1. 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!

2. Use the graphic below enlarged or create a poster with the key words and samples (emphasizing the ending marks on the samples) and hang up in your classroom when working on three types of sentences.

3. Write sentences on cards that are laminated and have students practice putting the punctuation on with wipe off markers.

4. Write sentences on a worksheet for students to add punctuation to.

5. Write lists of sentences that should be changed from one type to another type.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Bring a Clue game out to use the characters or “weapons” for asking “Interrogative” sentences to each other.

9. 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.)

10. 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.

11. Have sentences on cards all around the room with removable end marks. Each day move the end marks around in the wrong places and have students put them all in the correct places.

12. Have sentences all over the room that need end marks added (cards, sentences on board, posterettes, etc.) and let students add with a white board marker.

13. Have students work in pairs to match the first half of a sentence with the end of it …helping them focus on key words at the beginning that help them know it is likely a question or exclamatory sentence.

14. Memory game with larger cards for unpunctuated sentences and smaller cards for end marks.

15. “Fishing” with a pole and string that has a magnet on the end. They fish a large card (magnetized) and a small card (punctuation mark). When they get a matching pair, they keep it. Winner is the one who has the most at the end of the game.

16. Finish the sentences with the rest of the sentence and its end mark. This can be done in worksheet form, on the board with students orally finishing the sentence and the teacher writing the rest (as well as the punctuation mark needed), or having students do it at the board one at a time.

17. Use picture cards to elicit oral sentences from students. Orally say a sentence about a picture and say what your end mark will be or which kind of sentence it is

18. Use Boogie boards or white boards. All students write a sentence with no end mark and pass them to the left. Students say the sentence and what end mark they added aloud. Erase the boards and do it again, continuing passing.

19. Draw a question word card (who, what, when, where, why, do, are, will, how, etc.) and students orally give a sentence that begins with that card and ends with a question mark. Again, this can all be oral work or can be combined with board work or writing on paper (depending on level).

20. Use magnetic words to have them create the three types of sentences with their end marks.

For more sentence teaching help, check out my four elementary Meaningful Composition books:

(To see the article about my theory of teaching three sentence types, check out my recent article HERE!) 

Love and hope,

Donna

The post 20 Ways to Practice Sentence Types With Elementary Kids appeared first on Character Ink.

Our newest fourth grade composition book is up! Well, it’s not really new…it’s just one of the last two books of the Meaningful Composition series to be revised. And I am so happy with it!

I am happy for all of the regular reasons: (1) It is completely directed—no guess work, no vague ideas of what a student should do, no writing idea book or prompt book; (2) It follows the same layout—each project is one or two weeks long; (3) It teaches the skills needed to complete each project (when an assignment has the student add a quote, it has extensively quote lessons to teach them HOW to add quotes!); (4) It has the outlining spaces, brainstorming boxes, etc., all within it; (5) Has samples galore; and much more.

(See me, two years and 30 pounds ago explaining the details of MC HERE) 🙂

(Or find out why MC works HERE)

True to all of our second, third, and fourth grade books (and all first semester books for 5 through 9), it has the HOW TO’s in the first section. In this case, it has:

(1) How to Write From Sources Using Our Signature Writing Boxes (super effective writing approach that Cathy Duffy loved that is in all of our elementary MC, Write On, and Write-for-a-Month books);

(2) How to Write From Sources Using Our Sentence-by-Sentence Outlining Approach;

(3) How to Complete Our Signature Checklist Challenge. These are step-by-step lessons on our approaches that fall in the first few weeks of each MC first semester books (2 I through 9 I). (Of course, they all teach these lessons with different level-appropriate materials!)

And then…..the absolute darling-ness-factor of this book……

1) Starts out with an Alice in Wonderland writing boxes lesson

2) Has amazing people for them to write about—-Clara Barton, George Washington Carver, and more

3) Contains a Peter Pan story-writing-from-given-source lesson (darlingx5!)

4) Teaches how to write opening and closing paragraphs using sets of animals that display various qualities

5) Uses “zoo information cards” to outline original animal paragraphs

6) Teaches a book report using a meaningful story that they choose about people who were reconciled to each other (okay..little conflict resolution lesson in there!)

7) Has a perfect balance of given sources and original writing for this tender writing age

8) One of the original projects is interviewing pet owners and writing two paragraphs—what fourth grader doesn’t love pets???

I’m crazy about this book, and I know you and your young writer will be also! But just to be sure you know what you are getting yourself into, go ahead and print off three weeks of the sixteen weeks to try with your kiddos! It’s free….because we want you to love what you are buying before you buy it! Get that sample HERE!

Check out all levels of MC at our store—two semesters of each book for second through twelfth grade students. This is the most versatile writing program you will find—no expensive videos or extensive packages; everything contained in each one semester book; Directed Writing Approach throughout. Add a grammar program to 5th through 12th grade books, and you are good to go.

No need to add a grammar program to the elementary books! The 2 I, 2 II, 3 I, 3 II, and 4 I books are grammar-included, so no other English book is needed.

Click the image below to view MC 4-II in the store!

Click HERE to view our other Meaningful Composition books! 

PIN THIS POST!

The post Introducing the NEW MC 4 II Book! appeared first on Character Ink.

When I post a live video of one of my writing classes on Facebook, I always get those same questions: When will you offer classes for people who don’t live near you? Are you going to be having online classes soon? And I keep saying “soon”! Well, soon is now here. We are officially having our very first LIVE online writing class (remedial writing, of sorts). I will enumerate the details below.

1. Class:

Remedial Writing for 7th through 12th grade students who have not learned how to write four paragraphs or more—or who want to learn my approaches (Sentence-by-Sentence Outlining, Checklist Challenge, Writing Boxes, 3 P’s of Persuasion, Overview Source in Research, and more!) in order to complete other books or classes that we offer. At the end of this class, your student will be able to move into any book in the Meaningful Composition series at or above his grade level. (I have twenty-two total books in this series!)

Note: The class will never be called remedial or remediation outside of this blog post and my ad. From here on (and in class), this class will be called Jump Start Writing.

2. Book:

Meaningful Composition Bonus Book: Jump Start! (Or Jump Start for short!) This book spans fifth through tenth grade writing projects incrementally, covering essays, stories, research reports, and much more. It also covers our Checklist Challenge, Writing Boxes, Creating and Writing From a Sentence-by-Sentence Outline, punctuation and usage, and way more! (See the Table of Contents and Skills Included list below!)

3. Semester Details:

The semester will begin on Thursday, August 31st and run up to and including December 14th for a total of sixteen weeks. We should be able to cover 3/4 of the book in that time frame with students meeting for sixty to ninety minutes a week with me online and completing 45 minutes of homework per day on their non-class week days. The book is sixteen weeks long; we should use at least thirteen of the weeks of the book, based on abilities and ages of students enrolled.

4. Students:

This class is open to anyone in the age range and ability level listed in #1. Students who have not learned the basics of sentences and paragraphs are probably not candidates for this class. The class will be divided into Basic and Extension, so younger students (or those with less writing experience) will have fewer assignments and fewer paragraphs/expectations than older or more experienced students.

5. Student Expectations:

Students will be expected to attend class every Thursday morning 11:00 to 12:00 Eastern time unless arrangements are made ahead of time for the student to watch the recording. (Parents should discuss this with me when enrolling; we want the class to be live so watching recordings will be a last option for necessary misses only.) Students will be expected to complete the homework assignments each week and scan/email their rough draft papers to me for editing and grading as assigned.

6. Parent Expectations:

Parents should watch the Create and Write From a Sentence-by-Sentence Outline and How to Complete the Checklist Challenge videos (you will be given access to the videos and documents upon enrolling in the class) so that they can grade their student’s outlines and Checklist Challenges. The only grading that will be done by the instructor for this class is editing and grading of rough draft papers (before or after the Checklist Challenge is done but before the final copy is created). These videos are under 90 minutes total and will be available as part of the class for the first four weeks of the class. Final grades will not be given, but parents may use the edits and grades from the student’s papers for overall grading purposes, as needed.

7. Materials:

You will be emailed a PDF of the book and will be expected to print this book and three-hole punch it for your student. Each student needs their own book in a three-ring binder. Additionally, students will need a medium set of highlighters (more than four colors), sticky notes, and a thesaurus (or online thesaurus).

8. Cost:

The class fee is $10 per week, $15 PDF fee (for your student use only), and $10 semester charge for our printing and outside editor per student. That is a total of $185. This is payable in three payments: $85 on or before August 24; $50 October 1st; $50 December 1st. You may mail checks or pay via PayPal at characterinklady@gmail.com PayPal address.

9. Class Size:

We will need at least six people in order to run this class with my assistant and outside editor help. We will limit the class to ten people total. If you have a small group of students who want to do the class together, please call me right away to make these arrangements (260-433-4365).

10. Book Samples:

The Jump Start book has been tested over six semesters and will be ready for publication the first of September (at the stores). Therefore, we do not have samples of the book at the store yet. However, you may see the types of projects and layouts of the lessons by checking out the sample lessons in Meaningful Composition 5 I through Meaningful Composition 8 I here.

11. Video Needs:

Your student will need to be able to be on a device or computer (preferably not a phone) on the app called Zoom. I will teach there live and will have screen sharing capabilities should I need to show any part of my book to students. This app is free for attendees.

12. Registration:

To register, email me at characterinklady@gmail.com with your student’s name, grade, address, email that you check frequently, and two phone numbers, if possible. Please also include parents’ names, any info you want me to know, and which number may be used for texting. Call with questions: (260-433-4365).

Love and hope,

Useful links 🙂

Jump Start Table of Contents

Jump Start Skills List

Live Video Lesson: Paragraph Breaks with Train Analogy

Live Video Lesson: Research Report Lesson

Meaningful Composition SALE!

Use coupon code MC10 to get $10.00 off any Meaningful Composition book through the month of August!

The post Live Online Writing Class Starting Soon! appeared first on Character Ink.

Welcome to 2016! And welcome to our newly-revised Meaningful Composition books! Yep, in the next couple of weeks all of our MC books from 5 I through 11 I (two semesters of each book) will be available for purchase. (Our old versions {still awesome books!} of 4 I, 4 II, and 12 II continue to be available as well.)

In honor of the release of many new books—and the other books’ revisions and new titles/contents—Character Ink Press is having a January sale! All MC books (4 I through 11 I) will be on sale from $35 down to $25 (through Character Ink Press only; other vendors will have their regular prices). Yep! Ten dollars off each book during our unveiling month!

Check out our titles, but don’t stop there. We have two week samples of each book for you to “try before you buy”! So check them out; try them out; and keep in touch!

You can click on each of the books individually below, or see all of the Meaningful Composition books here at the store!

• Meaningful Composition 4-I: Sentences, Paragraphs & More
• Meaningful Composition 4-II: Put Those Paragraphs Together
• Meaningful Composition 5-I: Writing For Real!
• Meaningful Composition 5-II: Creative & Clever
• Meaningful Composition 6-I: Long & Strong
• Meaningful Composition 6-II: Junior High Essays
• Meaningful Composition 7-I: Reports and Essays Galore
• Meaningful Composition 7-II: Completely Creative
• Meaningful Composition 8-I: Bridging the Gap
• Meaningful Composition 8-II: Junior High Research Reports
• Meaningful Composition 9 I: Writing for High School
• Meaningful Composition 9 II: High School Creative Writing
• Meaningful Composition 10-I: Essays Only
• Meaningful Composition 10-II: Four Research Reports
• Meaningful Composition 11 I: Timed Essays and Three P’s of Persuasion
• Meaningful Composition 12 II: The BIG Research Paper
   

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