Arizona ELA Standard: 1.L.1.i

Students work with subjects, predicates, and conjunctions to write compound sentences.

When I see a quote, I often think, “That’s not quite right!”

Let’s take a starting phrase about St. Patrick’s Day and get specific. No, even more specific!

How many different ways can we use the word “fruit”? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!

Let’s make this simile about a strong uncle even more specific.

Let’s make this simile about a quick baby even more specific.

Let’s make this simile about a loud class super specific!

Start with a basic simile. Now make it more specific. Now even more. Watch how much better writing gets with each round.

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about automobiles back into the correct order?

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about earthquakes back into the correct order?

Pi can go beyond circles! What if you wrote using the digits of pi as your guide?

What if we started a sentence with the simile?

What happens when we switch out a “but” with a “so”? An “and” with a “for”? How can such tiny words make such big differences?

Have students mastered the art of anadiplosis: ending one sentence with the beginning of the next? Now it’s time to take it to the next level!

Can your students help The Bard? We’ll fix five Shakespearean run-ons in three different ways.

A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be writing sentences with three dependent clauses.

A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be contrasting two ideas using synonyms.

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place at school.

Students pick from 12 random phrases to create a story about an incident in a restaurant.

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in space!

In a sentence, punctuation may seem meek when compared to those mighty words, but punctuation has incredible power over the meaning of a sentence. Students will try re-punctuating sentences to find new meanings – without changing a single word!

The word “may” can be used for possibility or permission. It’s a modal auxiliary verb!

Blow up a paragraph into individual sentences. Now reassemble it. The clues hiding in each sentence will surprise you.

Two columns of sentences. Something is different about them. Can you figure out the rule?

These clauses are sorted into two groups. What’s the rule? No definitions given — just examples.

Can your students spot simple sentences vs compound sentences?

Can your students spot the run-on sentences?

Can your class spot the complex sentences vs compound sentences?

What happens when a pronoun could refer to more than one noun? Big problems!

Let’s make valentines with an educational twist!

Let’s spice up a typically dull lesson about the difference between “its” and “it’s” by asking students to write a children’s story about the adventures of a critter named It.

Your students’ sentences all start the same way. Here are three techniques that fix that overnight.

We’ll show students how to add more variety to their writing by starting sentences with a reason, a prepositional phrase, and a simile.

‘Add more variety!’ teachers say. But how? This lesson gives students actual techniques instead of vague advice.