Three-Part Structure
Every piece needs a beginning that sets it up, a middle that stirs it up, and an end that wraps it up. Skip one and the reader feels the gap.
The Writer's Workshop, where the Mayor reads finished writing himself, returns soon.
The Mayor builds every piece the way he runs the factory: set it up, stir it up, and wrap it up.
The full Writing Company lesson cycle is coming.
We won the game. The end.
Our team was losing by two points. Then Maya scored twice in the last minute. We won the game, and the whole bench rushed the floor.
The left version jumps to the result. The right one sets it up (we were losing), stirs it up (Maya scored), and wraps it up (the bench rushed the floor). The reader feels the three parts.
- Name your beginning (set it up), your middle (stir it up), and your end (wrap it up).
- Check that all three parts are actually there.
- Cut anything that does not move the piece from one part to the next.
Play it in the Arcade.
Take the craft move onto the floor with the live game. Free, and it plays daily.
A paragraph came apart. Put the sentences back in order, and let the transition words show you the thread that holds them together.
Play Follow the Thread →So then we got pizza and it was good.
After the long hike, we were starving. We found a pizza place right at the trailhead. The first hot slice was the best food of the whole trip.
A piece that opens with so then drops the reader into the middle. Give it a beginning that sets the scene and an ending that lands, and the same pizza becomes a story.
Doctor Noize wrote the beginning-middle-end song the Mayor still hums; the teaching is the Mayor's.
A real writing skill, Grades 1 through 8.
Three-Part Structure is one of the nine Writing Company chapters, where Grammaropolis teaches writing and composition. It maps to a Common Core writing strand; the per-grade, per-framework alignment fills in as the workbook line and the lesson cycle come online.
The Writer's Workshop, where the Mayor reads finished writing himself, returns soon.
Three-Part Structure serves CCSS W.x.4 (organization for purpose) and W.x.5 (planning and structure).
Other Writing Company chapters.
Back to the Writing Company → The Writing Company workbooks → Try Wonderful Words →
The Writer's Workshop, where the Mayor reads finished writing himself, returns soon.
Ready to write?
Play the live game to practice the move. The Writer's Workshop, where the Mayor reads a finished piece himself and certifies it Gold, Silver, or Bronze, returns soon. The full Writing Company lesson cycle is coming.