Sentence Dictation – Differentiation

There are several ways you may differentiate for sentence dictation to meet the needs of every student as they work toward mastery

Differentiated visual cues for sentence dictation:

• Word lines for green & red words

• • Phonetic words – Provide a single word line for phonetic words, signaling to students that these words may be encoded using pounding and finger-tapping strategies.
  • Red words – Provide a double word line for irregular words, reminding students to rely on word learning strategies to spell each word.
  • As students develop automaticity in spelling red words, you may discontinue cues for those recurring red words, providing a single word line only
• Picture cues for capitalization and punctuation

• Provide CUPS with boxes to check-off as students edit each sentence, transitioning away from the mountain for capitalization and box for punctuation
• Display the CUPS visual to support students in self-editing strategies
• Transition to writing sentences on a solid, notebook paper-style line as students move toward mastery in writing dictated sentences

As students develop automaticity in encoding Green Words (regular) and Red Words (irregular), begin to withdraw visual cues and gestures. Also, remember to model fluency throughout your dictation instruction, then incorporate student practice in automaticity by reading the words and sentences. 

For additional support in creating lesson plans and student dictation pages with differentiated support, visit IMSE’s Interactive OG (IOG) online or Teacher Manual and Student Practice Books A, B, or C.