Fourth Grade · Writing · week 15

Introductions and Conclusions: Bookending Your Report

Draft an introduction with a hook and clear topic statement, and a conclusion that restates the main idea and adds a closing thought.

Your body paragraphs are drafted -- now you need bookends. The INTRODUCTION opens with a HOOK (an interesting question, surprising fact, or vivid image) and then states your topic clearly, so the reader knows exactly what the report covers.

The CONCLUSION comes at the very end. It restates your main idea in new words and often adds one closing thought -- why the topic matters, or what surprised you most while researching.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Brainstorm two or three possible hooks before picking the strongest one -- a question, a surprising fact, and a vivid image are three reliable starting points.
  • Read a few introductions from nonfiction books your child already owns to notice real hooks in action.
  • For the conclusion, ask "what surprised you most while researching this?" -- that answer often makes a genuine, personal closing thought.
  • Read the introduction and conclusion back to back and check that they feel like they are about the same report.
Talk about it:
  • What hook did you choose, and why do you think it will grab a reader's attention?
  • What is your closing thought in the conclusion, and why does it matter to you?
  • Do your introduction and conclusion sound like they belong to the same report?

Mastery looks like: They draft an introduction with a genuine hook and clear topic statement, and a conclusion that restates the idea in new words with a closing thought.

Common stumbles: Opening with a flat announcement ("This report is about...") instead of a real hook, or copying the introduction word-for-word as the conclusion.

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Inference & PredictionRead the clues, add what you know, and figure out the unsaid.try →Main Idea & DetailsFind the big idea and the details that hold it up.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Writing for this learner.
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