To learn anything new we need the Will, Skill and Thrill. Not only do we need the skill (knowledge and skills), we also need the will (motivation and engagement) and the thrill (joy, delight and excitement).

When writing we must consider…

How do we provide the knowledge and skills for our learners to write effectively?

• Consider the purpose and audience when writing
• Teach the writing conventions- text structure, ideas, cohesion, sentence structure/ punctuation, vocabulary/ word groups, spelling
• Engage in the writing process- planning, drafting, revising, proofreading/ editing, publishing
• Explore the reading/ writing connection

How do we provide the will to write by motivating and engaging the learner?

• Work towards a goal
• Provide choice and gauge interest
• Link to a purpose and relevance to the real world
• Encourage persistence and develop the traits of a learner - We are CALLed to Think
• Build relationships

How do we provide the thrill to write?

• Achieve goals
• Investigate, question, wonder, reflect on an author’s writings
• Persuade others to change something that matters
• Inform others to take action
• Entertain and delight an audience

I’m sure we can all think to a time where we had the engagement, the skills and the excitement to learn and we want the same for our Lourdes Learners. Not only do we want to focus on the knowledge and skills but also the bigger picture of how we can be effective communicators in our world with our writing skills.

Sentence Types

This week we look at a couple more sentence types that your child may have discovered in writing lessons. Great writers vary the types of sentences to impact their reader.

The Very Short Sentence - a sentence with five words or less. The intent of this sentence is to knock over the reader with powerful impact.

We can use a mentor text as teachers do, to find fabulous examples of different sentence types. The author, Paul Jennings, uses very short sentences powerfully in his short story Nails. For example, to evoke the character’s emotions he writes, “He had no more tears. He had cried them all. Every one.” And again, in the story to effectively describe the setting, “The wind screamed and howled. Tore at his hair. Stung his eyes.”

The Adverb Start is a different sentence type that creates intrigue and adds interest to writing. Adverbs describe the verb, and many adverbs end with an ly, for example, sadly, slowly, interestingly, annoyingly, fortunately…

To use an adverb start sentence, begin with the adverb and place a comma after the adverb. Here are few examples of adverb starts:

Interestingly, Mrs Wagner was not wearing heels.

Remarkably, Mr Golightly couldn’t find the words to speak.

Curiously, Mr Franzmann was able to score a century.

Undoubtedly, Mr Birch will forever be known as ‘Saint Garry’.

Can you come up with some other adverb start sentences?

Hopefully, you’ll start seeing different sentence types in your child’s writing. I wonder if you will also hear elements of will, skill and thrill when they talk of their learning. Feel free to encourage your child to think about how they can consider the will, skill and thrill in what they are learning, not only in writing but in all learning areas.

Thanks for reading.

Miranda Murray

Assistant Principal

Miranda.Murray@twb.catholic.edu.au