Most second graders learn about three types of sentences—the declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory. Children do not have a lot of trouble with the three types of sentences—it is relatively easy to discover the difference between a statement (or declarative sentence) and a question (or interrogative sentence), etc.

Again, the problem most writers (of all ages) have is not determining what the ending punctuation should be for a sentence or determining if a sentence should begin with a capital letter or not. The real difficulty lies in determining whether a group of words is a sentence or not a sentence. We will examine that more closely as the next month progresses.

For today, we will introduce the three types of sentence first learned in grade school.

1. A declarative sentence is a statement.

a. It declares (tell or state) something.

b. It ends with a period.

c. It is sometimes called a telling sentence.

2. An interrogative sentence is a question.

a. It asks a question. (To interrogate someone is to ask him a
lot of questions.)

b. It ends with a question mark.

c. It is sometimes called an asking sentence or a question.

3. An exclamatory sentence is an excited sentence.

a. It is used to show strong emotion or excitement.

b. It ends with an exclamation point (or excited mark!).

c. It is sometimes called on excited sentence.

While these skills are way easier than teaching a student to hear the realness or “unrealness” of a sentence (i.e. distinguishing a sentence from a subordinate/dependent clause), here are some tip, s for teaching the three types:

1) I don’t like to add the “fourth” sentence type, imperative sentence, to the initial teaching for these reasons:

a. Students don’t have any “hooks” to hook it on. They don’t know what imperative means–though they might have heard of declare, interrogate, and exclaim before.
b. There are three ending punctuation marks for sentences. Add imperative sentences at first can seem like there should be another end mark.
c. Imperative sentences are really just declaring sentences but giving instructions. Technically, they could also be exclamatory sentences.
d. Beyond the initial teaching of sentence structures, we don’t really talk much about imperative sentences anyway!

2) I like to use three key words to introduce sentence types. Sometimes just shortening longer words to their base can make them easier for students to grasp. I like to use the punctuation marks as part of the key word teaching in phrases like these:

a) Declarative–You DECLARE something. Just stating something.
b) Interrogative—Are you a suspect in an INTERROGATION room getting questioned?
c) Exclamatory—You EXCLAIM something in loud words with an exclamation point!

3) Don’t have all of the student practice in the sentence types be their writing of the sentences. This can be laborious and long for young kiddos. Here are some practice options:

a) Write sentences on cards that are laminated and have them practice putting the punctuation on with wipe off markers.
b) Write sentences on a worksheet for students to add punctuation to.
c) Write lists of sentences that should be changed from one type to another type.
d) Have “sentence type” drills in which students are to find a certain sentence type in their reader or content area book and read it aloud with the emphasis needed for that type of sentence.
e) Don’t ask students to write the three sentence types. Those words are not in their reading or writing vocabulary. Have them draw lines from those words to the sentence types on the other column or write D, I, E….and especially have them put the punctuation marks in the sentences.
f) Bring a Clue game out to use the characters or “weapons” for asking “Interrogative” sentences to each other.
g) Write instances in which a person would EXCLAIM something on cards and have students draw one and state an exclamatory sentence. Write these sentences on the board for them to see them written with the proper punctuation. (These could be yelling over loud music at a concert, calling out to a small child in danger, shouting surprise at a birthday party, etc.)

h) Hang Three Sentence Types posters up during the time you are working on them.
i) Write a short story containing all three types of sentences. Cut the sentences up into strips. Break students into small groups. Have them put the sentences in order for the story. Then have them read the story aloud, emphasizing the sentence types when they fall.

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One of the best ways you can help a child become good in language arts (which carries over to all of his school work–since all school work involves reading, comprehending, organizing, etc.) is to help him become a good reader.

Over the past month, I have focused on teaching reading, reading aloud, reading instruction, phonics, and more.

(Check out some of those posts here:

Read Aloud Tips (with video!)

Reading Aloud Together…Builds Memories Forever!

Using Word Cards in Reading Instruction

Preparing a Child to Learn to Read

Phonics Program Round Up for Reading Instruction )

If your child is still learning to read, be careful that you don’t get caught up in the “do everything” part of language arts too soon. In the early elementary grades, your child’s primary focus should be on reaching reading fluency.

(This is why I have “reading” benchmarks in place for students who want to come to my complete language arts classes or purchase CQLA: (1) Pre A students should be able to read non-vocabulary-controlled picture books; (2) A students should be able to read easy chapter books.)

If you are still working on reading fluency, let me refresh you with some tips for that before I delve into teaching beginning writing:

1. Be sure he reads from a book every day. So much reading instruction nowadays is workbook oriented. This is like taking piano lessons while only doing theory books–with no actual playing time. Check out my readability info for choosing readers here!

2. Try the “you read, I’ll read” approach. Have him read a page or paragraph then you read a page or paragraph.

3. If he gets stuck on a word that you think he knows, remind him of what he knows about it:

a. Remember, this rhymes with light and bright. You had this word before.
b. Do you remember what the e at the end of the word makes the first vowel say?
c. How do you think Rabbit feels? Would that word be sad or silly based on how he probably feels?

4. If he is stuck too long or you do not think he knows a word, tell him what it is (and anything about it that might help him in the future) and move on. Do not get bogged down on each word.

5. Ask your librarian for help getting a reader that is truly at his level (or check out these vocabulary controlled readers). Do not believe those readers that say K level in the corner but contain two syllable words!

6. Read aloud to him from a chapter book or other book that he enjoys to make the reading experience pleasant for him.

7. Reward him for practicing reading–stickers, coins, candy–it’s worth bribing for!

I am going to move into beginning writing for a while here on the blog–sentences, sentences vs. clauses, writing sentences, verbs, etc.

Here are some tips for taking your child from a reader to a writer:

1. Teach him/her the five parts of a sentence—CAVES—Capital; All makes sense; Verb; End mark; Subject. Help the student find these things in his sentences or in sentences that he reads. Learn more about CAVES here.

2. Teach anything about the writing process informally that can be taught informally. Point out that a sentence begins with a capital letter as he reads to you. Ask him what the (?) at the end of the sentence means. Talk about why a word is capitalized in a sentence (it’s at the beginning or is someone’s name). These informal teaching times will carry over to his real writing.

3. Understand the difference between penmanship and writing. Penmanship is art. Pure and simple. I would almost say (but can’t bring myself to do so since I have a degree in elementary education and a two hour credit in penmanship!) that “you either have it or you don’t.” Writing is putting words together to form sentences then paragraphs, then stories/reports/essays/letters—anything! If your child has penmanship difficulties (as many young boys do), do not let this distract him from writing. Pen for him as he dictates to you. Teach him to type. Remember, penmanship is not writing. Writing is writing.

4. Show him that writing is just the spoken word written down. Have him talk slowly to you while you type. Read it back to him. Tell him that if he can speak, he can write (even if the penmanship and spelling are not there yet!).

5. When he is first learning to write sentences, do not make him sound out every word. Just tell him how to spell the tough ones and move on. There is even research out there now strongly suggesting that when it comes to spelling, “you either got it or you don’t.” Nowadays with computers and spell check, no person should be uneducated or feel stupid because of spelling problems.

6. Have him dictate sentences about anything (his day; his favorite show; his favorite game; etc.) and write them in large letters with a highlighter. Have him write over the highlighter with his pencil. Have him read the sentences back to you. Then make a big deal out of it—your child can write!

When starting to read and starting to write, a child needs a great measure of success to keep going and feel confident in what he is learning. Making the reading and writing connection in the elementary grades can help do that for your child.

The post From Reader to Writer appeared first on Character Ink.

Thirty-four years ago with a one-year-old toddler in tow, my husband and I
began homeschooling my younger sister (Lisa) who was in eighth grade at the time.
It was definitely homeschooling out of necessity due to some problems that
she was having at school with bullying and meanness because of her
moderately mentally handicapped condition.
I did not know much about homeschooling. I had read Dr. Raymond Moore’s books, and I knew that they
coincided perfectly with the teaching in my elementary education degree and
my master’s work in reading education (in terms of how children learn).
However, to say that I knew what I was getting myself into would be a great
overstatement!

So basically I did whatever Dr. Raymond Moore suggested, whatever we learned
about in any books we read, whatever we learned at the Gregg Harris
homeschooling workshop, and, eventually, what we were taught at homeschool
conventions and parenting seminars.
Our curriculum writer at the time, Dr. Raymond Moore (Growing Kids God’s Way) recommended reading aloud quite
frequently even during Lisa’s eighth-grade year. Likewise, Mr. Harris said
the same thing in The Christian Homeschooling Workshops. So we came home and
did just they said to do!

My first two children, Joshua now thirty-five and Kayla following three years
after, were auditory sponges. They made reading aloud such a joy that we
quite literally spent three to five hours every single day five or six days
a week reading aloud.
We broke up our reading throughout the day and
evening, and we even called it by various names, like subject reading in
the morning. This is what we called what people now call unit studies.
Joshua liked to call it subject reading because it made him feel like he was
really doing school at a young age!
In the afternoon, we had storytime. Various times of the day we had Bible and character time. And of course
bedtime stories and more. Some days we would have a “read all day” day in
which we would make sack lunches and not leave the sofa for five or six
solid hours. Other days we had such silly times as
“matching-green-sweat-suits-read-aloud” time! (Don’t laugh at me….these memories
really make me smile!)

I had read Jim Trelease’s *”Read Aloud Handbook,” plus had learned about read
aloud benefits from the aforementioned seminars and books, but I couldn’t
begin to anticipate the huge impact those early years of reading aloud would
have on those children and on our future children. We grew to love reading
aloud so much that quite literally, I have read aloud at least a couple of
hours every day for my first twenty-five years of parenting!

What about those benefits? Well, all of my children were eager to learn to
read. They had such warm feelings of being read to that they could not wait
to learn to read themselves. They have all become strong readers. They all
love learning as a result of that early reading.

For my dyslexic children and my late readers, reading aloud became invaluable. It built up their
background of experience and their listening comprehension dramatically.
Then when each one did learn to read, he or she brought that background of
experience and auditory comprehension with them into their reading
experiences, and they had amazing comprehension immediately upon learning to
“read” (decode words).

Educational benefits aside, reading aloud has given me the warmest, fondest
memories that a mother could ever ask for. There’s a place in my heart, a
little corner of my heart, called the read aloud corner. It is warm. It is
filled with good memories. Of snuggling with mama on the couch. Of rocking
with mommy with books in her big chair. Of squeezing four, five, or six of
us in mommy and daddy’s bed with a stack of books two feet tall. Isn’t it
amazing to think of the benefits that homeschooling makes available to us?

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