About Sentence Craft

Sentence Craft is a unique system using the popular Minecraft video game as a metaphor to inspire students from elementary to the high school level to craft more effective sentences. By following crafting recipes provided by the Sentence Craft handbook, students practice and refine techniques used by professional writers to create longer, more complex, more creative sentences.  Below is an example recipe and an explanation of how a student would craft a sentence following it.

Example Recipe

Where did the above recipe come from?
Recipes are available in the Sentence Craft handbook. A teacher or other student may also create the recipe. See page 22 of the handbook for instructions. Additional recipe resources include a Powerpoint and a Random Recipe Generator.

How does the student craft the recipe?

Each block in the table represents a specific sentence part. The student may refer to the quick reference guide on pages 11-13 in the handbook or the ingredients section to learn what each block represents and which row it is placed.

The bottom row:  A recipe is read from the bottom up, one row at a time. The bottom row is where independent clauses and conjunctions are placed. This recipe has only one independent (foundation) clause represented by the [SV] block in the middle cell.  Example crafted independent clause: The airplane buzzed above. 

The middle row is where dependent clause blocks are placed. This recipe has a subordinate dependent clause, represented by the [SSV] block.  The beginning cell means the student should attach it to the beginning of the independent (foundation) clause. Example dependent clause: As Nathan tried to sleep. 

The top row is where creative phrase or word blocks are placed. These are referred to as master blocks because they are the tools of master sentence crafters. This recipe has an appositive [APP] master block in the middle cell, meaning it should be placed in the middle of one of the clauses. Example crafted appositive identifying airplane: a Cessna 172.

Once a student understands the recipe and its parts, he or she crafts a combined sentence. 

Example crafted sentence: 
As Nathan tried to sleep, the airplane, a Cessna 172, buzzed above.