Tools Students Need to Be Skillful Writers: Building Better Sentences

by Phyllis Hostmeyer

Overview

Build stronger writers one sentence at a time.

Imagine a classroom full of enthusiastic student writers, capable of reviewing their own work with a critical eye, then crafting a polished, convincing piece. This is possible, if you take writing instruction down to its basic building block—a solid sentence—and advance from there. Phyllis Hostmeyer can show you how with Tools Students Need to Be Skillful Writers, your blueprint for effective writing instruction and unit development.

Packed with lessons across grades 3-12, this indispensable handbook features:

• A variety of sentence patterns presented in a logical sequence
• An explanation of each pattern’s structure and conventions
• Reinforcement activities and sample sentences for each pattern
• Activities to develop the essential instructional vocabulary.

Along the way, all students, including English language learners, will gain the fluency and automaticity they need as we equip them with the college and career-readiness skills so central to the Common Core.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412989046
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	10/23/2012
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Phyllis Hostmeyer lives in Southern Illinois, but is a Language Arts consultant for Educational Resources Group, Inc. of Charleston, South Carolina. (www.ergsc.com) A frequent speaker and presenter throughout Illinois, Phyllis has also worked as a language arts consultant throughout the country and abroad. She conducts a range of workshops on reading, writing, assessment, poetry, and other topics. But her favorite presentations revolve around the sentence patterns. In addition, Phyllis is a professional storyteller who turns fables and fairy tales into rap, jazz, and ballads. She also does Bible tellings and has traveled to Israel as part of an American Bible telling team. She uses her storytelling skills to bring life and learning to her educational workshops.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1. Introduction: Why Teach Sentence Patterns?
2. Teaching Parts of Speech
3. Sentence Patterns by Grade Level
4. Sentence Combining to Reinforce Skills
5. Activities for Students Needing Extra Practice
6. Extra Practice With Patterns
7. Short Writing Assignments
8. From Patterns to Essays
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This book is a great resource for teachers looking for ideas to improve their skills in teaching writing to students. I wish it had been around when I was working on my professional development and working towards my National Board Certification. "

Ken Garwick

"Students will enjoy the active and collaborative lessons that will allow them to gain skill in writing grammatically correct descriptive sentences with the sophistication of variety in structure. "

Sharon Jefferies

"The writer’s knowledge of how students learn, passion for finding ways to teach sentence patterns, and willingness to share those strategies with the world all combine to make Tools Students Need to Be Skillful Writers: Building Better Sentences a book that every writing teacher can use. "

Norma Barber

"This author provides the tools teachers need to make grammar instruction meaningful and engaging so students build the knowledge they need to craft not only sentences, but strong pieces of writing that meet the demands of the Common Core. "

Carol Gallegos