Sentence Trains! A Fun and Engaging 1st Grade Sentence Building Activity

Teaching beginning writers about the types of sentences is essential for helping them develop strong writing skills. Knowing the differences between command, statement, question, and exclamation sentences—and their proper punctuation—lays the foundation for clear and effective communication.

This interactive sentence-building card game is a high-quality resource designed to help 1st grade students grasp these sentence structures in a fun and engaging way. Using this resource, students will strengthen their ability to build, identify, and correctly punctuate the 4 sentence types.

Practice Building Statement, Exclamation, and Question Sentences 

Make learning about statement, exclamation, and question sentences exciting with our printable sentence-building activity! This hands-on resource includes a variety of sentence train cards that students can use to construct different types of sentences.

This sentence-building activity includes different-colored train cards: subject, verb, object, punctuation, and question words. Print the cards on cardboard for durability, cut them apart, and allow students to build sentences. It is perfect for use as an independent activity or word workstation. You can also use this activity for a whole group in a pocket chart or beneath a document camera.

We have also included blank train cards (in case you need to add a word) and a printable sentence-type exit ticket for use as a formative assessment to check for student understanding.

1st Grade Writing – Download and Edit for Your Classroom

This 1st grade writing activity is available in an easy-to-use Google Slides format, allowing for easy editing. Download the resource, make any edits to tailor it to your student’s needs, and use it for whole-class instruction, small-group practice, or independent learning.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and Teach Starter Collaborator.

Enhance Learning with More 1st Grade Sentence Writing Activities

Pair this engaging 1st grade sentence writing activity with our other 1st grade sentence-building resources to provide additional practice and reinforcement.

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Super Sentence Game - Statement, Command, Exclamation & Question

Turn sentence structure practice into an exciting game with the Super Sentence Game for 1st grade and 2nd grade.

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Statement, Question, Command, Exclamation – Cut and Paste Worksheet

Identify statement, command, question, and exclamation sentences with a Types of Sentences Cut and Paste worksheet for 2nd grade.

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Finish It! - End Punctuation Task Cards (1-2)

Practice adding end marks to sentences with a printable set of Punctuation Task Cards for 1st and 2nd graders.