The passage describes the author attending a gathering at the Rosario family kitchen. She feels apart from the noise and activity at first, but comes to realize how happy it makes her to see the same people and things she has known her whole life. The kitchen is described as bright yellow with a brown stained wall by the stove. Many friends gather there as it is like a magnet. Magda sits on a stool by pastries as the author's mother rolls meat and hands it to her aunt, who are chatting quickly in Spanish.

1. PARAGRAPHS

2. opic sentence
vidence
ummary statement
ransitions
PARAGRAPH COMPONENTS

3. Do you know what it’s like to be in a room full of people, but to feel
completely alone? Outside of the noise and all of the talking and the
eating—just apart from it all? That’s how I felt tonight in the Rosarios’
kitchen. I’ve known the Rosario family since I was a little baby. I’ve
been over to their house a million times. But tonight it was like
noticing it all for the first time. Noticing not just what everything
looked like, but how it all felt. When I stopped to think about it, I
realized how happy it all made me—these same things, the same
people, that I have seen over and over, my whole life long. The
Rosarios’ kitchen is bright yellow. The wall by the stove is stained
brown with oil splatters from the stove. It’s one of those kitchens
that’s like a magnet; whenever friends come over, everyone ends up
in the kitchen. There is a long wooden counter where Magda was
sitting on a tall stool, next to the carimanolas. My mother was rolling
the meat into butter and handing it over to Tia Lusia. The two of them
were yacking away in Spanish; their hands flying as fast as their
words.
--Veronica Chambers, Marisol and Magdalena: The Sound of Our
Sisterhood (1998)
A READING PASSAGE

4. Reread the passage.
Discuss how and why your group will
divide the passage into paragraphs.
Use the paragraph symbol ¶ (pilcrow) to
indicate where your group would start
each paragraph.
I WILL DIVIDE!

5. Do you know what it’s like to be in a room full of people, but to feel
completely alone? Outside of the noise and all of the talking and the
eating—just apart from it all? That’s how I felt tonight in the Rosarios’
kitchen.
I’ve known the Rosario family since I was a little baby. I’ve been over
to their house a million times. But tonight it was like noticing it all for the
first time. Noticing not just what everything looked like, but how it all felt.
When I stopped to think about it, I realized how happy it all made me —these
same things, the same people, that I have seen over and over, my whole life
long.
The Rosarios’ kitchen is bright yellow. The wall by the stove is
stained brown with oil splatters from the stove. It’s one of those kitchens
that’s like a magnet; whenever friends come over, everyone ends up in the
kitchen. There is a long wooden counter where Magda was sitting on a tall
stool, next to the carimanolas. My mother was rolling the meat into butter
and handing it over to Tia Lusia. The two of them were yacking away in
Spanish; their hands flying as fast as their words.
--Veronica Chambers, Marisol and Magdalena: The Sound of Our Sisterhood
(1998)
ORIGINAL PARAGRAPH BREAKS

6. Paragraph Number Number of Sentences in Paragraph
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
HOW MANY SENTENCES IN A
PARAGRAPH?
Look at your article. How many sentences are in each
paragraph?

7. Writing a unified, coherent
paragraph is hard.
Paragraphs have to follow a formula.
All paragraphs should be five
sentences long.
MYTHS ABOUT PARAGRAPHS

8.  Paragraphs are not always five sentences long.
 Para means “beside.” Graph means “mark.”
 ¶ = Indent new paragraph here.
 Indenting paragraphs:
Gives readers a break.
Shows when one thought ends and another begins.
Shows readers how information is chunked and
connected.
Helps writers connect and organize thoughts.
 Paragraphs follow a “chain of thought” rather than a
rote formula.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT
PARAGRAPHS

9. Choose a most important word (or two)
to describe the article. The word can be
in the article or another word or two that
represents the passage.
Choose a most important word for each
paragraph.
MOST IMPORTANT WORD

10. Paragraph Number Number of Sentences Most Important Word
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
MOST IMPORTANT WORD
Look at your article. Identify a most important word for each
paragraph.

11. Each paragraph has a focus. When the
focus changes, a new paragraph begins.
When you write, you should be able to
identify the most important word for
each of your own paragraphs. This
represents the focus, or unity, of the
paragraph.
PARAGRAPH UNITY

12. Paragraphs have a purpose.
Paragraphs help readers and writers chunk
information and separate it as well.
Paragraphs may have any number of
sentences. There is no rule.
Paragraphs help the reader understand
writing.
Paragraphs tend to focus on one main idea
(unity), and its parts should be related
(coherence).
PARAGRAPHS