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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 8 of 13

Sentence Smarts

Kinds of sentences

What your child practices

Telling statements, questions, exclamations and commands apart, spotting incomplete sentences and joining ideas with so, but, or and because.

Alaska content standards learning standard: L.3.1 · complete sentences and kinds of sentences

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A complete sentence tells who or what, and what they do.
  2. A statement tells, a question asks, an exclamation shows strong feeling and a command tells someone to do something.
  3. Join two ideas with and, but, or, so or because.

Example: Which is a complete sentence: “Our class at a farm.” or “Our class visited a farm.”? Both tell who: our class. Only one tells what they did: visited. Answer: Our class visited a farm.

Sentence Smarts in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 8 of 13 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Word Pairs and before ABC Order & Dictionary.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which is a complete sentence?

    • The ducks swam across the pond.
    • Swam across the pond.
    • The ducks across the pond.

  2. Question 2

    Which is NOT a complete sentence?

    • Our class visited a farm.
    • The bright moon lit up the sky.
    • Two squirrels up the tree.

  3. Question 3

    What kind of sentence is this?

    Close the door quietly.

    • Exclamation (shows strong feeling)
    • Question (asks something)
    • Statement (tells something)
    • Command (tells someone to do something)

  4. Question 4

    What kind of sentence is this?

    Oh no, I dropped my ice cream!

    • Statement (tells something)
    • Question (asks something)
    • Exclamation (shows strong feeling)
    • Command (tells someone to do something)

  5. Question 5

    Which is a complete sentence?

    • Whistled loudly.
    • The noisy kettle on the stove.
    • The kettle whistled loudly.

  6. Question 6

    What kind of sentence is this?

    Who wants to read first?

    • Exclamation (shows strong feeling)
    • Statement (tells something)
    • Question (asks something)
    • Command (tells someone to do something)

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