Stretch Sentences with the Dice Game

writing

Stretch Sentences with the Dice Game

april 24, 2009

Ready to push your students to elongate their sentences? Ready for students to intermix their short and choppy sentences with longer, meatier, sentences? With the Dice Game, you can help students supersize their sentences.

First, identify a topic that everyone will develop a single sentence for (e.g., weather, seasons, community, shapes, etc.).

Second, roll a single game die. Announce the number rolled. Have students work in pairs to come up with an oral sentence about the assigned topic with that number of words. For example, if you rolled a 5 and the topic is shapes (or more specifically the rectangle), then partners have to come up with a 5-word sentence using the word rectangle. A rectangle has four sides.

Then, roll again. Same topic (or a different one), and the students have to come up with an oral sentence with that many words.

Continue this process calling on different pairs to share their different sentences.

Eventually add in a second die. Now, each sentence could be as short as 2 words long or as long as 12 words long. For example, if you roll a 6 and a 4, then a 10-word sentence using rectangle might be The wall posters above the chalkboard are shaped like rectangles. Notice the use of an adjective and a prepositional phrase in order to create a longer sentence. This is a great way to review adjectives, comparisons, compound sentences, prepositions, etc.

Do this activity orally first. There is no sense having students trying to write longer sentences if they can’t even say longer sentences.

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