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From Wood to Pencil: Planning a Concluding Section worksheet preview

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From Wood to Pencil: Planning a Concluding Section

Grade 4 writing: read an explanation of how pencils are made, test concluding sections, and plan an ending that follows from the facts.

Grade 4ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toW.4.2.e

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What’s included

  • Single worksheet
  • Auto-graded online
  • 1 Common Core standard
  • Printable answer key
  • 9 questions
  • Classroom-ready

Details

Format
Interactive · Printable
Grade
Grade 4
Subject
ELA
Question types
Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

  • Students choose a concluding section that follows from an explanation.
  • Students find problems in endings that add opinions, new topics or wrong facts.
  • Students plan a concluding section that restates the main idea and sums up key steps.

How to use

Read the explanation aloud and have students list its steps before they test the endings. Students can turn their three planning sentences into one paragraph and read it to a partner.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

W.4.2.e

Write a concluding statement or section that follows from the information or explanation presented.

Preview

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From Wood to Pencil: Planning a Concluding Section

Test endings for an explanation, then plan your own.

Read the explanation

Tomas wrote this explanation of how pencils are made. It does not have a concluding section yet. Read it carefully.

How a Pencil Is Made

1A pencil looks like a simple tool. It is just a stick of wood with a gray core in the middle. But making a pencil takes many careful steps, and most pencils today are made in factories with large machines. Here is how a few plain materials are turned into a pencil you can write with.

2First, workers make the core. Many people call it the "lead," but pencil lead is not made of the metal lead at all. It is made of graphite, a soft gray material, mixed with clay and water. The amount of clay matters. More clay makes a harder pencil that draws lighter lines, and more graphite makes a softer pencil that draws darker lines.

3Next, the gray mix is pressed into long, thin rods. The rods are cut to the length of a pencil and dried. Then they are baked in a very hot oven called a kiln. Baking makes the rods strong and smooth, so they glide across paper.

4While the cores bake, other machines get the wood ready. The wood is often cedar, because it is soft enough to sharpen easily. The wood is cut into thin, flat boards called slats. Each slat is about as long as one pencil but wide enough for several pencils. A machine then cuts long grooves into each slat. The grooves are just the right size to hold the cores.

5Now the parts come together. A core is laid in each groove, and glue is spread over the slat. A second grooved slat is pressed on top, like the top slice of bread on a sandwich. When the glue dries, a machine cuts the sandwich into separate pencils and shapes them. Many pencils have six sides, and others are round. Last, the pencils are painted, and many get a metal band that holds an eraser on one end.

Test the endings

A concluding section ends an explanation. It follows from the information in the explanation and sums up the main idea. It does not add new facts or start a new topic.

1.
Which concluding section follows best from Tomas's explanation?
  • A. Pencils have been used for hundreds of years in many countries. Today, students all over the world use them at school, and many artists use them to draw.
  • B. To sum up, graphite is a soft gray material. With more clay, a pencil is harder and draws lighter lines, and with more graphite, it is softer and darker.
  • C. As you can see, a pencil takes many steps to make. The core is mixed and baked, the wood is grooved and glued, and the pencils are cut and painted.
  • D. In conclusion, pens are another useful tool for writing. Many pens hold ink inside a thin tube, and the ink rolls out past a tiny ball at the tip.
2.
Each ending below has a problem. Match each ending to its problem.
  1. Crayons are made by pouring melted wax into molds.
  2. So the core of a pencil is made of the metal lead.
  3. Then the rods are baked in a very hot oven called a kiln.
  4. Pencils are my favorite thing to write with.
  1. A. It gives an opinion instead of summing up.
  2. B. It starts a new topic.
  3. C. It disagrees with the facts in the explanation.
  4. D. It repeats only one step.
3.
Tomas wrote some sentences on cards. Sort them. Does each sentence belong in the concluding section or in the middle of the explanation?
So the pencil on your desk began as wood, graphite, and clay.Next, the rods are cut to the length of a pencil.A machine cuts long grooves into each slat.All of these steps turn plain materials into a tool for writing.That is how a factory turns cedar boards and a gray mix into pencils.Glue is spread over the slat to hold the parts together.
Concluding sectionMiddle of the explanation
4.
Tomas's partner wrote this summary for the concluding section: "Workers mix and bake the cores, cut grooves in the slats, and glue the slats together around the cores." Which big step did the summary leave out?
  • A. mixing the graphite, clay, and water
  • B. cutting long grooves into the slats
  • C. baking the rods in a very hot kiln
  • D. cutting apart and painting the pencils
5.
Paragraph 1 says that making a pencil takes many careful steps. A strong concluding section restates this main idea in new words. Which sentence does that best?
  • A. First, workers make the core of the pencil.
  • B. Even a plain pencil is the result of a long, careful process.
  • C. A pencil is quick to make, so one machine does every step.
  • D. Some pencils have erasers on one end, and some do not.

Plan your concluding section

A concluding section often has three parts: a sentence that restates the main idea, a sentence that sums up the key points, and a final thought for the reader.

6.
Read this concluding section that a classmate wrote. Underline the sentence that sums up the key steps.

In short, making a pencil takes a lot of work.The core is mixed and baked, and the wood is grooved, glued, cut, and painted.The next time you write with a pencil, think about the long trip it took to reach you.

7.
Part 1: Restate the main idea. Write one sentence that tells the main idea of Tomas's explanation in your own words. Do not copy the examples above.
8.
Part 2: Sum up the key steps. Write one or two sentences that sum up the big steps in order.
9.
Part 3: End with a final thought. Write one sentence that gives the reader something to think about. It should follow from the explanation.

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