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Build a Better Sentence- Colour Version
1 2 3 4 5 Pre & Primary Essentials Games & Activities Resources English Language for Expressing & Developing Ideas Text Structure & Organisation Creating Literature Creating Texts 28 Pages

Build a Better Sentence- Colour Version

This resource is a must have for any primary school classroom. This activity will scaffold students to build better and more descriptive sentences in their writing. 

Depending on their year and ability level, students will improve sentences by adding in different components of a sentence (adjectives, verbs, adverbs or adverbial and prepositional phrases) to make them more interesting.

This activity can be used in small groups, rotational activities or as a whole class!

Included in the pack is teacher instructions, differentiated student templates, a teacher reference and 30 Starter Sentences.
 

Having trouble downloading? Follow our step-by-step guide

Learning goals

  • We are learning to recognise parts of speech used to structure a sentence.
  • We are learning to recognise parts of speech used to structure a sentence.
  • We are learning to use nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to structure a sentence and make it more vivid.
  • We are learning to use nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to structure a sentence and make it more vivid.
  • We are learning to use nouns to represent people, places, objects and ideas and to identify the articles and adjectives to build noun groups or to express verbs as verb groups.
  • We are learning to use common nouns, proper nouns and pronouns to represent people, places, objects and ideas, e.g. love, time, and beauty, and to use this knowledge of nouns and adjectives to build noun groups.
  • We are learning that a clause is a group of words that usually contains a subject and a verb.
  • We are learning that a clause is a group of words that usually contains a subject and a verb.
  • We are learning that verbs are doing, thinking, saying and relating words.
  • We are learning that time is represented through verb tense, e.g. she arrived, she is arriving.
  • We are learning to understand past, present and future tenses and their impact on meaning in a sentence, e.g. informative texts are usually written in present tense.
  • We are learning that verbs are doing, thinking, saying and relating words and that time is represented through verb tense, e.g. she arrived, she is arriving.
  • We are learning to use adjectival and adverbial clauses to build descriptions in texts and understand that a complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause joined by a subordinating conjunction, e.g. because, if, that.
  • We are learning to use noun groups/phrases and verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases to build descriptions in texts.
  • We are learning to understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases can provide details of the circumstances surrounding a happening or state, e.g. at midnight (time), he rose slowly (manner) from the chair (place) and went upstairs (place).
  • We are learning to understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases are expanded to provide a fuller description, e.g. this very smelly cleaning cloth in the sink (noun group/phrase), as pretty as the flowers in May (adjective group/phrase).
  • We are learning to understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases are expanded to provide a fuller description, e.g. this very smelly cleaning cloth in the sink (noun group/phrase), as pretty as the flowers in May (adjective group/phrase).
  • We are learning to identify the different text structures and language features of different types of texts, e.g. narratives, recounts, information reports, simple procedures, expression of opinion and responses to texts.
  • We are learning to innovate on familiar texts by experimenting with character, setting or plot and by adding prepositional phrases to improve descriptions.
  • We are learning to create short imaginative, informative and persuasive multimodal texts using text structures, language and grammatical features appropriate to the audience and purpose.
  • We are learning to plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using text structures and language features appropriate to the audience and purpose.
  • We are learning to create and edit imaginative texts by using or adapting language features, characters, settings and plot structures, e.g. changing the setting, revising an ending.

Curriculum alignment

AC9E5LA06 9 Understand how noun groups can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of a person, place, thing or idea AC9E1LA06 9 Understand that a simple sentence consists of a single independent clause representing a single event or idea AC9E1LA07 9 Understand that words can represent people, places and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states (verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as when, where and how (adverbs) AC9E2LA07 9 Understand that in sentences nouns may be extended into noun groups using articles and adjectives, and verbs may be expressed as verb groups AC9E3LE05 9 Create and edit imaginative texts, using or adapting language features, characters, settings, plot structures and ideas encountered in literary texts AC9E3LY06 9 Plan, create, edit and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive written and multimodal texts, using visual features, appropriate form and layout, with ideas grouped in simple paragraphs, mostly correct tense, topic-specific vocabulary and correct spelling of most high-frequency and phonetically regular words AC9E2LY06 9 Create and edit short imaginative, informative and persuasive written and/or multimodal texts for familiar audiences, using text structure appropriate to purpose, simple and compound sentences, noun groups and verb groups, topic-specific vocabulary, simple punctuation and common 2-syllable words AC9E2LE05 9 Create and edit literary texts by adapting structures and language features of familiar literary texts through drawing, writing, performance and digital tools AC9E2LA03 9 Identify how texts across the curriculum are organised differently and use language features depending on purposes AC9E4LA08 9 Understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases work in different ways to provide circumstantial details about an activity AC9E3LA07 9 Understand how verbs represent different processes for doing, feeling, thinking, saying and relating AC9E3LA08 9 Understand that verbs are anchored in time through tense AC9E4LA09 9 Understand past, present and future tenses and their impact on meaning in a sentence AC9E4LA06 9 Understand that complex sentences contain one independent clause and at least one dependent clause typically joined by a subordinating conjunction to create relationships, such as time and causality AC9E3LA06 9 Understand that a clause is a unit of grammar usually containing a subject and a verb that need to agree ACELA1495 8.4 Understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases work in different ways to provide circumstantial details about an activity ACELA1481 8.4 Understand that a clause is a unit of grammar usually containing a subject and a verb and that these need to be in agreement ACELA1508 8.4 Understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea ACELA1482 8.4 Understand that verbs represent different processes, for example: doing, thinking, saying, and relating and that these processes are anchored in time through tense ACELA1451 8.4 Identify the parts of a simple sentence that represent ‘What’s happening?’, ‘What state is being described?’, ‘Who or what is involved?’ and the surrounding circumstances ACELA1493 8.4 Understand that the meaning of sentences can be enriched through the use of noun groups/phrases and verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases ACELA1468 8.4 Understand that nouns represent people, places, concrete objects and abstract concepts; that there are three types of nouns: common, proper and pronouns; and that noun groups/phrases can be expanded using articles and adjectives ACELA1452 8.4 Explore differences in words that represent people, places and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states (verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as when, where and how (adverbs)
EN1-4A old Draws on an increasing range of skills and strategies to fluently read, view and comprehend a range of texts on less familiar topics in different media and technologies EN1-9B old Uses basic grammatical features, punctuation conventions and vocabulary appropriate to the type of text when responding to and composing texts EN3-6B old Uses knowledge of sentence structure, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary to respond to and compose clear and cohesive texts in different media and technologies EN2-9B old Uses effective and accurate sentence structure, grammatical features, punctuation conventions and vocabulary relevant to the type of text when responding to and composing texts EN2-8B old Identifies and compares different kinds of texts when reading and viewing and shows an understanding of purpose, audience and subject matter EN1-RECOM-01 new Comprehends independently read texts that require sustained reading by activating background and word knowledge, connecting and understanding sentences and whole text, and monitoring for meaning EN3-RECOM-01 new Fluently reads and comprehends texts for wide purposes, analysing text structures and language, and by monitoring comprehension EN2-UARL-01 new Identifies and describes how ideas are represented in literature and strategically uses similar representations when creating texts EN2-HANDW-02 new Uses digital technologies to create texts EN2-SPELL-01 new Selects, applies and describes appropriate phonological, orthographic and morphological generalisations and strategies when spelling in a range of contexts EN2-CWT-03 new Plans, creates and revises written texts for persuasive purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience EN2-CWT-02 new Plans, creates and revises written texts for informative purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience EN2-CWT-01 new Plans, creates and revises written texts for imaginative purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience EN2-RECOM-01 new Reads and comprehends texts for wide purposes using knowledge of text structures and language, and by monitoring comprehension EN2-VOCAB-01 new Builds knowledge and use of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary through interacting, wide reading and writing, and by defining and analysing words EN2-OLC-01 new Communicates with familiar audiences for social and learning purposes, by interacting, understanding and presenting EN1-CWT-01 new Plans, creates and revises texts written for different purposes, including paragraphs, using knowledge of vocabulary, text features and sentence structure
VCELA262 Understand that verbs represent different processes (doing, thinking, saying, and relating) and that these processes are anchored in time through tense VCELA178 Identify the parts of a simple sentence that represent ‘What’s happening?’, ‘Who or what is involved?’ and the surrounding circumstances VCELY258 Analyse how different texts use verb groups to represent different processes (action, thinking, feeling, saying, relating) VCELA179 Explore differences in words that represent people, places and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states (verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as when, where and how (adverbs) VCELA261 Understand that a clause is a unit of grammar usually containing a subject and a verb and that these need to be in agreement VCELA216 Understand that nouns represent people, places, things and ideas and include common, proper, concrete or abstract, and that noun groups/phrases can be expanded using articles and adjectives VCELA323 Understand the difference between main and subordinate clauses and that a complex sentence involves at least one subordinate clause VCELA246 Understand how different types of texts vary in use of language choices, depending on their purpose, audience and context, including tense and types of sentences VCELA324 Understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea VCELA280 Understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases work in different ways to provide circumstantial details about an activity VCELA292 Understand that the meaning of sentences can be enriched through the use of noun groups/phrases and verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases

Australian Curriculum covers QLD / SA / WA / NT / TAS / ACT.

Differentiation

Extensions

Have students use the template where multiple adjectives are used to describe the noun and adverbial or prepositional phrases that are required to build a better sentence.
 

Teach it your way

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