Building Sentences with the Humpties

by Ellen Hajek

Builder Books

This 43-page book is intended to be used as a follow-up to the introductory Humpties book. Cartoon characters and illustrations are used to show relationships between words in sentences rather than relying on definitions presented only with words. It covers both simple and compound subjects and predicates plus direct objects. Children learn how to diagram these simple sentences. They also learn basic types of sentences.

Noun and verb “humpties cards,” about 1 inch square each, are cut from pages in the center of the book to be used by children as they identify those parts of speech within sentences. In addition to using the “humpties cards” and diagramming, children fill in blanks, underline, draw pictures, solve puzzles, and write complete sentences. Periodic reviews are included. This is a short course, but it does include a range of multi-sensory activities to aid learning. It should be appropriate for children working at about second through fourth grade levels, depending upon their prior grammar instruction. It might also be used with older students who need a gentle introduction to beginning grammar.