Sentence builder

What the sentence builder does

Each sentence arrives as a row of yellow word tiles in a scrambled order. Tap a tile to add it to the sentence row, drag tiles in the row to move them, and tap a tile in the row to send it back. Words are shown in lowercase, except names and I, so the child must press the Aa button to give the first word its capital. Then they choose an end mark: a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark.

Check gives three separate answers: word order, capital letter and end mark. If the order is wrong, it says how many words at the start are in a good spot and asks the child to read the rest aloud. It never rebuilds the sentence for them. Some sentences have two right answers. "The dog can run." and "Can the dog run?" are both accepted, as long as the end mark matches.

Why hands-on sentence building helps

Young writers often know what they want to say but struggle to hold the whole sentence in mind while they write. Moving tiles separates the thinking from the handwriting. Children hear that word order carries meaning, notice which word must come first, and practice the habit of starting with a capital and ending with a mark, which is the first thing teachers look for in early writing.

Common mix-ups

• Forgetting the capital when the first word is short, like the or my. Every sentence starts with a capital letter, whatever the word.
• Ending every sentence with a period. Questions that start with words like where, can, do or would need a question mark.
• Using an exclamation mark for any exciting sentence. It shows strong feeling or a warning, like "Watch out for that big wave!"
• Thinking any order is fine if all the words are used. Reading the sentence aloud is the quickest way to hear what's wrong.

A 10-minute routine

• Start at 4 words. The child builds the sentence and reads it aloud before pressing Check.
• Ask: does this sentence tell, ask or show strong feeling? Then choose the mark.
• Do two more at the same level, then step up to 5 or 6 words.
• On a longer sentence, find the subject first (who or what the sentence is about), then the action.
• Finish by writing the last sentence on paper, with the capital and end mark.

Where it fits by grade

• Kindergarten: capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I (L.K.2.a) and name end punctuation (L.K.2.b). In England, Year 1 children begin to punctuate sentences with a capital letter and a full stop (the British name for a period), question mark or exclamation mark.
• Grade 1: build complete statements, questions, commands and exclamations (L.1.1.j) and use end punctuation (L.1.2.b). Year 2 in England names these four sentence types.
• Grades 2 and 3: produce, expand and rearrange complete sentences (L.2.1.f), using the 8- to 10-word levels.

Learning more

Eurekami covers English as well as math. Lessons explain grammar and punctuation step by step, the skill map shows which skills are secure, and Daily Practice brings back the ones that start to fade.