Sentence frames are structured sentence starters that give scholars a blueprint for expressing their ideas clearly and accurately. Sentence frames can include key vocabulary and complex grammatical structures that support rigorous academic thinking and writing.

AVID Excel scholars often have strong oral language skills but struggle with the complex sentence structure and academic vocabulary required in rigorous academic coursework. Sentence frames empower scholars to engage deeply with content and move from writing responses that match their everyday language of thinking and speaking to using more formal, academic language and complex sentence structure.

By embedding sentence frames into lessons, educators:

• Increase engagement and build confidence by providing scholars with a low-stakes entry point for participation.
• Encourage structured participation that guides scholars to engage in higher-level thinking and writing, such as comparing ideas, making claims, and providing evidence.
• Develop habits of thinking and writing so that scholars can demonstrate their knowledge and skills more clearly and effectively.

1. Simple Sentence Structure and Vocabulary

• I think that ___ because ___.
• The main idea of this text is ___.
• One example of ___ is ___.

2. Complex Sentence Structure with Transitions

• I believe that ___ because ___, and in addition, ___.
• The author’s purpose is to ___, which is shown by ___.
• One similarity between ___ and ___ is ___. However, a difference is ___.

3. Complex Sentence Structure with Academic and Argumentative Language

• Based on the evidence from ___, it can be inferred that ___.
• While some may argue that ___, the data suggests that ___.
• ___ is important/significant because ___.

• Model How to Use Sentence Frames: Practice saying the sentence frame aloud, both individually and as a class, and model a response for the class before having scholars engage.
• Encourage Scholar Choice: Provide multiple sentence frames, with increasing levels of vocabulary and grammatical complexity, for the same learning task, and allow scholars to select which one to use based on their own comfort level and skill.
• Gradually Increase Rigor: Transition from simple sentence frames to more complex ones, ultimately removing them completely. As part of the gradual release process, as sentence frames are removed, have scholars collaboratively brainstorm their own before responding to a prompt.