Possible sentences is a pre-reading vocabulary strategy that activates students' prior knowledge about content area vocabulary and concepts. Before reading, students are provided a short list of vocabulary words from their reading. Students create, based on their prediction of what the reading will be about, a meaningful sentence for each vocabulary word or concept. After reading, students check to see if their "possible sentences" were accurate or need revising.
|When to use:||Before reading||During reading||After reading|
|How to use:||Individually||With small groups||Whole class setting|
More vocabulary strategies
Why use possible sentences?
- It activates students' prior knowledge about content area vocabulary and concepts, and can improve their reading comprehension.
- It sparks students' curiosity about their reading.
- It teaches students to guess how words may be used in the text and create meaningful sentences.
How to use possible sentences
- Choose and display the vocabulary words.
- Ask students to define the words and pair related words together.
- Ask students to write sentences using their word pairs. Remind students that their sentences should be ones they expect to see in the text as they read.
- Have students read the text and compare their possible sentences with the actual sentences within the text.
- If your students' possible sentences are inaccurate, ask them to rewrite their sentences to be accurate.
Download blank templates
Watch: Powerful Predictions: A Pre-Reading Strategy to Build Vocabulary and Support Comprehension
This pre-reading strategy helps students make predictions about the content of a book based on key vocabulary. See the lesson plan.
This example shows how Possible Sentences can be used with the book Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco.
Teachers can use Possible Sentences to help students understand difficult math vocabulary such as in the following example about geometric shapes.
The following website shows examples of using computer related vocabulary words to create possible sentences.
See example > (227K PDF)*
Have students use this list to develop sentences about various animals and use books to determine the accuracy of their sentences.
for second language learners, students of varying reading skill, and for younger learners
- Have students of varying abilities work together to develop sentences.
- Invite students to share their sentences with the class.
- If students have never completed possible sentences you will need to model the process for your students.
- Provide clues for younger readers by writing sentences and leaving blanks for them to fill in vocabulary words.
- Give ESL students the vocabulary words in both English and their native language. Ask them to write sentences in English.
- As a post reading game, students can share their sentences without disclosing which are accurate or inaccurate. Teams of students can try to decipher, based on their reading, which sentences are accurate.
See the research that supports this strategy
Moore, D.W., & Moore, S.A (1986). "Possible sentences." In Reading in the content areas: Improving classroom instruction. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Stahl, S.A. & Kapinus, B.A. (1991). Possible sentences: Predicting word meaning to teach content area vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 45, 36-45.
Texas Education Agency (2002). Teaching Word Meanings as Concepts.