Super Sentence Writing!

  My authors and artists started the session off with a very important lesson in grammar, and how we can use the various parts of speech to make our writing more interesting to read.  Through adjectives, adverbs, clauses, and phrases, we can paint the perfect picture in our readers' minds of exactly what we want them to see.  And that is what good writers do!

We started off with learning that a sentence just needs 5 things to be a sentence:

1. A capital at the beginning

2. A mark of punctuation at the end

3. A noun

4. A verb

5. A complete thought

Once we learned that, we looked at this boring sentence:

The sun shines.

It's a sentence, but it's boring!  It lacks detail.  So we added two adjectives, an adverb, a "where" phrase, and a "when" clause or phrase.   Look at the improvements across the grades!

by Emma (2nd grade)

by Max  (3rd grade)

by Georgia (4th grade)

Super Sentence Writing!

 It's time for another session of "Authors and Artists Club," and we always begin the same way: the study of sentences.  We dive into grammar and how we can use it to make our sentences more interesting to read.  We learn about dependent clauses and prepositional phrases (yes, even my youngest students!) and how it is our job as writers to paint the perfect picture in our readers' minds of exactly what we want them to see.

We start with studying a boring sentence:

The snowflake falls.

It has what a sentence needs: A capital, a mark of punctuation, a noun, a verb, and a complete thought.  However, it is boring to read! With a guided lesson, the students each improve their sentences unti they become as unique as the snowflakes they created themselves!

Enjoy these samples from across the grades!

Because it is so excited, the pretty, white snowflake swirlingly falls on the snowy ground as I walk around the block. -Ella, 1st grade

The white sparkly snowflake falls in a fat frog's mouth on a cold icy morning because it's the last day of winter. -Anders, 2nd grade

The pretty amazing snowflake falls slowly into a little cute house on a cold midnight because it was starting to get sleepy and wanted to go home. -Evy, 3rd grade

Because the frozen cloud is sad, the fragile exotice snowflake falls elegantly into the calm ocean as the bright sun sets. - Matthew, 4th grade

As the sun hides behind the mountains, the elegant and fragile snowflake falls gracefully on the frosty cold grass. -Acey, 5th grade

Super Sentence Writing!

 My budding and awesome authors classes started the session off with a very important lesson in grammar, and how we can use the various parts of speech to make our writing more interesting to read.  Through adjectives, adverbs, clauses, and phrases, we can paint the perfect picture in our readers' minds of exactly what we want them to see.  And that is what good writers do!

We started off with learning that a sentence just needs 5 things to be a sentence:

1. A capital at the beginning

2. A mark of punctuation at the end

3. A noun

4. A verb

5. A complete thought

Once we learned that, we looked at this boring sentence:

The puppy licks.

It's a sentence, but it's boring!  It lacks detail.  So we added a direct object, two adjectives, an adverb, a "where" phrase, and a "when" clause or phrase.   Look at the improvements across the grades!

by Cora (3rd grade)

by Bella (3rd grade)

by Marlo (4th grade)

by Mabel (5th grade)

Super Sentence Writing!

 My younger authors started the session off with a very important lesson in grammar, and how we can use the various parts of speech to make our writing more interesting to read.  Through adjectives, adverbs, clauses, and phrases, we can paint the perfect picture in our readers' minds of exactly what we want them to see.  And that is what good writers do!

We started off with learning that a sentence just needs 5 things to be a sentence:

1. A capital at the beginning

2. A mark of punctuation at the end

3. A noun

4. A verb

5. A complete thought

Once we learned that, we looked at this boring sentence:

The sun shines.

It's a sentence, but it's boring!  It lacks detail.  So we added two adjectives, an adverb, a "where" phrase, and a "when" clause or phrase.   Look at the improvements across the grades!

by Autumn (1st grade)

by Brandon (1st grade)

by Iris (2nd grade)

by Vedant (3rd grade)

by Sara (4th grade)

Super Sentence Writing!

 No matter what age groups I am teaching, I always love starting new sessions with this important assignment that emphasizes the importance of grammar and painting the perfect picture in the reader's mind by careful placements of clauses and phrases.  We start off by learning that a sentence needs five things to be a complete sentence:

1. A noun (subject)

2. A verb (predicate)

3. A capital letter

4. A mark of punctuation at the end

5. It needs to be a complete thought.

We start with the boring sentence:

The snowflake falls.

From there, we add adjectives, adverbs, phrases and clauses that tell "where," "when," and "why."  My "Awesome" students experiment with the placement of these tools to make the best-sounding sentence possible.  The result is sentences that are as beautiful and unique as snoflakes themselves!  Enjoy these samples across the grades!

by Aanya (1st grade)

by David (1st grade)

by Risha (2nd grade)

by Momo (3rd grade)

by Dana (4th grade)

by Max (5th grade)

by Winston (5th grade)

Super Sentence Writing

    Another session of workshops is off to a great start!  As we were enjoying some beautiful late summer sunshine, we started off our workshop with a lesson in the importance of grammatical tools in sentence writing.  Our job as writers is to paint the perfect picture in our readers' minds of exactly what we want them to see.  We started off with the sentence: "The sun shines."   This is grammatically a correct sentence, but it doesn't come with any descriptors or details.  So step by step we added:

-2 adjectives

-1 adverb

-a phrase or clause that tells "when"

-a phrase or clause that tells "where"  

    My advanced writers played around with placements of phrases and clauses, to find the best order of their imagery.

    Enjoy these samples from across the grades!

                                     

By Joon (2nd grade)

                                            

by Kate (3rd grade)

by Daisy (4th grade)

by Armin (5th grade)

Super Sentence Writing!

It has been another great session of "Authors and Artists" classes!  The "Budding Authors and Artists" are in 1st-2nd grade, and the "Awesome" classes includes 4th-6th grade.  I love starting every session with a strong sentence writing activity.  My classes learned that a sentence needs just a noun and a verb to technically be a sentence, but there is so much more that can be added!  They turned their base sentences into a sentence that had adjectives, adverbs, where's, and when's!  The "Awesome" class even learned how to correctly start a sentence with "Because," as they learned the difference between phrases and clauses.  It was also fun to do art to match!  Enjoy these samples.

by Momo (2nd grade)

by Katherine (4th grade)

by Ziggy (4th grade)

by Mika, 5th grade

Session II has started with Snowflake Sentences and Art!

 Session II of "Budding Authors and Artists" and "Awesome Authors and Artists" started up in late January, and I am finally getting caught up and making my blog selections.  Grades 1-5 took a boring base sentence: 

"The snowflake falls."

     And turned it into a masterpiece with adjectives, adverbs, phrases, and clauses!  The "Awesome" class even learned how to start a sentence with "Because."  Of course, no sentence would be complete without glittery snowflake stickers and glitter pens!  I hope you enjoy these samples across the grades!

The petite, white, amazing snowflake falls gracefully on top of Mrs. Huff at 2:45 pm as "Authors and Artists Club" starts!

-Leah, 2nd grade

In the backyard of a cute family house, while the kids are playing baseball outside, the sparkly, fluffy snowflake falls urgently, because his mom had pushed him off the bushy cloud.

-Natalie, 4th grade

Because the air is cold in the snow-covered forest, the delicate frosty snowflake quickly falls, as the sun begins to rise.

-Penelope, 5th grade

Fabulous Sentence Writing

Our first assignment was a fantastic lesson in grammar and sentence structure.  We learned that a sentence only needs five things to be complete:

1. A Noun (Subject)

2. A Verb (Predicate)

3. A Capital Letter

4. A mark of punctuation at the end

5. A complete thought.

But these things alone can lead to very boring sentences, such as this one:

The ocean waves crash.

So, my classes learned to add adjectives, adverbs, "when" phrases and clauses, and "where" phrases and clauses.   The final masterpieces, shown here complete with creative artwork, display how a boring sentence can be turned into an exciting one if you know the tools to use!

"The calm and shining ocean waves crash smoothly against the soft, gleaming beach when it's summer break."

By Emma (4th grade)

 "On the bright sunny day, the small shiny ocean waves crash quietly against the pale sand bank."

by Clara (5th grade)

"At sunset, as the birds fly through the clouds, the smooth, glistening ocean waves crash gently onto the soft pale sand."

By Lia (6th grade)

Superb sentences!

We are off to another great start in the "Authors and Artists" classes!  The "Budding Authors and Artists" are in 1st and 2nd grade, and the "Awesome" class includes 3rd, 4th, 5th, and at one school, 6th graders.  I love starting every session with a strong sentence writing activity.  This year, the "Budding" students took the base sentence "The Sun Shines" and turned it into a sentence that had adjectives, adverbs, where's, and when's!  This is actually an amazing feat for 6 and 7 year olds!  The "Awesome" class picked their own noun and verb, and made what we call a "boring" sentence.  They added phrases, clauses, adjectives, adverbs, and even learned how to correctly start a sentence with "Because."  The "Budding" class tried this in a simpler form, on Week 2.  It was also fun to do art to match!  Enjoy these samples.

by Jeff, 1st grade

 by Kayla, 2nd grade

by Natalie, 2nd grade

 by Neel, 3rd grade

By Sophia, 4th grade

by Claire, 5th grade

Snowflake Sentences

     We are off to a fabulous start in "Budding Authors and Artists," (grades 1-3)  and "Awesome Authors and Artists" (grades 3-6).   Our first assignment of every session is to learn how to develop a sentence into one that creates a perfectly clear picture in the reader's mind.   We start off with a basic sentence, one that is grammatically complete but very dull to read:

The snowflake falls.

     We then add:

~2 adjectives

~an adverb

~A "where" phrase or clause

~A "when" phrase or clause

~"Awesome" students are taught how to start a sentence with "Because."

     After peer editing, which included experimenting with placement of the phrases and clauses for the more advanced writers, the students came up with their final masterpieces.  The art aspect included the favorite activity of cutting a snowflake, and adding some glitter glue or stickers for fun.  Enjoy these samples across the grades!

 The special, pretty snowflake falls softly on my house at night.

Violet, 1st grade

Right when Santa's sleigh leaves, the shiny bright snowflake gracefully falls right at the edge of Santa's chilly home.

Kalea, 2nd grade

During Chinese New Year's Eve, the shiny, delicate snowflake smoothly falls in the cold, chilly air.

Sophia, 3rd grade

 Because it is Christmas Eve, the majestic, delicate snowflake falls on to the trees while the children look out the window.

Abigail, 4th grade

While the children are sleeping, the soft and gentle snowflake falls slowly in the early dawn.

Nikhil, 5th grade

Snowflake Sentences!

Another session of "Budding Authors and Artists" and "Awesome Authors and Artists" started up in late January.  We were inspired by winter to create beautiful snowflakes with sentences to match them!  We started with a lesson on what makes a grammatically correct sentence: Simply, it's a Noun + Verb.  But to create a sentence that is exciting to read and that paints a perfect picture in the reader's mind of what the author wants to convey, we need to add:

1. two adjectives

2. one adverb

3. a phrase or clause that tells "where"

4. a phrase or clause that tells "when"

5. The "Awesome" students also learned how to start a sentence effectively with "Because"!  They were also encouraged to peer edit and help each other move phrases or clauses around for better sounding sentences.

This is a project I love to see across the grade levels.  It's fun to watch the students' writing ability mature as they get older.  Enjoy these samples!

 The beautiful white snowflake falls gracefully at Lake Tahoe in winter.

~Alice, 1st grade

 The unique, glittering snowflake falls softly on my snowy roof on Christmas Eve.

~ Lucy, 2nd grade

The soft, pretty snowflake falls quietly and gracefully outside my window on the 1st of January.

~Tiffany, 3rd grade

Because it is snowing, the shiny snowflake falls softly on to the tip of my tongue.

~Lana, 4th grade

During the Winter Olympics, the brilliant and sparkly snowflake gracefully falls on the ski of a famous skier.

~Tyler, 5th grade

While a mysterious, shimmering twilight moon illuminates the dark forest, a single intricate and delicate snowflake drifts soundlessly on to a bed of white snow.

~Sophie, 6th grade