As a primary teacher, we are working on so many foundational skills with our students. One of those skills is communicating through writing. I think we can all agree that this is a skill our students will use for the rest of their lives. So helping them to build a solid foundation in writing is important. But. . . this can be a tough process for our kindergarten and first grade students. As a writing teacher, there is so much power in using sentence frames as we teach our students how to write.
Learning to write can be tough for our young students. Not only are they learning to form sentences, how to spell words, and correct grammar, but they have to learn how to get those ideas from their head onto paper. Writing with sentence frames helps your students express themselves more effectively.
I love encouraging my students to use sentence frames because they give students a starting place. Even without an extensive vocabulary or strong spelling skills, our students can have writing success with sentence frames. And. . . sentence frames can be used across the board no matter if you are writing a narrative, an informative essay, or answering comprehension questions. By guiding our students on how to start, we can model writing for all these purposes and many more.
What are Sentence Frames?
Sentence frames are pre-written sentence structures that your students can use to guide their own writing. They provide a framework that helps them to focus on the key elements of a sentence. Some sentences frame examples for beginning writers are:
- I can see a…
- I like…
- This is a…
- We have a…
- I can…
There are so many more out there! Anything that gives students a starting place for their sentence can become a sentence frame.
Writing with sentence frames takes away some of the stress that students may face when it comes to writing. When using sentence frames, students don’t have to spend precious writing time thinking about how to start the sentence. They can just focus on getting the main details or the writing skill you are currently working on.
For example, at the beginning of the year, this I like… sentence frame can be used to help students learn how to write a complete sentence and work on capitalizing the first letter and adding punctuation to the end. It also helps them build some new vocabulary words. Later in the year as you are learning about adjectives and describing words, you could use this same sentence frame page and ask students to add at least 1 adjective to the sentence. Their sentence “I like doughnuts.” can be expanded on and turned into “I like doughnuts with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles.”
Writing with sentence frames makes writing accessible to all of your students and can truly be used all year long.
The Benefits of Writing with Sentence Frames
There are many benefits to teaching writing with sentence frames. Here are four of my favorites.
1. Increases Writing Confidence
Learning to write is just hard! Not only are students learning the concept of communicating through writing, but everything else they have to do, handwriting, reading, and spelling, are all new skills too! It’s no wonder that students can get easily frustrated with writing. I don’t think it is because they don’t like writing, but rather because they are overwhelmed and bordering on frustration.
Sentence frames can really help students avoid the overwhelm and frustration. Sentence frames help students feel more confident by providing them with a structure to follow. This can help them produce stronger writing, which in turn can boost their confidence.
2. Sentence Frames Improve Writing Fluency
Sometimes we all need a little help to get started, especially when it comes to a task that we are not interested in starting. When it comes to writing, a particular student always comes to my mind. She could sit there for the entire writing block without starting because she couldn’t think of how to start the sentence. Sentence frames can help students develop and strengthen their fluency in writing. By providing a template for writing, your students can focus on the content of their writing rather than struggling with sentence structure. In the end, your students are able to produce more writing in less time.
This can be especially helpful if you have students with dyslexia or dysgraphia in your class. Not only can writing be hard, but it can also feel downright impossible for kiddos with these learning disabilities. Providing sentence frames can make all the difference for these students.
3. Supports English Language Learners
Sentence frames are particularly beneficial for English Language Learners because they help make this new language more accessible. By providing a structure for writing, sentence frames can help these students develop their language skills more quickly. They can also help them participate more fully in class discussions and activities.
Using sentence frames with your English Language Learners allows them to learn about sentence structure, proper grammar, and develop vocabulary all at the same time.
4. Enhances Collaboration
I try to intentionally build in opportunities for my students to collaborate with others. This helps them to build up their ability to communicate and work with different people.
Sentence frames can be used as a collaborative tool in the classroom. My students can learn from each other and develop their writing skills together when using sentence frames. They could be using sentence frames orally in conversation about a topic, or they could be writing with sentence frames. Either way, they are sharing their thoughts in an organized way that keeps them on topic.
By working together, students are modeling for each other their thinking process, sharing new vocabulary words, and encouraging each other to build their language skills. The learning environment becomes more engaging and supportive to all learners using them!
Did Writing with Sentence Frames Win You Over?
I hope these benefits of writing with sentence frames showed you how they can be a powerful tool for teaching writing. Sentence frames can truly do all of those things, and more, for your students. You will see a boost in student confidence, an increase in writing fluency, support for English Language Learners, and enhanced collaboration in the classroom.
If you’re not already using sentence frames in your writing instruction, I encourage you to give them a try! As teachers, we are always looking for new tools to add to our teacher toolbox. In my Sentence Frames for Writing resource, I have 36 different sight word based sentence frames ready to use in your classroom today! They are a great way to connect the sight words students are learning to read with writing skills.
By incorporating sentence frames into your curriculum, you can help your students become better writers!
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Remember to pin this post to your favorite teacher Pinterest board to come back to when you are ready to start using sentence frames in your classroom!
