added another three to four sensory words to each of the five senses.