If I Built a Car
By: Chris Can Dusen
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning: Dialogue
Little Prickles
By: 7th grade students of
the Montessori Middle
School in Norwalk, CT
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning: Dialogue
Dialogue
Beginning from text:
“Jack, from the backseat, said to his dad,
This car is OK. This car is not bad. But it’s
just a car. Nothing great. Nothing grand.
It’s nothing at all like the car I have
planned.”
Students see how authors
utilize dialogue as an
entertaining beginning.
Model writing using dialogue.
Beginning from text:
“Little Prickles the porcupine cried to his
mommy, “No one likes to play with me! I’m
too prickly! I hate my sharp, pointy quills.”
Model writing using dialogue.
Students see how authors
utilize dialogue as an
entertaining beginning.
Action
Show and Tell
By: Barney Saltzberg
(in library)
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning: Action
Marley Goes to School
By: John Grogan
(in library)
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning from text:
“I once found a leaf that looked like a star.
“I’m going to bring this for show-and-tell,” I
told my mother.”
Students see how authors
utilize action as an
entertaining beginning.
Model writing using an action.
Beginning from text:
“It was the first day of school, and Cassie
laid out her back-to-school supplies.”
Students see how authors
utilize action as an
entertaining beginning.
Model writing using an action.
Beginning: Action
One Pizza, One Penny
By: K. T. Hao
(in library)
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning from text:
“On Sunflower Street in Sunnyville, Ben
Bear lived at number 14 and Chris Croc lived
across the way.”
Students see how authors
utilize action as an
entertaining beginning.
Model writing using an action.
Beginning: Action
The Penguin Who Wanted
to be Different
By: Maria O’Neill
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning from text:
“Dorothy Penguin followed Uncle Binny up
the hill.”
Students see how authors
utilize action as an
entertaining beginning.
Model writing using an action.
Beginning: Action
Sheila Rae, the Brave
By: Kevin Henkes
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning from text:
“Sheila Rae wasn’t afraid of anything.”
Model writing using an action.
Students see how authors
utilize action as an
entertaining beginning.
Beginning: Action
Officer Buckle and Gloria
By: Peggy Rathman
(in library)
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning: Action
Beginning from text:
“Officer Buckle knew more safety tips than
anyone else in Napville.”
Model writing using an action.
Students see how authors
utilize action as an
entertaining beginning.
Sound
Pancakes, Pancakes
By: Eric Carle
(in library)
Beginning: Sound
Cam Jansen and the
Mystery of the Dinosaur
Bones
By: David A. Adler
(in library)
Beginning from text:
“Kee-ke-ri-kee crowed the rooster.”
Students see how authors
utilize sound as an
entertaining beginning.
Model writing using a sound.
Beginning from text:
“Slurp. Cam Jansen was drinking milk
through a straw.”
Students see how authors
utilize sound as an
entertaining beginning.
Model writing using a sound.
Beginning: Sound
Good Morning, Gorillas
By: Mary Pope Osborne
(in library)
Beginning: Sound
Mirandy and Brother Wind
By: Patricia C. McKissack
(in library)
Beginning: Sound
All Sorts of Noises
By: Hannah Reidy
(in library)
Beginning: Sound
Beginning from text:
“Tap. Tap. Tap. Jack sat up in his bed. Rain
tapped against his window.”
Students see how authors
utilize sound as an
entertaining beginning.
Model writing using a sound.
Beginning from text:
“Swish! Swish! It was spring, and Brother
Wind was back. He come high steppin’
through Ridgetop, dressed in his finest and
trailing that long, silvery wind cape behind
him. Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”
Model writing using a sound.
Beginning from text:
“Bbring! Groan! Tweet! Tweet! Rustle
rustle Before jer eyes are even open, Even
can hear morning noises.”
Model writing using a sound.
Students see how authors
utilize sound as an
entertaining beginning.
Students see how authors
utilize sound as an
entertaining beginning.
Thought/Question
Whistle for Willie
By: Exra Jack Keats
(in library)
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning from text:
“Oh, how Peter wished he could whistle!”
Students see how authors
utilize thought/question as
an entertaining beginning.
Model writing using thought/question.
Beginning:
Thought/Question
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning:
Thought/Question
Model writing using thought/question.
Students see how authors
utilize thought/question as
an entertaining beginning.
Combination
Froggy Goes to Camp
By: Jonathan London
(in library)
Beginning from text:
“It was summer. Froggy woke up and
jumped on his bed – boing! boing! boing!”
Students see how authors
utilize sound and action as
an entertaining beginning.
Beginning: Action and
Sound
Garage Song
By: Sarah Wilson
(in library)
Beginning from text:
“Early in the morning sun, doors roll up and
hoses run – splish and splash and gush and
sputter – through the grage and pavement
gutter.”
Students see how authors
utilize sound and action as
an entertaining beginning.
Beginning: Action and
Sound
Show and Tell
By: Barney Saltzberg
(in library)
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning from text:
“I once found a leaf that looked like a star.
“I’m going to bring this for show-and-tell,” I
told my mother.”
Students see how authors
utilize action and dialogue
as an entertaining
beginning.
Beginning: Action and
Dialogue
All Weather Friends
By: Udo Weigelt
(in library)
Six Traits – Sentence
Fluency
Beginning: Action and
Dialogue
Beginning from text:
“Moss had just taken his morning bath when
Hedgehog came by. “Good day,” Moss said
cheerfully.”
Students see how authors
utilize action and dialogue
as an entertaining
beginning.