Super Sentences!

A new session of Writers' Workshop began last month, and I have 47 wonderful students with whom I am working.  Some are returning students, some are new, and all are working hard and doing a great job!  It will be hard to pick the best of the best when it comes to the blog, that's for sure.

We started off our session with a lesson in how to write a detailed, vivid sentence, with imagery that creates a picture in the reader's mind.  We started off with a base sentence:

The snowflake falls.

We then proceeded to add to it, to make the sentence more exciting.  We added:
- 2 adjectives
- 1 adverb
- a phrase that tells "where"
- a phrase that tells "when"
- We even had a lesson in how to correctly start a sentence with "Because."  Only my returning students knew that they were "allowed" to do that!  Many teachers simply tell their students not to start with "Because," for fear of sentence fragments.  I always teach how to do it correctly-- it can add a beautiful effect to the sentence, to begin with a "why" phrase.

After we experimented with the placements of our clauses and phrases, as well as our "because" clause, we came up with two of our best attempts, and had our classmates vote on their favorite.  It was an excellent opportunity for peer teaching and teamwork.  When the final decision was made, each student got to cut a beautiful snowflake, glue it on blue background paper, and add designs if they wanted.  Here are just a few samples of great work!

On a freezing winter night, a crystal clear snowflake falls swiftly and softly on the end of a swan's white tail.
- Claire, 4th grade

Because it's a cold winter day, the unique, white snowflake gently falls on my warm gloves.
- Haley, 3rd grade 

Because it wanted to be melted, the fragile white snowflake swiftly fell on a warm hot dog in AT&T Park while Buster Posey was batting.
-Loren, 5th grade 

While the graceful ballerina is performing, the beautiful white snowflake falls daintily on her pink ballet shoe.
-Meghna, 3rd grade 

The amazing and graceful snowflake falls gently at 12:00 on New Year's Eve.
-Riley, 4th grade 

On Christmas Eve, the white unique snowflake falls softly in the snowy park because it's December.
-Sophia, 3rd grade (Notice how Sophia moved her "because" clause to the end of her sentence, where she thought it sounded better.) 

I had the pleasure of visiting my daughter's kindergarten classroom and doing a mini Writers' Workshop with her class.  I adjusted the expectations for the assignment and did more of a fill-in-the-blank style, while teaching the little ones about descriptive words and "where" a snowflake could fall. 

You know how 5 and 6 year olds love glitter and stickers!  Here is how they turned out!

 The big pretty snowflake falls on my cold little nose.


Here's how they all looked on the bulletin board.  Fun!

Good sentence writing can and should be taught at all ages!