Sentence Dictation Variation

There are several ways you may vary sentence dictation to meet the needs of older students as they work toward mastery. 

Variations for sentence dictation:

• When teaching morphology, have a word bank of words that contain the morpheme of the week. Have students create their own sentences using the words in the word bank. 
• Provide CUPS+ with boxes to check off as students edit each sentence, transitioning away from the mountain for capitalization and box for punctuation. 
  • You could also use traditional editing marks for older students instead of a mountain or box. (Use 3 lines for capital letters, circle for punctuation, etc.)
• Write sentences on a solid, notebook paper-style line for older students vs. IMSE dictation paper. 
• Have students practice peer editing as it can be easier to catch errors from someone else’s writing sample. 

Remember to model fluency throughout your dictation instruction, then incorporate student practice in automaticity by reading the words and sentences.