Tools Students Need to Be Skillful Writers: Building Better Sentences

Imagine leaving behind the drudgery of diagramming sentences. Imagine, instead, joyful writers who are capable of revising their work and writing effectively. By taking writing down to its basic building block – a solid sentence – and advancing from there, students will develop confidence, enjoy creating sentences, and ultimately empower each other as writers.

Lessons for Grades 3-12 include:
-A variety of sentence patterns presented in a logical sequence
-An explanation of each pattern’s structure and conventions
-Reinforcement activities and sample sentences for each pattern
-Activities to develop the necessary instructional vocabulary

As students become engaged in the process, they will work toward:
-Meeting the Common Core State Standards for Language Arts
-Understanding and using basic sentence structures
-Recognizing what makes a sentence effective
-Learning to put sentences together to write effective paragraphs