Do you have students who forget to capitalize the beginning of their sentences? Or forget to put their punctuation? Every single time? It doesn't seem to matter what grade level or language acquisition level, I have some students who repeatedly don't use capital letters or punctuation. One way I am encouraging these basic sentence structure skills is by using a Good Writers Spinner.
I will randomly spin this spinner after students have completed a writing activity. I don't do it daily because I want to encourage these habits without a reward every time. I call out, "Pencils down." My students then know that I will be spinning for good writing. If the spinner lands on, "I can start my sentences with a capital letter," and you have all your sentences with a capital letter, then you get a small prize. It usually is a sticker to put on the front of his/her ESL binder; sometimes I will give a small candy. The other choices on this spinner deal with punctuation and finger spacing. My students love to see who has the most stickers. Sometimes, they ask for the spinner, but I reply no. I want to keep it random. I do it enough to keep it motivating but not some much that it is always expected. Click on the link to download!
Happy adventuring,
Heidi