New Release Books by Donald Killgallon

"Sentence composing provides acrobatic training in sentence dexterity. It uses literature as a writing school with a faculty of professional writers who virtually teach students to build better sentences." - Don and Jenny Killgallon Getting Started with Elementary School Sentence Composing introduces the powerful Sentence-Composing approach at a perfect time - elementary school - to give students a strong foundation in writing. Using real sentences by authors as models, the approach provides practice with four tools that skilled writers use to build strong sentences: Openers to vary sentence beginnings Splits to vary sentence middles Closers to vary sentence endings Mixes to add details in two or three places Along the way, Don and Jenny Killgallon provide support for students, including: Basic sentence training - activities to understand subjects, predicates, and their roles in sentence building Broken sentences - exercises to identify, repair, and avoid fragments Vocabulary scaffolds - "quickshots" to include an immediate, clear definition in context for challenging words

"Sentence composing provides acrobatic training in sentence dexterity...using literature as a writing school with a faculty of professional writers who virtually teach students to build better sentences." -Don and Jenny Killgallon Getting Started with High School Sentence Composing introduces the powerful sentence-composing approach. Using real sentences by authors as models, it provides practice with five sentence parts, or tools, that research shows skilled writers use to create high-quality, variety-packed writing: Extenders to enlarge meaning within a sentence Identifiers to identify someone or something Describers to describe someone or something Elaborators to add details for full understanding Combos to combine tools within a sentence Along the way, Don and Jenny Killgallon provide help for students, including: Basic sentence ideas-Activities to understand subjects, predicates, and their relationship to those five tools Broken sentences-Exercises to identify, avoid, and repair fragments Vocabulary scaffolds-"Quickshots" to include an immediate, clear definition in context for challenging words.

"The second book in a series of more accessible sentence-composing books, which can function on its own or as an entry point to the Killgallons' other books"--

This book gives students the chance to absorb and replicate the grammar used in some of the finest novels. Fourteen grammatical structures are developed as writing tools in accessible, understandable and similar manner through the 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 students become better readers and writers of nonfiction. Nonfiction for Middle School: A Sentence Composing Approach offers varied practice in building better sentences and paragraphs by modeling the sentence structures of well-known authors, including Diane Ackerman, David McCullough, Gary Paulsen, John Krakauer, Tracy Kidder, Erik Larson, Anna Quindlen, Laura Hillenbrand, Phillip Hoose, Rebecca Skloot, and many others. Using the activities in the worktext, students- - learn the meanings of words in the context of nonfiction selections, promoting deep reading skills - learn and apply valuable tools for writing-the identifier, the describer and the elaborator-for variety in sentence structure - 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 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.

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 students become better readers and writers of nonfiction. Nonfiction for High School: A Sentence Composing Approach offers varied practice in building better sentences and paragraphs by modeling the sentence structures of well-known authors, including Diane Ackerman, Maya Angelou, Bruce Catton, Annie Dillard, Tracy Kidder, Erik Larson, Anna Quindlen, Jeannette Walls, Tom Wolfe, Richard Wright, and many others. Using the activities in the worktext, students- learn the meanings of words in the context of nonfiction selections, promoting deep reading skills learn and apply valuable tools for writing-the identifier, the describer and the elaborator-for variety in sentence structure 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 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. Teacher's Booklet -- guidance for teaching with this particular student worktext, including pacing suggestions and answer key FREE TEACHER'S BOOKLET (DOWNLOAD) FREE TEACHER'S BOOKLET (MAILED PRINT COPY)

Don and Jenny Killgallon's sentence-composing approach has transformed how writing is taught in thousands of elementary classrooms, helping students all across America develop into more proficient and sophisticated writers. Now in this unique, powerful student worktext, the Killgallons use their highly effective method to link good writing to that perennially difficult-to-teach subject-grammar. Story Grammar for Elementary School: A Sentence Composing Approach offers varied practice in building better sentences by exploring and imitating the grammatical structures of children's favorite stories, including Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Chronicles of Narnia, Bridge to Terabithia, How to Eat Fried Worms, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Hobbit, A Wrinkle in Time, and hundreds more. A narrative treasury in miniature, Story Grammar teaches the story in the sentence (interesting content) plus the sentence in the story (grammatical structure). It links stories and grammar in ways that are innovative-and fun. Through chunking, combining, unscrambling, imitating, and expanding, students learn and use the same grammar authors use to build sentences. No Dick-and-Jane sentences here. Instead, engaging sentences from stories for students to imitate. An online teacher's guide accompanies Story Grammar for Elementary School: A Sentence-Composing Approach and includes advice, tips, resources, answer keys, and even curricular plans for teachers who are either new to the Killgallon approach or sentence-composing veterans. No one can forge the link between grammar and writing like Don and Jenny Killgallon. Discover or rediscover for yourself how powerful the sentence-composing approach can be, and watch how elementary students can be eased into grammar like never before-and grow as writers too. From writers of yesterday, for writers of tomorrow, something for today: a story grammar book for building better sentences. Teacher's Booklet -- guidance for teaching with this particular student worktext, including pacing suggestions and answer key FREE TEACHER'S BOOKLET (DOWNLOAD)

Don and Jenny Killgallons' bestselling sentence-composing approach has successfully taught upper-elementary students to write mature and varied sentences through imitating C.S. Lewis, Jerry Spinelli, Suzanne Collins, Gary Paulsen, J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Paolini, Rick Riordan, J. K. Rowling, and many others. Now, in this worktext, the Killgallons take the approach a step further by teaching upper-elementary students to build paragraphs. Using subjects, predicates, and sentence composing tools, students learn and practice what good sentences look like before moving on to imitate strong paragraphs written by established authors -their "fitness trainers in writing." The activities in this worktext help students: learn and use the sentence-composing tools that foster elaboration in paragraphs recognize and imitate how their favorite authors build sentences and paragraphs practice composing paragraphs for different purposes. With well-known and well-loved authors as their mentors, students build confidence as their writing becomes more meaningful and mature. Teacher's Booklet -- guidance for teaching with this particular student worktext, including pacing suggestions and answer key FREE TEACHER'S BOOKLET (DOWNLOAD)

Following the success of their Sentence-Composing series and their Grammar: A Sentence-Composing Approach series, Don and Jenny Killgallon present a new series, Paragraphs: A Sentence-Composing Approach. Paragraphs for Middle School: A Sentence-Composing Approach gives students new tools to write mature and varied sentences through imitating models by authors like Louis Sachar, Suzanne Collins, Gary Paulsen, J. R. R. Tolkien, Carl Hiassen, Rick Riordan, J. K. Rowling, and many others. Now, in this worktext, the Killgallons take the approach a step further by teaching students tools authors use to build paragraphs. Using power tools in four places to build better sentences-the opener, the S-V split, the closer, and the mix-and four techniques for building better paragraphs-expanding paragraphs, imitating paragraphs, unscrambling paragraphs, and building paragraphs-students achieve a goal of good writing: elaboration. Through the activities in this book, students: imitate how their favorite authors build sentences and paragraphs eliminate common sentence boundary problems--fragments, run-ons, comma splices learn, practice, and use the tools that foster elaboration in paragraphs. With recognizable authors as their mentors, students build confidence as their writing becomes more meaningful and masterful. Teacher's Booklet -- guidance for teaching with this particular student worktext, including pacing suggestions and answer key FREE TEACHER'S BOOKLET (DOWNLOAD)

This guide gives students new tools to write mature and varied sentences through imitating models by such authors as John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Maya Angelou, J.D. Salinger, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and many others.

Students analyze and study sentences written by authors read in the middle grades such as J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien as models for sentence composition.