day 81: homework help---more sentence help

Just a couple of most posts about sentence writing for our “Homework Help” feature this month—then back to more tips and tricks for all readers, writers, speakers, and thinkers! Below is a list of other sentence writing ideas for you and your student/child:

1. If your child likes the feeling of creating through writing, but doesn’t think he can write sentences, you may want to try one of the following:
1. Have him copy sentences that you write for him or sentences out of one of his favorite books.
2. Write sentences for him with a light colored highlighter and have him write over the highlighter with his pencil.
3. Write “fill in the blank sentences for him.” When I was in teacher’s college, these were called “cloze sentence” (for those who want to google to find out more). This is where you write sentences but leave blanks for him to fill in key words. This way you have started the sentences for him, but what happens in the sentence and to whom is still his creation. (There’s a site that lets you build these and print them for your kids/students at http://www.theteacherscorner.net/printable-worksheets/make-your-own/fill-in-the-blank/ .)

2. If he can’t think of anything to write about in his sentences, ask him questions that he must answer in sentence form. “What is your favorite animal?” “What is your favorite color?” etc.
3. If he is having trouble writing “real” sentences (i.e. write fragments or dependent clauses instead), have him say it aloud and ask him more questions. For example, if he says “Blue” (to the favorite color question), say “Blue what?” If he says “favorite color,” continue to coach him. “Try this…Blue is…can you make that into a complete sentences instead of just words?” (Coaching is a huge part of teaching writing!)
4. If he likes to write stories, have him dictate sentences to you (or alternate giving sentences—he then you) that you pen for him.
5. Finally, have him write a sentence a day to get used to sentence writing. We had journals for our kids that they copied verses and quotes in—one a day—to help them get a feeling for sentence writing.

Tomorrow—final homework help for sentences. Thanks for joining us!