Frequently Asked Questions About Sentence School™

What is Sentence School?

Sentence School is an innovative new writing program from Handwriting Without Tears® that helps children develop vocabulary, conceptual thinking, grammar, and independent writing skills in just 10-15 minutes a day.

It's a complete, interactive program that works alongside the HWT handwriting curriculum, making it easy to integrate handwriting with other language arts activities and curricula.

Who was Sentence School designed for?

Sentence School is designed for use in kindergarten classrooms, or for use with children whose English language skills are at a kindergarten level. It is ideal for both classroom and small group instruction.

What primary skills are developed with Sentence School?

• Vocabulary - new, advanced, and interesting words
• Concepts - classifying, describing, and learning about people, places, and things
• Grammar - complete correct sentences, subject/verb agreement, and more
• Writing - sentence basics, capitalization, spacing, and ending punctuation

How does Sentence School develop these skills?

Sentence School develops skills with short, engaging lessons. With the teacher modeling, children:

• Read two new word cards.
• Do a word related motion or activity. 
• Say two new sentences. 
• Write one sentence.

How much time during the day should a teacher allocate to Sentence School?

The program is designed for 10-15 minutes, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Lesson plans are divided into four sections:

• Sentence Start
• Monday Action Sentences
• Wednesday Describing Sentences
• Friday Questions & Answers

The teacher's guide provides 34 weeks of lesson plans. In addition, two Word Cards are provided for each lesson plan.

How does Sentence School fit into the handwriting program?

Sentence School is not a handwriting product. It's a language arts product that addresses writing skills. The experiential learning component is very familiar to HWT users. However, Sentence School works with every handwriting and language arts curriculum. The program extends handwriting into the language arts activities It works well when used alongside other Handwriting Without Tears products, but you do not have to be an HWT user to teach Sentence School.

How much time does take a teacher to prepare for a lesson?

Preparation typically takes 5 minutes. The props for each lesson are simple and easy to find.

Why does Sentence School work?

Young children learn best by doing, by participating actively with physical movement and in a wide range of sensory experiences. Sentence School lessons introduce new words and their meanings with an engaging activity. Teachers help children say and write simple sentences using their new vocabulary. With every lesson children expand their knowledge of the world while developing basic speaking and writing skills

How does Sentence School fit into a phonics curriculum?

Sentence School is entirely compatible with whatever reading or phonics curriculum the teacher is using. It uses repetition to build basic and then more advanced writing skills.

What comes in the Sentence School kit?

The complete Sentence School kit includes a box of 215 laminated Word Cards and a 248-page teacher’s guide. Click here to download sample lessons.

What kind of teacher support is available?

When Sentence School launches, there will be teacher in-service materials available on the Handwriting Without Tears website. An online training webinar will be planned for early fall as well.

How can we order Sentence School kits?

Sentence School kits will ship the first week of August, in plenty of time for the school year. Pre-order Sentence School now!