Mini-Lesson
Syntactical Cues and Conventions
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Key Concept

Sentence structure and mechanics are important elements in the English Language Arts classroom. Students must learn to look for clarity, force, and accuracy in their speaking, writing, and representing.

Teaching-Learning Strategies

Language usage is one of the most difficult concepts to teach students. It is important when teaching usage to use the students' own work so that they understand the mistakes in their own writing and work to correct them.

Task One: Let's Start With Our Sentences

Ask students to write five sentences about their friends or their activities in the last week.

After students have written their sentences, give them information on

The Purpose of a Sentence
The Structure of a Sentence

Looking for a great print resource to teach these and other usage concepts? Check out the Handbook for Writers (3rd Canadian ed.). This text is recommended in the ELA curriculum; it focuses on Canadian spelling and usage.

Students should review their sentences and try to determine the purpose and structure of each sentence.

i.e. Jane always works very hard, but she rarely has any fun.
(Declarative, Compound)

Once students have had a chance to apply their knowledge of sentence purpose and structure, they should use their knowledge to write a well developed paragraph.

Task Two: Into A Paragraph

Have students take one of their sentences to use as an idea for a paragraph. Using their knowledge of sentence purpose and structure, students should try to create and clear and varied paragraph.

Once their paragraph is complete, students should find a partner. The students should peer edit each other's paragraphs using the checklist below.

Checklist for Sentence Structure

1. Are all sentences clear?
2. Is there a variety of sentence types?
3. Are my sentences of varying length?
4. Are the complex structures used correctly?
5. Are there fragments or run-on sentences?
6. Are the verb tenses correctly?
7. Is the correct punctuation used?

You should also encourage students to edit for mechanics.

Checklist for Mechanics

1. Do all proper words have capitals?
2. Are all commas used correctly?
3. Does every sentence end with the correct punctuation?