Identifying and learning the terms for the different types of sentences sure can be tricky. The terms go from command, question, exclamation, and statement to imperative, interrogative, exclamatory, and declarative. Here are some tips for teaching types of sentences to upper elementary students.
Types of Sentences
First, let’s go over the types of sentences and some tricks to teach the students that will help them remember which is which.
1. Interrogative Sentences
These types of sentences end in a question mark. I help students associate the term by showing them a picture of a detective interrogating a suspect. We then discuss how a detective asks questions about where the person was, who they were with, etc. Once students associate interrogative sentences with the action of someone being interrogating, they pretty much master the term.
2. Exclamatory Sentences
3. Declarative Sentences
4. Imperative Sentences
Teaching Types of Sentences
Step 1:
Step 2:
Having students immediately implement what they have learned is important. It helps solidify their learning.
Instead of using a worksheet, I implement response boards. My students absolutely LOVE writing with dry erase markers.
This is a great way to engage them while also assessing who is understanding and who needs more scaffolding.
As a whole group review, I project slides on the board and have students write what type of question they believe the sentence is on a response board. Once everyone has shown me their answer, I display the correct answer on the board.
Step 3:
Withdrawing the scaffolding and having students practice independently is important. This is how they master skills. You can provide independent practice through independent work time, centers, or home learning.
Some great independent Types of Sentences activities are working with task cards or with sorting activities.
For students needing additional practice, Types of Sentences Digital Task Cards are perfect! These digital tasks cards are great because they are self-checking and involve no prep.
Students who master the skill quickly can work on early finisher activities. These might be creating a text conversation between two characters. Each quote box can contain a different type of sentence. Another activity might be creating questions (interrogative sentences). They can then use these to interview a classmate.
Step 4:
Lastly, you will want to formally assess them. How and what you want to assess depends on your group of students. You may want to only assess terminology. In that case, offer a list of sentences and have students identify them.
You may want to assess more than terminology. You can offer students a variety of sentences without ending punctuation marks. Students can then add the appropriate punctuation mark and then identify the type of sentence.