Sentence Composing for Elementary School: A Worktext to Build Better Sentences

Don Killgallon’s signature sentence composing approach to writing is rapidly becoming a part of every effective teacher’s repertoire, in middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the country. Thousands of teachers have achieved astonishing results—with students readily writing sentences remarkably similar to those of professional writers. What’s more they’ve discovered that this approach is easy to teach and easy to learn.

Now, Don and Jenny Killgallon make these techniques available to elementary teachers with the first-ever worktext in which children learn to write sentences like their favorite authors. Using sentences from more than one hundred popular stories and novels as models, Sentence Composing for Elementary School offers extensive practice in four sentence-manipulating techniques: sentence unscrambling, sentence imitating, sentence combining, and sentence expanding. By playing with hundreds of sentences from selections like Charlotte’s Web and the Harry Potter series, children learn to write their own sentences in more effective and interesting ways. At the same time, they improve their reading skills by discovering the story in the sentence.

Teachers and students will find this textbook an innovative, creative, and enjoyable alternative to traditional grammar texts aimed at dissecting sentences. Instead, Sentence Composing for Elementary School engages children in learning how to build better sentences.

Don Killgallon is the originator of the sentence-composing approach and author of numerous sentence-composing worktexts. He is the author or coauthor of Paragraphs for Middle School (2013), Paragraphs for High School (2012), Grammar for College Writing (2010), Story Grammar for Elementary School (2008), Grammar for High School (2007), Grammar for Middle School (2006), Sentence Composing for Elementary School (2000), Sentence Composing for High School (1998), Sentence Composing for College (1998), Sentence Composing for Middle School (1997), and Daily Sentence Composing (Great Source). He currently co-teaches with Jenny Killgallon in the Odyssey Program of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.

Jenny Killgallon is coauthor of Paragraphs for Middle School (2013), Paragraphs for High School (2012), Grammar for College Writing (2010), Story Grammar for Elementary School (2008), Grammar for High School (2007), Grammar for Middle School (2006), Sentence Composing for Elementary School (2000), and Daily Sentence Composing (Great Source).  She currently co-teaches with Don Killgallon in the Odyssey Program of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.