Do your students have million dollar words in their writing from our last mini lesson? Now it is time to move onto a variety of sentences. This is important in student writing to avoid the monotonous tone. "He did.... He has.... He then did...." Blah blah blah. Variety of sentences is also part of DARE to Revise- Exchange.
With a Variety of sentences, I like to give students a specific topic and have them create sentences using each of the following with the topic in mind. For example: Bears hibernate.
1. With a describing word- Furry bears are hibernating.
2. With a question- Do all bears hibernate?
3. With a transition word- After winter, bears wake up from hibernation.
4. With the word to- To see a bear hibernating, creep quietly!
5. With an -ing word- Hibernating is normal for bears in winter.
6. With an excitement word- Yikes! The bear woke up from hibernation!
Here is an example of how to change writing in story:
Splash! Pam jumped in the freezing lake and grabbed the bottle in the water. Hillary helped her get the paper out of the bottle. What could it be? They revealed a map of a hidden treasure. They didn't hesitate and started to follow it. They knew the location of the island that was on the map. Pam and Hillary got in a paddle boat and paddled like mad across the lake to the island.
With a Variety of Sentences:
Splash! Pam jumped in the freezing lake and grabbed the bottle in the water. Helping her get the paper out of the bottle was her friend, Hillary. What could it be? They revealed a map of a hidden treasure. Without hesitation, they started to follow it. Knowing the location of the island on the map, Pam and Hillary got in a paddle boat and paddled like mad across the lake to the island.
With a Variety of sentences, I like to give students a specific topic and have them create sentences using each of the following with the topic in mind. For example: Bears hibernate.
1. With a describing word- Furry bears are hibernating.
2. With a question- Do all bears hibernate?
3. With a transition word- After winter, bears wake up from hibernation.
4. With the word to- To see a bear hibernating, creep quietly!
5. With an -ing word- Hibernating is normal for bears in winter.
6. With an excitement word- Yikes! The bear woke up from hibernation!
Here is an example of how to change writing in story:
Splash! Pam jumped in the freezing lake and grabbed the bottle in the water. Hillary helped her get the paper out of the bottle. What could it be? They revealed a map of a hidden treasure. They didn't hesitate and started to follow it. They knew the location of the island that was on the map. Pam and Hillary got in a paddle boat and paddled like mad across the lake to the island.
With a Variety of Sentences:
Splash! Pam jumped in the freezing lake and grabbed the bottle in the water. Helping her get the paper out of the bottle was her friend, Hillary. What could it be? They revealed a map of a hidden treasure. Without hesitation, they started to follow it. Knowing the location of the island on the map, Pam and Hillary got in a paddle boat and paddled like mad across the lake to the island.
Wow! Doesn't that make a difference in the story? It flows smoothly and isn't choppy. Smooth like butter! Below is a student example. This student did a great job! The only one that he didn't have a correct example was "describing words". He used food as his first word. He could have used "delicious food" or "steaming food" or "colorful food".
Next writing mini lesson #30- Jammin Conclusion
Like always,
ROCK 'N' WRITE!!!!
If you would rather have all of the these mini lessons (over 400 pages) in one spot along with tracking forms, goal forms, prompts, practice sheets, etc, etc. Click on the pic below! Boost those test scores with a STEP-BY-STEP year-long writing program!
