Grammar Matters: Lessons, Tips, & Conversations Using Mentor Texts, K-6

If you are a teacher of grades K-6, you might be asking, Shoud I teach grammar in my class on a daily basis? How would I go about doing this? And how can I teach grammar so it isn't boring to my kids? Grammar Matters , Lynne Dofman and Diane Dougherty answer these questions and more. Using mentor texts as the cornerstone for how best to teach grammar, this book provides teachers with almost everything they need to get kids not only engaged but excited about learning grammar. Divided into four parts--Narrative Writing, Informational Writing, Opinion Writing, and Grammar Conversations--this hand reference provides practical teaching tips, assessment ideas, grammar definitions, and specific mentor texts to help students learn about parts of speech, idoms, usage issues, and punctuation. Through Your Turn Lessons, conversations, conferences, and drafting, revising, and editing exercies, students will learn not only specific concepts but also how to reflect upon and transfer what they have learned to other writing tasks, no matter the subject. The Treasure Chest of Children's Books provides an extensive list of both fiction and nonfiction books that fit naturally into grammar instruction. Eight appendices provide even more resources, including information on homophones, using mentor texts to teach grammar and conventions, checklists, comma rules, help for ELL students, and a glossary of ramar terms.Grammar Matters links instruction to the Common Core State Standards and features quality, classroom-tested tools that help teachers provide their students with the gifts of grammar and literacy.

Lynne Dorfman teaches graduate courses in reading and writing for struggling adolescents. She is a codirector of the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project and an independent educational consultant. Lynne is often a presenter at local, state, and national conferences and has coauthored three other Stenhouse books on mentor texts. Diane Dougherty lives in Pennsylvania. She was a classroom teacher for thirty-two years and served as head of the English/Language Arts department in her school district. Currently she is a codirector and consultant for the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project at West Chester University.