hoophugs313 February 24, 2025

1. If your child does not have any sentence writing skills:

  • Do have the child tell you the sentence so that you can write it down with a highlighter. Then have your child trace the letters.
  • Don’t make your child feel bad for not having certain skills yet.

2. If your child isn’t sure how to spell a word:

  • Do encourage him to stretch out the word and write down all the sounds he can hear. Using the sound box or syllable strategy can be very helpful
  • Don’t tell your child how to spell every word.

Here are links to my previous posts about sound boxes and syllables:

3. If your child has spelling errors:

  • Do have your *child* circle 1-3 words he/she thinks might be spelled wrong and work together to fix them.
  • Don’t circle every word that is wrong or correct every single word your child writes.

4. If your child forgets to start the sentence with a capital letter and/or put a punctuation mark at the end:

  • Do ask your kid if the sentence is ready for school. Do have your child make the corrections.
  • Don’t pick up a pencil and fix the sentence for your child.

5. If your child has no clue where to put punctuation:

  • Do tell them to read the words out loud and add punctuation where the voice naturally stops.
  • Don’t grab a pen and put the punctuation marks where they belong.

6. If your child’s letters look like they are floating off the line:

  • Do have your child pick 3-5 letters to fix.
  • Do have your child rewrite one sentence so that all the letters are “standing on the bottom line” if he or she is agreeable and there is plenty of time to do so.
  • Don’t comment on every single floating letter.

Remember, if the sentence does not have a capital letter at the beginning and a punctuation mark at the end, it is a NAKED sentence, and it is not ready to go to school.

Is your sentence ready for school?

Every morning your child has to get ready for school. At the very minimum that includes putting on clothing and shoes.

In order for a sentence to be ready for school, it needs, at the very minimum, a group of words that start with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark.

On a good day, getting ready for school involves

  1. clean clothes
  2. a pair of shoes
  3. washed hands, face, and body
  4. brushed teeth
  5. combed hair
  6. satisfied belly
  7. a backpack full of everything needed for the day including things like homework, books, notebooks, pens and pencils, snacks, a lunch, and maybe more

On a good day, what does a sentence need to be ready for school?

  1. proper use of upper and lowercase letters and legible printing.
  2. proper spacing
  3. proper punctuation
  4. a meaningful group of words with a subject and predicate
  5. best guess spelling for young kids and accurate spelling for older kids.

1. Proper use of uppercase and lowercase letters and legible printing:

Small, Tall, and Fall Letters:

If I made the rules, kids would learn to print lowercase letters BEFORE learning uppercase letters. Most of the text we read is written in lowercase letters, and most of the letters we use when we write a sentence are also lowercase letters.

  • Lines 1 and 2 show the small letters. They touch the broken middle line, and they stand on the bottom line.
  • Line 3 shows the tall letters. They all have a straight line that touches the top line and the bottom line. All the letters stand on the bottom line.
  • Line 4 shows the fall letters. These letters go digging in the dirt under the bottom line.
  • Using 3 lined paper helps kids make sure that uppercase letters and truly bigger than lowercase letters.
  • Young learners might need help with letter formation. If you don’t have fancy dotted font, you can write the letters with a highlighter and let your child trace them. It works just as well.
  • Uppercase letters stand on the bottom line and reach all the way up to the top line.

Stop what you are doing and go get some 3 lined paper.

When a child is interested in learning to write his/her own name, it is time to bring out the 3 lined printing paper. I think learning on 3 lined paper should be the norm, not the exception.

2. Proper Spacing

  • Using a finger or a popsicle stick to determine spacing is helpful. Many kids will swing from crowded spacing to spaces that are too large. It’s a process…be patient.

3. Subject and Predicate

A sentence needs a subject (the naming part of a sentence) and predicate (the telling part of a sentence.) You can learn more here: add link

4. Proper Punctuation.

Every sentence needs punctuation. There are many kids of punctuation and many punctuation rules. Right now I’m concerned with you child choosing between a period, question mark, or exclamation point.

  • Periods are for telling sentences.
  • Question marks are for asking sentences.
  • Exclamation Points are for sentences that show a strong feeling like love, excitement, or fear.

4. Best Guess Spelling

Some parents find it really hard not to tell a child how to spell every word or correct every spelling error a child makes.

Your child’s job is to listen to the sounds in a word and write down the letters that match those sounds. Accuracy will grow with time and practice.

  • This is an example of best guess spelling from one of my second grade tutoring students. Even though only 2 of the 9 words are spelled correctly, she actually did a really great job hearing the sounds in the words and matching those sounds with the appropriate letters.