Paragraph Unit
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Lesson 1  Paragraph Structure

Paragraphs:

• consist of one or more sentences about a single thought.
• usually have more than one sentence.
• never have more than one idea.  (Sentences must be related to the main idea.)

Example Paragraph

     Scientists disagree about how long earthworms have inhabited the Earth. Worms are a soft bodied creatures with no bones or shell. Due to this few fossils of worms have been found. Scientists have found trace fossils in India. These are fossils of tunnels that many scientists believe to have been made by worms. Not all scientists agree with this. Some say the tunnels may have been made in other ways. Scientists do agree that annelids, soft bodied worm-like animals, have been on Earth for 500 million years. Well-preserved annelid fossils have been found in Mazon Creek near Chicago. Can you believe that some scientists believe that worms have been on the Earth for more than a billion years?

Structure of a Paragraph

Questions

1. What is the main idea of this paragraph?
2. What is the concluding sentence
3. What do you notice about the first line of the paragraph?
4. Do all the sentences in the paragraph support the main idea?
5. What is the first main point? second main point? third main point?
6. Which sentence(s) support(s) the first main point? second main point? third main point?

Activity

Decide which groups of sentences would make good paragraphs. Write yes or no before each paragraph to show your answer.

1.  _______________    Worms have not always lived in America. Many scientists believe that worms living in America were killed during the Ice Age approximately 10,000 to 50,000 years ago. During the 1600's and 1700's Europeans brought worms to North America as they were forming the colonies. This was quite by accident. Colonists wanted to bring plants from their native countries to the New World. The worms were living in the dirt that surrounded the plants that came over. Just think, if worms had not been brought to the New World, American soil would be very poor.
    
2.   _______________        Some people think worms are bad for the garden. They have seen damage created by pests. Cockroaches, termites, beetles, and silverfish love to eat paper and the binding of books. Bees and butterflies help pollinate flowers. Malaria is spread to thousands of people each year through mosquito bites. Fleas carry bacteria which can cause humans to get sick when bitten. Earthworms help improve our soil.
    
3.   _______________        Earthworms vary greatly size. Earthworms range in color from brown to red. Some are only an inch long while others are many feet long. There are about 2,700 species of earthworms. The Australian giant earthworms average about ten feet in length. Some gardeners buy earthworms and place them in their gardens. The largest earthworm ever found measured 22 feet from anterior to posterior. In North American the largest common night crawlers are only about 12 inches.
    
4.   _______________        Earthworms move by contracting two kinds of muscles. Earthworms are divided into segments. Each segment contains a short muscle that encircles the segment. When the short muscle contracts the earthworm gets thinner and longer. The earthworm also has long muscles that connect each segment. When the long muscles contract the earthworm becomes short and fat. By contracting each of the muscles in turn the worm is able to move along the surface of the ground or tunnel through the ground. Earthworms can move both forward and backward by contracting their muscles.

Sources of Worm Information: 
The Adventures of Herman http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/ 
Earthworm Enchanted Learning http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/invertebrates/earthworm/Earthwormcoloring.shtml
Earthworm  http://lhsfoss.org/fossweb/teachers/materials/plantanimal/earthworms.html

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