Nonfiction for Elementary School

Discipline: Professional Resources

Copyright: 2017

Grade(s): 3 - 5

Delivery Method: Print

Imprint: Heinemann

Author(s): Donald Killgallon, Jenny Killgallon

Nonfiction for Elementary School: A Sentence-Composing Approach

Don and Jenny Killgallon's sentence-composing approach helps students all across America develop into more proficient and sophisticated writers. Now, in this powerful worktext, the Killgallons use their highly effective method to help elementary students become better readers and writers of nonfiction.

Nonfiction for Elementary School: A Sentence Composing Approach offers varied practice in building better sentences and paragraphs by modeling writing after sentences from well-known authors, including Seymour Simon, Jerry Spinelli, Walter Dean Myers, Roald Dahl, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Bill Bryson, Richard Wright, Jim Murphy, Steve Sheinkin, Laura Hillenbrand, Philip M. Hoose, and many others.

Using the activities in the worktext, students—

  • build strong, complete sentences with a clear understanding of the role of subject and predicate
  • learn the meanings of words in the context of nonfiction sentences, promoting deep reading skills
  • practice varied sentence-composing tools to build better sentences
  • imitate the sentence and paragraph structure of mentor authors from a wide variety of short nonfiction pieces

The Killgallons provide the scaffolding students need to build strong sentences and paragraphs, as well as to interpret challenging brief nonfiction texts. With recognizable nonfiction authors as their mentors, students learn skills and build confidence as their reading and writing become more meaningful and masterful.