Grade 5: Persuasive Essay

Write a beginning that will keep your audience reading.

Begin with a question.

Which is better, a vacant lot full of litter or a basketball court full of kids playing? As the mayor of our city, you could do something great by turning the ugly vacant lot on Elmer Street into a beautiful new basketball court.

Begin with a surprising statement.

Turn yourself into a rabbit! Become a nutty fellow in a crazy hat! You can become someone entirely different if you try out for the fifth-grade production of Alice in Wonderland.

Begin with dialogue.

“Find something to do!” That's what you always tell me when I complain about being bored. Well, if we could get a table tennis game, you'd never have to say those words to me again!

• 
•