WriteTraits

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WriteTraits

• Sentence Fluency

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Sentence Fluency

• Have you ever ridden with a driver who seemed to
  have one foot on the brake and the other on the
  gas pedal? Zoom! Stop! Zoom! Stop!
• Instead of enjoying the ride, you were probably
  bracing yourself
• If you write like that, readers will be bracing
  themselves, too.
• Smooth writing or fluency will happen if you keep
  in mind your readers comfort

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Improving Fluency

• Many writing strategies can improve
• fluency. These strategies include
• Combining short, choppy sentences
• Varying sentence length
• Using transition words
• Revising for fluency

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Rolling Along

• Riding in a bumpy car is not fun!

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• Skating boarding and bike riding are not fun on a
  bumpy surface, either.

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Any Fun?

• What fun would any of these things be if you had
  to keep stopping and restart every metre or so?

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Good Writing Also.

• Needs to roll along as smoothly as a good bike
  ride or a good afternoon at the skateboard park

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Not Fun Either!

• Reading choppy sentences is not fun either
• They bump the reader through the text the way
  rocky, bumpy roads bump drivers along a dirt road
• Periods and commas when used with care, dont
  interrupt the flow anymore than a nice, gradual
  turn or small bump

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There is a Cure!

• Fortunately we can pave roads, build skateboard
  parks and ALSO create smooth sentences
• One way to improve this is with sentence
  combining
• A little sentence combining weaves ideas together
  in a way that improves the flow and make for
  greater clarity
• Now the reader clearly understands what you are
  saying

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The Result.

• The road and the sentences are smooth!

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Read the following passage

• My horse is white. He has one blue eye and one
  brown eye. He is friendly. He likes when we
  brush him. He snuggles his noseinto us when we
  brush him. He is fun to ride. He is my horse
  and I am glad.

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What Did You Notice?

• Does the paragraph roll smoothly along?
• Why?

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Why?

• Short sentences
• Full of starts and stops
• Most sentences start with the same word

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Read this passage

• My friendly horse, Flash, has one blue eye and
  one brown eye. This majestic white creature
  loves when I brush his soft coat. I can tell
  because he snuggles his nose into me and
  whinnies. He also loves to race through the corn
  fields behind our barn. Whoosh! Flash gallops
  through the stalks like a NASCAR racer flying
  around a speedway. I clutch his mane and shriek
  with laughter. He is a wonderful horse!

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What Did You Notice?

• Does the paragraph roll smoothly along?
• Why?

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Why?

• Smooth sentences
• A variety of length of sentences

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Rules of the Game

• Listen as the teacher reads the passage on page
  76 aloud
• Does the passage run smoothly?
• In Your Response check how the paragraph looked
  and sounded to you
• Now, complete Locating the Problem by rating
  the passage

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Revision of Rules of the Game

• Read the revision
• Put your check beside What Did You Notice?

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Combining Sentences

• What does it mean?
• It is a great way to smooth out writing that
  isnt rolling along
• Combining sentences isnt always about combining
  2 sentences with a conjunction like and or but

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Combining Sentences

• Example
• Jack ran along way. He went more than a
• Mile.
• CAN BECOME
• Jack ran more than a mile.

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Remember.

• Combining sentences sometimes includes
  condensing, which can make the final product
  shorter than the total length of the original
  sentences.

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Combine these sentences

• Combine the following sentences on loose leaf.
• A new animal was born. It was born at the
• zoo. It was an elephant. It weighed two
• hundred fifty pounds.

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Combined Sentences Revised

• A two hundred and fifty pound baby elephant was
  born at the zoo.

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Sentence Combining

• Using 4 sentences from Rules of the Game
• Players can get a penalty.
• They can get a penalty for breaking a rule.
• Players who break rules have to sit in the
  penalty box.
• Players may have to sit out for two minutes or
  more.
• A player who gets a penalty for breaking a rule
  must sit still in the penalty box for two minutes
  or more.

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Writing Notebook

• In your writing notebook, create a title page for
  SENTENCE FLUENCY
• Under the title add this checklist
• Do my sentences begin in different ways? Did
  I use some long and some short sentences?
• Did I use transition words and conjunctions to
  make my writing flow smoothly Does my paper
  sound smooth as I read it aloud?

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May Flower Service Project

• Carefully read May Flower Service Project.
• Look and listen for sentences you could combine
  to get this passage rolling.
• Read the passage again putting a between any
  sentences you feel could be combined
• Rewrite your revised version
• You may have to change the wording or add linking
  words to make some combinations work
• This is homework

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Homework

• Complete May Flower Service Project revision.
  If you dont have enough room, use loose lesf
• In the Sentence Fluency section of your writing
  notebook, write about Your Best or Worst Big
  Cove Experience
• Remember to date the page, title your work and
  double space
• This writing must be at least 1 ½ pages double
  spaced. We have increased the length of your
  writing
• Be prepared to share your writing on Day 4

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• What is sentence fluency?
• May Service Project Revision
• Sharing time remember when you are asked to
  comment on someones writing you must first say
  why you like it and why and then one way to
  improve the writing