March 28 Creating Sentences of Differing Lengths Fluency Writing Lesson
Materials: Dizzy, Key Qualities page, 48 index cards
SOLs: 2.8, 2.12
Objectives: Students will understand how to make their writing more interesting and fluent by
creating a paragraph of sentences with varying lengths.
Instructional Activities:
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Introduction: “Today we are going to read a story to find out how we can make our
writing more interesting by having more variety in our sentences.”
Discussion:
o I will display “Key Qualities of the Sentence Fluency Trait” and discuss with students
how writers try to vary the lengths of their sentences. I will ask them how it sounds
when all sentences are the same length by reading this paragraph to them:
My dog is brown. He likes to eat. We play all day. We run and chase.
o I will ask what they noticed: That the paragraph flows well and is easy on the ear? Or
that it’s choppy and repetitious?
o I will ask students if they enjoy listening to music and, if they do, what they like
about it. Some students may say they like the lyrics, but others may respond that they
like the rhythm and beat.
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Connection Activity: I will tell the students they are going to learn about the sound of a
form of music called bee bop, which was made famous in the 1940s, by playing a game
called “Musical Jazz.” I will arrange chairs in a circle and ask each student to stand in
front of a chair so they can slip in and out of it easily. Play a bee bop song for students
and ask them to move slowly around the circle without touching the chairs, as if they’re
playing musical chairs. As the music plays, I will remove one of the chairs and put it
aside. I will stop the music at a natural pause and tell the students to grab a seat. I will ask
that student without a seat to stand to the side.
o I will continue playing the music, removing chairs, stopping at the music, and asking
students to sit until only two students are left. I will play one last burst of music,
remove a chair, stop the music, and declare a winner. I will gather students together
and ask their opinion of the music. I will point out how some sections that I played
were short and some were long.
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Read Aloud: I will discuss how bee bop jazz was made famous by very talented
musicians more than 60 years ago. I will tell them I am going to read a biography, or the
life story, of one of those musicians, Dizzy Gillespie.
o I will read Dizzy, stopping to show the pictures as I go. When I’ve finished, I will see
if students noticed that some lines are long, some are short, and some are medium
length, a bit like the music I played during Musical Jazz.
o I will page through the book and show students examples of sentences of varying
lengths. Then point out particularly fun phrases—ones that sound like bee bop, such
as “He played so high, he played so low, he play so fast, he played diddly diddly bop
de biddly wah wah de BLEEEEEP.”
o Display the overhead “Think About: Creating Sentences of Differing Lengths” and
discuss the importance of including short, medium, and long sentences to make the
writing interesting to read.
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Student practice: I will ask students to think about something they enjoy doing--something they enjoy as much as Dizzy Gillespie enjoyed playing the trumpet.
o I will ask students to write a paragraph about their chosen pastime, containing one
short sentence (1-4 words), one medium sentence (5-8 words), and one long
sentence (more than 8 words).
o I will have students cut the sentences apart and give them to a partner. Ask the
partner to put the sentences in the order that makes the most sense and sounds the
best and read their choices, in order, back to the writer.
Writing Journals
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Closure: How can we make our writing more interesting? What does having sentences of
different lengths do to our writing? Would anybody like to share their paragraphs?