Take Five: Writing a Color-Coded Paragraph

Use a traffic light to model a very basic paragraph plan. The Go, or topic sentence, is written in green and expresses an opinion about the topic. Information that supports the opinion of the Go sentence is written in yellow and the Stop, or concluding sentence, is written in red. The instructor models how to use the traffic light to monitor the writing process. Young writers then develop a paragraph independently, or with help, depending on the grade level. Color-coded models are given.