Written as a springboard to teaching grammar, this book is designed to help teachers of grades 4–8 teach students to use the sixteen essential grammatical elements (seven parts of speech, six phrases, and three clauses) in their writing. Exercises, strategies, and examples provide a guide for the teacher about how students can learn, expand, and transfer the grammar skills acquired to their own writing. The book is organized so that teachers can either pick and choose lessons that are tailored to meet their students' specific needs, or they can teach the material in a clear and effective scope and sequence from beginning to end..
Teachers Rave about Keith Polette’s New Way to Teach Writing!
“I like the writing exercises that are incorporated right from the start and the interesting approach to getting students to develop their understanding in their own words. I also would recommend the book to other teachers because it has universal appeal for any teacher trying to improve their own understanding of grammar and writing or who is looking for another good resource for their students.”
—Lona Garrison, Gwinnett County Public Schools, GA
“I think this book is done very well. Teachers could use this book as a reference tool in the classroom.”
—Deedra Murray, Edyth J. Hayes Middle School, KY
Take a look inside:
- Focuses on one grammatical element at a time to assist teachers in building on students' prior knowledge.
- Addresses such topics as sentence building, combining, and imitation, writer's voice, word play, poetry, editing, and guided or process writing.
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
Word Works I: Nouns
Word Works II: Verbs
Word Works III: Pronouns
Word Works IV: Adjectives
Word Works V: Adverbs
Word Works VI: Prepositions
Word Works VII: Conjunctions
CHAPTER TWO
Sentence Works I: Absolute Phrases
Sentence Works II: Gerund Phrases
Sentence Works III: Infinitive Phrases
Sentence Works IV: Prepositional Phrases
Sentence Works V: Participial Phrases
Sentence Works VI: Appositive Phrases
Sentence Works VII: Adjective Clauses
Sentence Works VIII: Adverbial Clauses
Sentence Works IX: Noun Clauses
Sentence Expanding
Sentence Combining
Sentence Matching
CHAPTER THREE
Punctuation Points:
The Comma
The Apostrophe
The Colon
The Exclamation Mark
Quotation Marks
Semi-Colon
Special Focus: Comma-Splice
The Hyphen
The Dash
What Is a Sentence?
Sentence Subjects
Sentence Predicates
Compound Subjects and Predicates
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Predicate Noun
Predicate Adjective
Parallel Structure
Sentence Structures
Ten Sentence Patterns to Imitate
Sentence Imitation
16 Kinds of Sentences
Figurative Language
A Note on Voice
CHAPTER FOUR
Word Play
Word Building
Add a Letter
Change a Letter
Collecting Collective Nouns
Multiple Meaning Words
What’s in a Word?
Word Spectrum
A Very Special Paragraph
Concrete Poetry
Word Connections
Words and Sounds
Riddles
Rewritten Titles
Half a Proverb
Good News, Bad News
Writing Questions
Flexible Thinking
Decision Making
Rock `N Roll Names
Revising Weak Sentences
Parts of Speech Review
Re-Arrangements
CHAPTER FIVE
Passages to Edit
CHAPTER SIX
Poetry Patterns
Build a Name
Diamante
Wishing Upon a Poem
Bio-Poem
Night Poem
Alliterative Poem
Alliterative Character Poem
Parts of Speech Poem
Adverb Poem
Another Parts of Speech Poem
Prepositional Phrase Poem
Participle Phrase Poem
Sentence Pattern Poems
Syllable Poems
Text Message Poem
CHAPTER SEVEN
Acts of Writing:
A “Do You Remember When” Poem
A “So Alone” Poem
A Persuasive Letter
A “Great Day” Poem
A “Two Voice” Poem
Imitation Poem: The Eagle
Imitation Poem: The Argument of His Book
Imitation Poem: The Tyger
Imitation Poem: A Red, Red Rose
Imitation Poem: There is no frigate like a book
Writing Extension I: Unusual Connections
Writing Extension II: Dream Poem
Writing Extension III: Who Am I?
Writing Extension IV: Colorful Writing
Writing Extension V: Colorful Writing II
Writing Extension VI: Poetry of Names
APPENDIX A
Writing in the Content Areas
Alliterative Pattern
Alternative Acrostic Poems
Contrast Pattern
“So You Want to Be” Pattern
“Five Good Things” Pattern
Informational Paragraph
Contrast Paragraph
Character Analysis / Personality Trait ¶
Multi-Modal Character/Person Analysis
Biographical Writing
APPENDIX B
Response to a Writing Prompt
APPENDIX C
Reproducibles
WORKS CITED
About the Author :
Dr. Keith Polette, a specialist in children’s literacy, received a Ph.D. in English from Saint Louis University, two Master’s Degrees–one in English and one in Drama–from Idaho State University, and a B.A. in English from Central Methodist University.
Currently, Dr. Polette is an Associate Professsor of English and the Director of the English Education Program at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Recently, he received the UTEP College of Liberal Arts Award for Excellence in Teaching & Research, the UT System Chancellor's Council Award for Excellence in Teaching, and was recognized by the Texas State Reading Association as an Outstanding Texas Author. Prior to moving to El Paso in 1995, Dr. Polette was a Mentor Teacher and an English/Language Arts teacher for both remedial and gifted students in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Polette has published over 30 articles in professional journals, eight books on teaching, and two books for children. His most recent publications are Read and Write It Out Loud: Guided Oral Literacy Strategies, Teaching Grammar Through Writing: Activities to Develop Writer’s Craft (both by Allyn & Bacon), Isabel and the Hungry Coyote, and Paco and the Giant Chile Plant (both by Raven Tree Press).
