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Descriptive Paragraph Planning Organiser

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Descriptive Paragraph Planning Organiser

Mei, Hemi and Ari are visiting an aquarium. Plan a vivid descriptive paragraph about one exhibit or moment. Use precise sensory details and at least two literary devices. Your answers are planning notes; you can change them to suit your own idea.

Choose and focus

A strong paragraph zooms in on one main subject rather than describing everything at once.

1.Which aquarium subject will you describe? Choose one, or name another: a stingray gliding overhead, a jellyfish drifting in its tank, or the moment the lights dim in the tunnel.

A stingray gliding overhead
A jellyfish drifting in its tank
The lights dimming in the tunnel
Another aquarium subject

2.Name your subject and choose the mood you want readers to feel: peaceful, curious, excited, or mysterious. Give one reason for your choice.

Collect sensory details

Use details a visitor could notice. Choose precise words instead of relying on 'nice' or 'good'.

3.Plan details for at least three senses. What might a visitor see, hear, and feel in the aquarium tunnel?

4.Match each literary device to its example. Simile, personification, and onomatopoeia are all ways to make a description more vivid.

Simile
Personification
Onomatopoeia

A soft whoosh followed the ray.
The stingray glided like a shadow.
The water welcomed us into the tunnel.

5.Choose two devices to try in your paragraph: simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, or onomatopoeia. Write one original example for each, linked to your chosen subject.

6.Fill the blanks to explain your choices: I chose a to help readers picture . I chose a to create a mood.

Shape your paragraph

Arrange your ideas so the reader is introduced to the subject, notices vivid details, and is left with a final impression.

7.Choose the best opening for a paragraph about a stingray in the tunnel.

There was a fish.
A wide, silver stingray emerged from the blue water above us.
Aquariums have many kinds of animals.

8.Put these paragraph parts in a helpful order by labelling them 1, 2, and 3: final impression; introduce the subject; add sensory details and literary devices.

9.Write a final impression you could use to end your paragraph. Leave the reader with a feeling, thought, or image.

10.Use your plan to draft one descriptive paragraph. Include a clear opening, sensory details, two literary devices, and a final impression.