Sentence building is an important sequence of skills that need a little encouragement. Have you a superstar reader who struggles to hold a sentence in their head for writing? Does your little learner find it tricky to distinguish between determiners, nouns, verbs or other word types? Is your reader overwhelmed by long sentences? Well this is an easy, effective activity that’s super fast to set up and can be extended for more complex sentences too.
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What do you need to set up your sentence building pots?
- Bucket tubs (though cups, pots, tubs: most containers will work, though different colours can make the task a little easier for more visual learners), ideally with lids.
- Popsicle sticks (plain or multicoloured)
- Pen
How do you set up your activity?
This is a super simple set up that your little learner can help you with too!
- Firstly, write a list of determiners on several lollipop sticks (one word per stick), e.g. ‘a the, that’ and place them into one of the bins.
- Next make a list of common nouns on some more sticks (again, one per stick), for example ‘dog’ and place them in another bin.
- After that, create a list of present tense verbs on more sticks (once more, one per stick), such as ‘dances’ and place them into a separate bin.
- Finally, on your last batch of sticks, draw a few different punctuation symbols (one per stick), e.g. a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark and put them in the final bin.
You are now set up and good to go!
How do you use your sentence building bins For reading?
Pick one words from each of the bins from left to right and place lay in front of you.
Once you have your sentence, read it; it may well be a rather silly sentence, which often makes this activity a bit of a giggle.
Try replacing the words with a new stick, one at a time to see how the sentence changes.
How do you use your sentence building bins For WRITING?
Pick one words from each of the bins from left to right and place lay in front of you.
Read the sentence. There’s a few ways to now take this task.
- After reading, your little one could copy out the sentence. Great if you find a few nouns or verbs that follow a certain spelling pattern.
- Your little learner could write any more words on sticks to replace the words already chosen.
- You could read the sentence again, take away one of the words and try to write the sentence down without having all of the sticks in front of them.
- Use it as a sentence starter that they have to continue on after adding the word ‘and’. One example could be ‘The dog dances and the cat laughs.’
How do you use your sentence building bins For RECOGNISING WORD TYPES?
Look at a set of words from one tub. Do they notice any patterns or similarities? Do they notice that nouns are all ‘things’?
Repeat with the other sets of words.
Label your tubs with the words types (determiners, nouns, verbs, punctuation).
Mix the words up. Can your little learner sort them back into the correct tubs?
How can I extend this activity further? How can I add a little more challenge?
For reading, Writing
Begin with your determiner sticks, write the words again on the reverse side but starting with a capital letter (e.g. ‘a the, those’ on one side, ‘A, The, Those’ on the back) before placing them back into the determiner bin.
Next, on your noun sticks, write the words again on the reverse as the plural, e.g. ‘dog’ on one side, ‘dogs’ on the back. Then, place them in nouns bin once more.
Following that, add to your verb sticks. Write the simple form of your verb on the back, e.g. ‘dance’ on one side, ‘dances’ on the back.
Now you can explore plurals, check the sentences make grammatical sense and flip the sticks over if there seems to be an error. For example, you pick: ‘The dog bark.’ But you can change it to: ‘The dogs bark’ or ‘The dog barks’. On top of this, you can also ensure your sentences begin with a capital letter.
FOR READING, WRITING AND RECOGNISING WORD TYPES
Add in extra word types: conjunctions, adverbs, prepositions, adjectives, pronouns to create more complex sentences. For example, ‘Those butterflies flutter quickly but elegantly around the ancient tree.’
Can you think of any other fun and exciting ways to use these bins for sentence building? Send us a message on our Facebook page, join our Facebook group or ping us an email over on parentshomeworkhub@gmail.com to share your ideas.
