Write a story together as a class. Ask pupils to think of a character and write her name on the board. Leave room on either side to develop the sentence. Prompt pupils to add more details with questions such as "what kind of little girl is she?" Elicit a verb by asking pupils what the character is doing. Write down the words chosen by the class, then read the sentence with only the noun, adjectives and verb. Ask the class what words are missing. Fill in the missing articles, adverbs and/or conjunctions as the class shares them, then read the sentence again. Add additional sentences as long as the class is enjoying the activity.
Set up a center with books for pupils to make. Have a parent volunteer or teacher aide stay at the center if possible. Stack three or four sheets of paper together, fold them in half and staple along the fold to create blank books. Cut out pictures from magazines or download some from the Internet. Give pupils the option of gluing the pictures into the books or drawing pictures. Once each pupil is finished with the pictures, the parent or aide can help him write sentences to describe the pictures. Encourage pupils to share the books with their parents.
Consider including sentence building activities in your story time. When you finish a story, ask the class what happens next. Write pupils' ideas on the board. Use those ideas to create simple sentences building on the story. For example, if you read "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss, you might ask what the cat does after the book ends. Write "the Cat in the Hat" on the board and have your pupils supply a verb. Expand the sentence with additional words and then build additional sentences if time permits and the pupils enjoy it.
Place picture/word combination cards featuring nouns and verbs around the room. Ask the children to find two cards, one "person" card, or noun, and one "action" card, or verb. Allow them to work in pairs if they like. Once most of the pupils have found a pair of cards, ask them all to sit on the carpet. Use the cards to create simple sentences on the board. For example, if a pupil has a "boy" card and a "jump" card, set the cards next to each other on the chalk shelf at the bottom of the blackboard. Then ask the class to help you make the sentence longer. Fill in adjectives and articles so that "boy jump" becomes "the boy jumps high" or add another team's card to create "the boy jumps over the girl."