Your turn to write.

Think about a present you have received.

• What did it look like on the table?
• How did you feel as you opened it?
• What was inside?

Use the questions on the next page to help you write a description of the day you opened it.

Structure your writing in three paragraphs. Each paragraph will be about a different part of opening the present.

• Receiving the present, seeing it on the table
• Opening the present
• The contents

Before you write, READ THESE TIPS:

• use a new paragraph if you change the subject, time or place.
• Use a topic line in the first line of each paragraph. It tells you what the paragraph will be about. Make the rest of the paragraph explain it.
• Have you used the five senses to describe the event -seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting.
• Have you used interesting adjectives, verbs and adverbs? you can also use imagery - similes, metaphors, personification and onomatopoeia. They will make the event come alive for the reader.
• Build up suspense with a series of short sentences.
• Use good vocabulary, but try to pick the right words.
• Write in 1st person, from your own viewpoint.
• The purpose of your writing is to show your feelings about the experience of opening a present.

Use these sentences to help you write the story.

(Paragraph 1)

• What do you see on the table?
• What does the wrapping paper look like?
• Describe the bow.
• How does it make you feel and why?
• What does your friend (member of the family) say?

(Paragraph 2)

• How do you tear off the paper and what happens to it?
• How do you tug off the lid?
• When you peep inside, what do you see?
• When you reach down deep into the box, what do you hear?
• What do your hands feel in there?

(Paragraph 3)

• What is your present?
• Describe what it looks and feels like?
• What do you do?
• What do you say?

Here are some sentences to get you started.

The ... parcel waits for me on the table. It looks ...

There is a large bow, which is perched magnificently on top. The wrapped gift looks amazing. It makes me feel ...

It seems to say to me...

I start to imagine what is in the parcel. My family cry, “...”

My excited fingers feel (caress) the ...

First, I rip away at ...

After this, I peel back ... to reveal ...

The paper lies in shreds on the ... As my family watch, I attempt to tear ... I tug at ...

My hands rummage eagerly through the pink tissue paper, which smells of ... I crumple the paper in my hands, it sounds like... In my hand I feel... At last I take out...

What a surprise. There is a ... I hold the gift out for my family to see. Afterwards, I say, “...”

Now write the story you planned.