Tools Students Need to Be Skillful Writers: Building Better Sentences

Build stronger writers one sentence at a time.

Imagine a classroom full of enthusiastic student writers, capable of reviewing their own work with a critical eye, then crafting a polished, convincing piece. This is possible, if you take writing instruction down to its basic building block―a solid sentence―and advance from there. Phyllis Hostmeyer can show you how with Tools Students Need to Be Skillful Writers, your blueprint for effective writing instruction and unit development.

Packed with lessons across grades 3-12, this indispensable handbook features:

• A variety of sentence patterns presented in a logical sequence
• An explanation of each pattern’s structure and conventions
• Reinforcement activities and sample sentences for each pattern
• Activities to develop the essential instructional vocabulary.

Along the way, all students, including English language learners, will gain the fluency and automaticity they need as we equip them with the college and career-readiness skills so central to the Common Core.