Teacher confession:  When students get to 2nd grade, it drives me absolutely bonkers when they are still forgetting to use a capital letter at the beginning of sentences, and punctuation at the end!  I’m not even kidding, I sometimes let out a GRRRR when I see these two errors. (And my students know EXACTLY what I am growling about!)  But, I’ve found some ways to eliminate this frustration in my classroom! In this post, I’m sharing my top six strategies for ensuring students are writing complete sentences every single time.

---

Need help teaching sentence writing? All the tools to teach writing foundations are included in our brand new Lucky to Learn Writing program! From guided video lessons to digital & printable resources, this curriculum has everything you need to teach writing, grammar and self-regulation skills all school year.

---

For more help with writing sentences in the 1st or 2nd grade classroom, I’ve compiled a priceless list of sentence writing advice straight from the mouths of veteran teachers! I also have a post to help out with planning mini lessons: Writing Mini Lessons That Stick.

Strategies for Writing Sentences

1- Whole Group Sentence Fixers

When my students come back from recess, they know to grab a clipboard and a sentence fixer paper.

Here’s how this activity works:

Students sit in front of my marker board and find three sentences that look like the ones pictured below. I tell the class that I have “accidentally” made these errors and I need their help to fix them. Their job is to find the errors and rewrite the sentence.  

Once that is completed, they find the nouns, verbs, and adjectives and follow the directions at the top of the sheet.  (If all of these parts of speech haven’t been introduced yet, focus on the parts of speech that have been introduced.)  

Last, we go over the sentences together and the students have a chance to use the teacher markers to show what they know on the board for their peers to see.  There’s just something about giving them the teacher’s marker that immediately boosts engagement!  

2- Let’s Get Moving

It isn’t a surprise that students like (and need) a chance to move.  Brain research states that when students are given a chance to use as many learning styles as possible, this increases the possibility of retention of the new skill.  Why not apply this to learning about grammar?  Take a look at the video below that demonstrates how we would act out how to read a sentence or passage in the classroom.

3- Embedded Grammar Lessons

One of the best ways to get your students writing stronger sentences is by building up their grammar skills. But who has the time to add in a grammar block to the school day? That is where Lucky to Learn Writing (now for 1st & 2nd grade) comes in! Each writing lesson has embedded grammar, allowing two skills to be tackled at once! Sneak a peek at the sentence writing lessons here.

4- Seasonal Sentence Scrambles

Another favorite activity we use during literacy centers are our seasonal sentence scrambles. Students choose a bag of words, read them, arrange them to make a complete sentence, and then write the complete sentence on the recording sheet.

Skills that are practiced:

• Decoding and Fluency
• Sight Words
• Using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence
• Using punctuation at the end of a sentence
• Complete sentences

5- Weekly Dictation Tests

Every Friday my students take a dictation test.  They are given three sentences to write.  The sentences are not given to them prior to the test.  The words that are chosen for the sentences are common sight words and spelling words they have been working on throughout the week.  Each word that is correctly spelled is worth a point.  A point is also given for a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and another point for a punctuation mark at the end of the sentence.  

6- Grammar Toothy® Activities

Toothy® is a way for your students to practice essential grammar skills in a fun and effective way. Better yet, once your students learn to play Grammar Toothy®, it becomes an independent activity that your students can use as an early finisher, literacy center, independent practice, morning work, partner game, or intervention activity.  

Learn more about Toothy®.

There are two Toothy® sets that are particularly helpful with writing sentences. The Sentences Toothy® Pack and Punctuation and Conventions Toothy® packs:

• Sentences Toothy® focuses on complete sentences, types of sentences, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, nouns, verbs, and adjectives in a sentence.

• Punctuation and Conventions Toothy® focuses on capitalization, punctuation Marks, commas, abbreviations, contractions, and ABC order.

Check out all things Grammar Toothy below!

You can download or purchase these packs individually, or have all of the above (plus more!) in the Grammar Toothy® Bundle.

7- Independent Sentence Fixers

I’ve also got a way to cut down on planning with a no prep sentence fixers pack! Check out the video below to see the printable and digital sentence fixers resource more closely.

Sentence fixers are a practical, no prep way for your students to practice capital letters, punctuation marks, and spelling of the most common sight words and CVC words.  This resource includes a sentence fixers cover page, 40 pages of sentence fixers printables, and 40 pages of answer keys. These are great for daily practice or even homework!  Once your students try this digital sentence fixers freebie, they will love it!

---

How to Teach Other 2nd Grade Grammar Skills:

Is it time for a new concept in grammar? We have a post for that!

---

Need help teaching sentence writing? All the tools to teach writing foundations are included in our brand new Lucky to Learn Writing program!

---

If you found these ideas for increasing student success with writing sentences helpful, you can use the image below to pin to your Pinterest board.