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Learning to Write: The Incredible Expanding Sentence

Learning to Write: The Incredible Expanding Sentence

Incredible Expanding Sentences (also known as sentence pyramids) are a good way for your child to visualize how adding information to a sentence can make that sentence grow from the ordinary to the extraordinary. This activity can be done on paper or a whiteboard.

Skills Being Practiced

• Sentence building
• Analytical thinking
• Basic parts of speech

What You Need

• Large piece of paper/poster board or a whiteboard
• Markers/dry-erase markers

How to Play

1. Begin by writing the numbers one through six down the left-hand side of the paper or whiteboard. Write a small sentence on the first line, such as: "I saw a boy."
2. Ask your child to add a word describing the boy. ("I saw a small boy.") Write this sentence on the second line.
3. Next, add a word describing what the boy is doing ("I saw a small boy running.") and write that sentence on the third line.
4. Continue taking turns adding words to the sentence until you've created six or seven sentences. When you are done, your child will see how building onto that sentence made the sentence expand. It should like a set of stairs like this:

I saw a boy.
I saw a small boy.
I saw a small boy running.
I saw a small boy running away.
I saw a small boy running away from a dog.
I saw a small boy running away from an angry dog.