How to Teach Writing Complete Sentences

Nov 13, 2023

2 min read

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Do you feel like writing is the weakest part of your instruction? Are you unsure where to start teaching your students how to write complete sentences? You are not alone! Writing is the subject that is the most intimidating for most elementary teachers because we have never been taught an explicit and systematic system for teaching writing.

This program combines grammar and syntax rules and vocabulary with lots of room for student creativity to make teaching writing easy for the teacher and fun for the students.

Here is how it works:

Each lesson focuses on one grammar rule for writing complete sentences. You follow the same routine for each rule so that students can automatize the process and focus on ideas.

Show students example sentences to demonstrate the focus of the lesson. (Yes, we provide them.)
Build a word chart with students so they have all the pieces they need to write sentences based on the lesson. (Each lesson has a unique word chart because students will need different parts of speech for each lesson. Also, word charts are a fantastic time to integrate science and social studies into your writing instruction.)
Students write complete sentences based on the day’s lesson using the word charts. (Each sentence page has reminders about the basics of writing a sentence, such as starting with a capital letter, spaces between the words, and using ending punctuation.)
Students share their work to get feedback from peers.

Students will continually return to previous lessons as they will need these skills to write more and more complex sentences.

The program has lessons from recognizing nouns to writing complex sentences with transition words. You will not use every lesson in one grade level. However, you should review some lessons students should have mastered in earlier grades. You can also use lessons in small groups for students who need remediation or extensions.

Because this is a systematic program, it is best to teach the lessons in order. Even if you are teaching older students, use the earlier lessons as a review and to build your routine. Of course, you are a professional and expert, so you are welcome to use the lessons out of order!