Sentence Frames

Sentence Frames. Sentence frames are a cloze activity. As a result of utilizing differentiated sentence frames, students at a wide variety of English proficiency levels can interact with and learn the same vocabulary terms using appropriate structures.

• Developing Sentence Frames

o Use 7-Steps to pre-teach key vocabulary from mentor text (3-5 key words)

o Determine language function for expressing the core concepts (cause/effect, compare/contrast, persuasion, description, sequence, etc.)

o Write simple sentences; express key vocabulary in the related language function

o Remove vocabulary words from sentence and place in word blank

o Differentiate (simple, compound, and complex sentences)

Using Sentence Frames to Jumpstart WritingTo help her students get writing, fifth grade teacher Stacy Brewer gives her class sentence frames. The sentence frames help students start writing by providing them with a structure to work with. Stacy describes how this strategy is particularly helpful for English Language Learners because it provides them with language and makes writing less intimidating.