Growing writers explore what it takes to develop and support a thesis statement with pre-fabricated ideas provided by the Virginia Department of Education. Learners take notes on what makes a thesis statement and a topic sentence, and move into a group effort where the paragraph crafters develop the parts of a paragraph from the given prompt (or one developed by the educator) and assemble the labor into a clear piece of writing. The activity is enforced by a worksheet where the thesis statement, topic sentence and supporting details are scattered and must be reassembled into a proper paragraph. Strategies for differentiation are available.