Writing Statements

Jane is getting ready to cover the big race. She knows a lot about racing cars, but Ernie does not. So, Jane wants to teach him more about it before race day, but how? Let's help Jane by learning about writing statements. Authors write for many different reasons, but one reason is to tell true information about something. When you write it down in a sentence, it's called a statement. This means you are writing facts about real people, places, or things. facts are ideas that are true, not just a feeling, or opinion. 'The sky is blue' is a fact because you can prove it to be true. 'Blue is the best colour' is not a fact because it's a feeling about someone's likes. To write a statement, we can fill in this sentence: The blank is blank. First, we ask, what am I writing about? We call this our main idea and write it in the first space here. Then we ask, what do I know about the main idea that's true? We call this our fact and write it in the second space here. When we put the main idea and the fact together in our sentence, we make a statement! Let's help Jane write one to teach Ernie about the race! First, we ask, what is Jane writing about? She is writing about the racing car. So we write ‘racing car’ here. Then, we ask, what does Jane know about the racing car that's true? It's fast! So we write ‘fast’ here. Jane's first sentence informs, or teaches, Ernie that the racing car is fast. Let's try it again but this time Jane wants to teach him about the race track. First, we ask, what is Jane writing about? She is writing about the race track. So we write ‘race track’ here. Then, we ask, what does Jane know about the track that's true? It's an oval! So we write 'an oval' here. Jane's second sentence informs Ernie that the race track is an oval. Finally, Jane wants to teach Ernie who wins. First, we ask, what is Jane writing about? She is writing about the winner. Where should we write ‘winner’? Here! Then, we ask, what does Jane know about the winner that's true? They are first! So where should we write ‘first’? Here! Jane's last sentence informs Ernie that the winner is first. While Jane finishes writing, let's remember! Today we learned about writing statements. They tell facts about real people, places, or things. To write a statement, first, we ask, what am I writing about? The main idea. Then, we ask, what do I know about it that's true? The fact. When we put the main idea and the fact together in our sentence we make a statement! "Wow, car racing sounds like so much fun.I'll be right back." "This will only take a minute!"