Transitions

1. Transitions Razzle Dazzle Writing

2. Smooth move! • When writing moves from one thought to the next, it needs to be smooth. • Transitional words or phrases keep our thoughts from sounding choppy or disjointed as we move through our writing. Razzle Dazzle Writing

3. Like dominoes • Imagine a long column of dominoes standing on end. • When you knock over the first one, each domino falls smoothly into the next one, all the way to the end. • If there were gaps in the dominoes, this action would end. Razzle Dazzle Writing

4. What does a transition do? • Transition words and phrases help writing flow from idea to idea, just like dominoes. • When we leave out transitions, our ideas often have gaps and our thoughts stop. • Transitions link our thoughts so they are smooth and natural. Razzle Dazzle Writing

5. The following paragraph is written without transitions. My brothers and I have certain jobs we do to help our family. My main job is to keep our van clean. I have to clean out all the trash. I vacuum under every seat. I clean all the windows until they shine. I scrub every inch of the outside of the van with soapy water and rinse it with a hose. I dry the van with special towels so it will sparkle. I’m always proud of the way I keep the van clean for my family. Razzle Dazzle Writing

6. Was it smooth? • This paragraph was not smooth. It gave us a lot of important information, put the ideas were not linked and it was choppy. • We know about the boy’s job, but it was hard to follow all of his steps because there weren’t any transitions to help us move along with his description. Razzle Dazzle Writing

7. Let’s try it again WITH transitions. My brothers and I have certain jobs we do to help our family. For example, my main job is to keep our van clean. To begin, I have to clean out all the trash. Next, I vacuum under every seat. Then, I clean all the windows until they shine. After that, I scrub every inch of the outside of the van with soapy water and rinse it with a hose. For the final step, I dry the van with special towels so it will sparkle. As you can conclude, I’m always proud of the way I keep the van clean for my family. Razzle Dazzle Writing

8. Now you’re talking! • This paragraph was much smoother. It gave us all the same information, put the ideas were linked and we were able to follow along much easier. • We understand how he does his job because we could follow all of the steps. The transitions helped us move through his description without gaps, just like following donioes. Razzle Dazzle Writing

9. REMEMBER…When writers want their thoughts to move smoothly from one to the next, without gaps, they must use transitions. Razzle Dazzle Writing