Download Parent`s Corner #3

Parent’s Corner #3
By Melinda Matthews, SPELD NSW Referral Officer
Teachers on the Teachers’ Certificate Course are having fun
learning various strategies to help reluctant students write
sentences. For some children the act of writing a sentence
on paper can be exceptionally difficult.
Approaching how to write a sentence with some fun hand-on activities that engage the reluctant
writer will hopefully not only help the child, but reduce the stress as a parent is trying to help that
child.
Children can struggle to write sentences for a number of reasons. Many different skills come into
play when writing a sentence including:
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physically being able to sit on a chair, hold a pencil and write from left to right on paper
knowing what a sentence is
being able to write with correct grammar, punctuation and spelling
Having the general knowledge and vocabulary to use appropriate words
Being able to sequence and organise thoughts
And most importantly coming up with an idea
Sentences a quick over view
A sentence is a group of words that make sense and contains a verb. Example: The boy ran.
A sentence can be:
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a question:
a command:
a statement:
an exclamation:
Can I have a cup of tea?
I told you to do that now!
I love school.
They won the game!
A sentence starts with a capital and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
Types of sentences:
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Simple sentences contain one clause that is a group of words that has a subject, someone or
something and gives us more information about the person or thing. Example: The horse
(Subject) drank some water (what it did).
Compound sentences have two or more main independent clauses joined by a conjunction.
Example: Sally planted a flower and Paul watered it.
Complex sentences have more than one verb and thus more than one clause. A complex
sentence has a main independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. Example: The
soccer game was cancelled (main clause) because it rained (dependent clause as information
from the main clause is needed for it to make sense).
SPELD NSW Parents Corner Issue 3, from E News June 2014
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Activities to write simple sentences:
Beginner Writers:
• Identifying
- Using a picture identify the correct sentence to describe the picture. To understand which
sentence is correct the child needs to name the person or thing and what it is doing, i.e.
telling us more.
Example from Ants in the Apple by Lin Meeks
- Write several simple sentences on separate pieces of paper, cut each sentence into two and get the
children to reassemble them correctly.
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• Selecting and Completing
- Using a picture to name the person or thing to complete the given sentence or complete the
sentence to tell us more about the person or thing.
Example from Ants in the Apple by Lin Meeks
- On a piece of paper write several sentences and cut them into two. Using either the ‘beginning‘
or ‘end’ part of a sentence ask the child to complete the sentence. When finished this activity ask
the child to show all the sentence parts and ask them to match the parts to make complete
sentences.
Examples of sentence beginnings and endings that can be completed by the student and/ or
rearranged to make four complete sentences.
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Generating
- Using a picture to generate the idea of what is happening to the person /s or things/s, and then
the child writes their own sentence.
Example from Ants in the Apple by Lin Meeks
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Developing Writer
- Using a cheap card (blank inside) from a $2 shop, write the name of the person or thing on the
picture then write the sentence on the inside. This activity can be extended by writing numbers
over the top of the picture to sequence events. Use the numbers as visual cues to write several
sentences on the inside of the card. The numbers and names help the child remember what the
main items and order of events are when writing the sentence.
- Using small strips of paper to represent the sentence, write individual words on separate pieces
of paper.
1. Start with a simple sentence:
The boy ran.
2. Brainstorm alternate words for:
-boy
student, teenager, toddler, athlete
-ran
skipped, galloped, sprinted, bolted
3. Change any existing words to preferred words by writing the preferred word on the back of the
paper.
The student bolted.
4. Keep expanding the sentence by inserting new words. Ask questions like:
describe the noun/ verbs (adjectives/ adverbs) - huge, smart, blond/ lazily, quickly
why
where
what
who
when
scared by a dog, saw his teacher coming, heard the bell
school, home, athletics track
he won, he got caught, he tripped
friends, his mum, a teacher
yesterday, Friday, morning
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When the sentence is finished, tape the pieces together to allow the completed sentence to be
displayed. Not all questions are suitable for all sentences. However, questions can lead onto more
sentences and paragraphs once an understanding of the basic sentence writing is achieved.
Final sentence: The blonde student tripped when he bolted for school after hearing the
morning bell.
Sentence Roll
Using the same procedure outlined above, continue expanding the sentence until it becomes
ridiculous. The exercise is for students who already have a basic understanding of sentence writing.
Some words to be avoided include ‘and’ and ‘because’. Descriptive words, nouns and verbs can only
be used once. ‘And’ is acceptable if it used to connect descriptive words, e.g. black and white.
This is a good activity to extend vocabulary and get the child to think about writing expanded
sentences. If several children are doing this activity together a game can be made of who can create
the longest sentence. Alternatively, if doing the activity with one child see if they can write a longer
sentence each time they do this activity.
Sentence example:
The smart long-legged blond student suddenly
tripped when surprised by a large black spotty
dog barking madly at a group of seven teenage
school-girls standing in the middle of a deserted
road watching a small nest in the distant gum
trees on a hot summer’s morning before the bell
went for school.
Teachers from the Teachers’ Certificate
Course displaying an example of their
‘sentence roll’ on the Written Expression
Weekend.
With many of the above activities colour coding can help children to identify parts of the sentence.
Example: Use one colour, blue pen or paper for the subject and a separate colour, green for telling
us more about the subject.
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Colour coding with either colour pens or paper can help identify the sentence parts-
- Nouns
- Adjectives
- Verbs
- Adverbs
- Pronouns
- Conjunctions/Other
red
yellow
green
blue
orange
white
References:
Many of the above strategies were taught at the 2013 Teachers’ Certificate Course.
Lin Meeks, Ants in the apple
Peter Clutterbuck,2010, Good Grammar, Blake Education
SPELD NSW Parents Corner Issue 3, from E News June 2014
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