Book excerpt: Diagram no more—inspire all your student writers! Imagine leaving behind the drudgery of diagramming sentences. Imagine, instead, joyful writers who are capable of revising their work and writing effectively. By taking writing down to its basic building block—a solid sentence—and advancing from there, students will develop confidence, enjoy creating sentences, and ultimately empower each other as writers. Lessons for Grades 3-12 include: A variety of sentence patterns presented in a logical sequence An explanation of each pattern′s structure and conventions Reinforcement activities and sample sentences for each pattern Activities to develop the necessary instructional vocabulary As students become engaged in the process, they will work toward: Meeting the Common Core State Standards for Language Arts Understanding and using basic sentence structures Recognizing what makes a sentence effective Learning to put sentences together to write effective paragraphs This indispensable handbook serves as a blueprint for instruction and unit development by emphasizing the end goal: preparing students to be effective writers. Along the way, all students, including English language learners, will gain the fluency and automaticity needed for effective daily writing and for success on high-stakes tests. "Hostmeyer provides the tools teachers need to make grammar instruction meaningful and engaging so students build the knowledge they need to craft not only sentences, but strong pieces of writing that meet the demands of the Common Core." —Carol Gallegos, Literacy Coach Hanford Elementary School District, Hanford, CA "The author′s knowledge of how students learn, passion for finding ways to teach sentence patterns, and willingness to share those strategies with the world all combine to make this a book that every writing teacher can use." —Norma Barber, Language Arts Teacher Ukiah School District 80R, Ukiah, OR