Hi all!
When students are encouraged to copy the first few words of a sentence and then choose their own words to complete the sentence(s), it is called using a sentence stem. The benefits of using a timely sentence stem are:
practice certain high frequency words that have been introduced
assistance in thinking of an idea to write (students need only think of the last word or few words to complete their sentence)
fluency in getting letters, words, and sentences down on paper
ease in reading back their own writing.
A negative to using sentence stems is that students may be slightly less willing to come up with their own ideas and write all on their own the next day; they’ll remember that it was easier to copy the teacher’s words. So, a word of warning—don’t use sentence stems more often than once every week or two.
In the video above you’ll see a quick mini-lesson on how to think of and write sentences that begin with I like… or I like my… I chose these sentences stems for this week because I had just introduced like and my as our newest heart words. You’ll also see some sample writing from the kids’ journals and hear me talk about it. I’m not sure why some of the edges aren’t showing; I apologize about that.
If you’d like see the students in action using the sentence stems, you can click here and watch my last year’s students write. Start watching around 25:16 and it’ll end at 48.40. You can also see writing from three other days that same week.
Let me know if you have any wonderings!
Randee
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