Don and Jenny Killgallon’s sentence-composing approach has transformed how writing is taught in thousands of language arts classes, helping students all across America become more proficient, sophisticated writers. Now the Killgallons use their highly effective method for a unique, powerful textbook that links good writing to that perennially difficult-to-teach subject—grammar.
Grammar for Middle School: A Sentence-Composing Approach gives your students the chance to absorb and replicate the grammatical structures used by some of the best writers of our times. Included among the over 150 authors, 200 titles, and 400 model sentences in Grammar for Middle School are award-winning young-adult literature such as Cynthia Voigt’s Homecoming, popular favorites like J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, and curricular staples such as John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony and The Pearl.
Fourteen grammatical structures are developed in the same predictable, understandable manner, using the sentence-composing approach. When students first encounter a tool, it is clearly defined and characterized. Then it’s practiced through five activities: matching, unscrambling, combining, imitating, and expanding. Finally, a creative writing activity immerses students in the composition or revision of a paragraph through independent use of the sentence–composing tools they have already learned. Best of all, after each section, review activities—which can be easily graded as unit or final tests—offer opportunities for students to bring it all together and build better sentences.
An online teacher’s guide accompanies Grammar for Middle School and includes advice, tips, resources, answer keys, and even curricular plans for teachers who are either new to the Killgallon approach or sentence-composing veterans. Visit Heinemann online to access the downloadable teacher's booklet.
No one can forge the link between grammar and writing like Don and Jenny Killgallon. Discover for yourself or rediscover how powerful the sentence–composing approach can be, and watch as your students get grammar like never before—and write better sentences too.
