Sentence Composing for Middle School: A Worktext on Sentence Variety and Maturity

I have used the Elementary School levels of this volume in my 5th and 6th grade class to great success. I love the individual manipulations with sentence structure this methodology teaches! I am excited to proceed with this next level.The only struggle we have with this workbook series is that the kids need to learn some organization in order to keep track of the workbook, plus a notebook for their answers. This isn't necessarily a negative, since knowing how to be organized AND how to read directions carefully is a serious component to writing. At the end of the day, I feel this adds to my students' experience, but I have a very small classroom and can give good one-on-one guidance. In a larger setting it could be a bigger challenge.

I found this book after reading another homeschool mom's blog post and am thrilled with it. It goes well with the philosophy in education that children need to be taught how to use their language and how to write, not just given a topic and required to write something down. I'm so pleased with the book I'd like to pick up the college level book just for me since it looks like so much fun, playing with and manipulating language.One note- After looking at the Look Inside feature for some reason I thought it was consumable, possibly because of the use of the word "worktext" so I purchased two books. This is a non-consumable. That may have been more obvious to me if I had looked at one of the pages that says "copy the sentences" but I didn't notice until I had the book in hand. Hopefully that will help some other purchaser.

This is my grand daughters 5th grade English Book. It is pretty good. I never could get my hand around sentence diagramming and still couldn't pick out a gerund or abjective and couldn't care. My speech and writing are good. All I have to do is write and speak the way some of my favorite people do. That is the principal of this book. It is a what would ______ say and how would he say it. Nothing builds like flattery.

Be very careful who you purchase this for. There are A LOT of passages that are hateful and racist. Look at page 50: "when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers and drown your sisters and brothers..." I cant really type more than that. Buyer beware. Returned.

This book can be teamed with Killgallon's Sentence Composing for the High School School, but this is the place to start. I used it with students two years ago and they enjoyed the challenge . . . now if we could just get them to incorporate the sentence styles into their daily writing. I'll be using it with low-performing high school students to try to improve their understanding of what is required for them not merely to pass the state's standardized test, but to demonstrate improvement in their writing ability.

This is book is both fun and challenging. I am using it for a seventh grader and a senior--and for myself as well. We are all challenged by some of the exercises. Some of the sentences used as models are very complex and a variety of subjects and styles are presented. The model sentences also stimulate thought and conversation in other subjects, as well--history to modern ethics.

ordered this book for my son. he will be having English sessions during the summer and his teacher requested we purchase this workbook. I trust her judgment. we haven't used it yet but will soon.

Don Killgallon produces resources I can always use in class, regardless of my students' levels. I love his simple approach to writing, which is always something my students can use to mimic good writing until they find their own writing styles and abilities. I love these books.

Great book to understand and work through. Found it helpful.

A cupboard full of appropriate sentences for grammar work, all written by great writers. Highly recommended for English teachers. Yes.

I have almost all of Don Killgallon's books because I think sentence imitation is a good writing strategy. However, while I like the notion of sentence imitation, Killgallon's use of nonsense words and sentences fall flat on this age group and don't impress me much either. He provides beautiful examples from a wide variety of books, but the exercises are repetitive, with one feeling the same as the last. Surely, Killgallon could have thought of a few more ways to present this material to young people in a much more engaging fashion. Ho-hum, especially if the poor kids have to work from ALL of his books.