Materials: Two sentence strips with student's sentence printed on both
In a group, reread whole chart, pausing to allow them to use their inner voice (point to each word while you clap/chant/rap/sign)
Give out sentence strips.
Individually, have students “reread” their sentence strip.
Students cut up the sentence into individual words (some may have to indicate where to cut). If the student cuts in the middle of a word instead of between the words, use this as a learning opportunity for the student to learn about concept of word. Read the sentence, does it make sense? If you go through this process a couple of times and the child doesn't see the error then help the student see how to cut between the words and read the sentence again. Model, Model, Model! Cutting in the wrong place gives you valuable information about your student.
Students rearrange the words to make their sentence but do not have to create a perfect sentence. Continuously reread what they have written.
Have the student make the sentence, then read it, does it make sense? look right? sound right? Compare/contrast it to the chart/2nd sentence strip. Make the original chart available to the students.
For some students we are just interested to see if they go from left to right – the words don't have to be in the right order at all. If required, Help them match to the original sentence.
The student glues the correctly ordered sentence onto the plain paper. They can write their name on their page using a pen or alphabet flip chart.
Remember the focus is always on the print so avoid putting symbols or pictures on the sentences.
Ifyourstudentsarecapableofwritingtheirsentenceusingapencilorkeyboardtheycandothatinsteadof cuttingandrearrangingthesentence.Theywillneedtowritetheirsentencefrommemorythough–donot givethemavisualmodeltocopy,noteventhechart. If they need a reminder have them walk to the front to look at the chart (that has been turned over). This ensures they are needing to hold their word/sentence in their head and come back to the table to produce it.
Adaptations: To offer more auditory feedback, can Velcro each word onto a single message device. Students can move the single message devices around and press them to hear what order the words are in.
Partner assisted scanning/eye gaze through words
Could also use iPad apps- Sticky, Clicker Sentences