Susie Homeschooler

WRITING

 THE HAMBURGER METHOD

This semester at my homeschool co-op I'm teaching creative writing to a wonderful group of 6-8 year olds.    It's been a really fun class so far and I'm really encouraged by how the kids are doing.   Batman actually told me that writing is his favorite class.   I think bringing the "fun" back into writing has had something to do with it.   The kids have already learned how to write  the following types of poems: acrostic, diamante, bio, and cinquain.    It's very exciting to see the children so eager to read their work to the class.

I was searching the internet yet again for a fun yet effective way to teach the kids about writing paragraphs.    I came upon the "Hamburger Paragraph Method" and was instantly intrigued.   Imagine the five layers of a hamburger like this:

TOP BUN=  Topic sentence

     LETTUCE=  #1 detail sentence

MEAT=  #2 detail sentence

    TOMATO=  #3 detail sentence

   BOTTOM BUN=  Conclusion

TOP BUN

The first goal is to come up with a topic to write about.   Write a sentence to introduce/hook the reader.

LETTUCE, MEAT, & TOMATO

The three middle detail sentences give reasons, facts, explanations, etc. about the topic.

BOTTOM BUN

This sentence provides for a brief summary of the topic sentence.

I found a great worksheet for free to use when teaching this method.   The kids seemed to really grasp how to write a paragraph with all five necessary components.   I can't wait to hear their stories during class next week.