Written as a springboard to teaching grammar, this book is designed to help teachers of grades 4–8 teach students to use the sixteen essential grammatical elements (seven parts of speech, six phrases, and three clauses) in their writing. Exercises, strategies, and examples provide a guide for the teacher about how students can learn, expand, and transfer the grammar skills acquired to their own writing. The book is organized so that teachers can either pick and choose lessons that are tailored to meet their students' specific needs, or they can teach the material in a clear and effective scope and sequence from beginning to end..   Teachers Rave about Keith Polette’s New Way to Teach Writing!   “I like the writing exercises that are incorporated right from the start and the interesting approach to getting students to develop their understanding in their own words.  I also would recommend the book to other teachers because it has universal appeal for any teacher trying to improve their own understanding of grammar and writing or who is looking for another good resource for their students.”     —Lona Garrison, Gwinnett County Public Schools, GA   “I think this book is done very well. Teachers could use this book as a reference tool in the classroom.”     —Deedra Murray, Edyth J. Hayes Middle School, KY     Take a look inside: Focuses on one grammatical element at a time to assist teachers in building on students' prior knowledge. Addresses such topics as sentence building, combining, and imitation, writer's voice, word play, poetry, editing, and guided or process writing.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION   CHAPTER ONE   Word Works I:             Nouns                                        Word Works II:           Verbs                                         Word Works III:          Pronouns                                    Word Works IV:          Adjectives                                  Word Works V:           Adverbs                                     Word Works VI:          Prepositions                                Word Works VII:         Conjunctions                              CHAPTER TWO   Sentence Works I:        Absolute Phrases                        Sentence Works II:       Gerund Phrases                          Sentence Works III:     Infinitive Phrases                         Sentence Works IV:     Prepositional Phrases                  Sentence Works V:      Participial Phrases                       Sentence Works VI:        Appositive Phrases                  Sentence Works VII:   Adjective Clauses                        Sentence Works VIII:   Adverbial Clauses                       Sentence Works IX:     Noun Clauses                             Sentence Expanding                                                        Sentence Combining                                                        Sentence Matching                                                         CHAPTER THREE         Punctuation Points:                      The Comma                                                                             The Apostrophe                                                             The Colon                                                                      The Exclamation Mark                                                  Quotation Marks                                                            Semi-Colon                                                                    Special Focus:  Comma-Splice                           The Hyphen                                                                    The Dash                                                            What Is a Sentence?                                                       Sentence Subjects                                                          Sentence Predicates                                                        Compound Subjects and Predicates                                Direct Object                                                                 Indirect Object                                                   Predicate Noun                                                              Predicate Adjective                                                        Parallel Structure                                                            Sentence Structures                                                        Ten Sentence Patterns to Imitate                                    Sentence Imitation                                                          16 Kinds of Sentences                                                    Figurative Language                                                                  A Note on Voice                                                            CHAPTER FOUR   Word Play                                                                      Word Building                                                    Add a Letter                                                                   Change a Letter                                                              Collecting Collective Nouns                                            Multiple Meaning Words                                                What’s  in a Word?                                                        Word Spectrum                                                              A Very Special Paragraph                                              Concrete Poetry                                                             Word Connections                                                         Words and Sounds                                                         Riddles                                                               Rewritten Titles                                                   Half a Proverb                                                                Good News, Bad News                                                 Writing Questions                                                           Flexible Thinking                                                             Decision Making                                                             Rock `N Roll Names                                                      Revising Weak Sentences                                               Parts of Speech Review                                                  Re-Arrangements                                                           CHAPTER FIVE   Passages to Edit                                                             CHAPTER SIX   Poetry Patterns                                                   Build a Name                                                                 Diamante                                                                        Wishing Upon a Poem                                        Bio-Poem                                                                       Night Poem                                                                    Alliterative Poem                                                            Alliterative Character Poem                                            Parts of Speech Poem                                                    Adverb Poem                                                                 Another Parts of Speech Poem                           Prepositional Phrase Poem                                              Participle Phrase Poem                                       Sentence Pattern Poems                                                 Syllable Poems                                                   Text Message Poem                                                       CHAPTER SEVEN   Acts of Writing:                                                                          A “Do You Remember When” Poem                                                    A “So Alone” Poem                                                       A Persuasive Letter                                                        A “Great Day” Poem                                                      A “Two Voice” Poem                                                               Imitation Poem:  The Eagle                                                                       Imitation Poem:  The Argument of His Book                                             Imitation Poem:  The Tyger                                                                       Imitation Poem:  A Red, Red Rose                                                           Imitation Poem:  There is no frigate like a book                 Writing Extension I:  Unusual Connections                       Writing Extension II:  Dream Poem                                 Writing Extension III:  Who Am I?                                  Writing Extension IV:  Colorful Writing                Writing Extension V:   Colorful Writing II                        Writing Extension VI:  Poetry of Names                        APPENDIX A   Writing in the Content Areas                                           Alliterative Pattern                                                          Alternative Acrostic Poems                                             Contrast Pattern                                                             “So You Want to Be” Pattern                                         “Five Good Things” Pattern                                            Informational Paragraph                                                  Contrast Paragraph                                                         Character Analysis / Personality Trait ¶               Multi-Modal Character/Person Analysis                          Biographical Writing                                                       APPENDIX B   Response to a Writing Prompt                            APPENDIX C   Reproducibles                                                                WORKS CITED