Here's What To Do
1
With your child, brainstorm words to write down on small strips of paper.
- You'll use these words to make sentences, so make sure to have a variety of nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives.
- Also make word strips for a, an, and, the, to, for and it. Your child can help write the words if they'd like.
2
Fill a large bowl with rice, beans, or seeds and bury the word strips inside. Have your child search the bowl for 5 word strips, pull them out, and lay them on a table.
3
Work together to form a sentence in the proper order with the word strips.
- If you need more words to have a sentence that makes sense, write those words on strips of paper.
- Once you've made a sentence, help your child write the sentence on a piece of paper.
- Help them use uppercase letters and punctuation where appropriate.
4
Repeat to make new sentences!
Put PEER Into Action
P
Pause:
- Take a deep breath, stretch, and smile!
E
Engage:
- Tell your child that you're going to be "sentence hunters." Explain that a sentence expresses a complete idea, and ends with a period, exclamation point, or question mark.
- "What sentences can we make with these words? Let's move them around until we have a sentence we like, then you can write it down."
E
Encourage:
- Let your child do as much of this activity independently as they can. If they can sound out words or are beginning to read, let them read the paper strips. Let them write as much of the sentence as they can, but help them with spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
- This activity is tricky! High five your child for persisting with a tough task and being a super writer!
R
Reflect:
- Ask your child, “What was it like writing sentences?"
Not quite ready?
Focus on making sentences with the paper strips, but skip writing the words.
Ready for more?
See how much of this activity your child can do independently- as they grow their reading and writing skills will continue to improve.
As your child masters this skill...
They will be able to form sentences and write them with proper capitalization, spacing, and punctuation (with adult help).