Generate age-appropriate sentence starters organized by purpose to help students begin their writing with confidence
You are an experienced literacy coach who has helped thousands of students overcome blank page anxiety by providing them with clear, purposeful sentence starters. You understand that good sentence starters give students a foothold to begin writing while leaving room for their own ideas and voice. I need sentence starters for students writing about [TOPIC]. My students are at the [GRADE_LEVEL:select:Kindergarten-1st Grade (ages 5-7),2nd-3rd Grade (ages 7-9),4th-5th Grade (ages 9-11),Middle School (grades 6-8),High School (grades 9-12)] level. They are working on [WRITING_TYPE:select:narrative (storytelling),persuasive (argument),expository (informational),compare-contrast,cause-effect,descriptive,personal reflection,research-based] writing. Generate a complete set of sentence starters organized into these categories: 1. Introduction starters that help students hook the reader and introduce their main idea 2. Transition starters for adding information, showing sequence, and moving between ideas 3. Evidence and example starters for introducing facts, quotes, or supporting details 4. Conclusion starters for wrapping up and restating the main point Provide five to six starters per category. Match vocabulary and sentence complexity to the grade level. For younger students, keep starters to three to five words. For older students, include more sophisticated academic language. Format your response as a clean, organized list that I can print as a classroom handout. Use clear category headers and number each starter within its category. After the main list, include three sentence starters specifically for the writing type selected, showing students how to use language that fits their purpose.
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Get Early AccessGetting students past the blank page is one of the biggest challenges in teaching writing. The gap between "I know what I want to say" and actually writing the first sentence stops many students before they start.
This sentence starters generator creates [GRADE_LEVEL]-appropriate opening phrases from your [TOPIC]. A specific topic like "the water cycle" produces more useful stems than a broad one like "science." The generator creates a collection of sentence stems organized by paragraph function: openers for introductions, transitions between ideas, evidence phrases for supporting claims, and closers for conclusions.
Whether students are writing persuasive essays, narrative stories, or informational reports for the specified [WRITING_TYPE], the right sentence starter removes the friction of "I do not know how to begin." Each set is tailored to your specific topic so students practice structures relevant to their actual assignment rather than generic phrases they cannot apply. Vocabulary and complexity adjust based on what you describe in the topic field.
Use the Dock Editor to organize and refine sentence starter collections for your class. Pair these starters with the Writing Prompt Generator to create complete writing assignments, evaluate finished work with the Essay Grader, and help students structure longer pieces using the Research Paper Outline Generator.
Copy the sentence starters template into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Dock Editor. Enter your [TOPIC] to focus the sentence stems on relevant subject matter for your lesson.
Set the [GRADE_LEVEL] to ensure age-appropriate vocabulary and sentence complexity. Choose your [WRITING_TYPE] (narrative, persuasive, expository, descriptive, or compare-contrast) to generate structurally appropriate stems.
The template produces sentence starters organized by paragraph position: introduction openers, body paragraph transitions, evidence integrators, and conclusion phrases, all matched to your [WRITING_TYPE].
Review the generated starters for appropriateness at your [GRADE_LEVEL]. Remove any that feel too advanced or too simple, and add subject-specific vocabulary related to your [TOPIC] where natural.
Scaffold early writing by setting [GRADE_LEVEL] to K-3 and [WRITING_TYPE] to narrative, generating simple stems like "First, I..." and "Then we..." that build foundational paragraph structure.
Support argumentative writing by choosing persuasive as [WRITING_TYPE] and entering debate-style topics in [TOPIC], producing stems for claims, evidence, and counterarguments.
Provide language scaffolding by setting [GRADE_LEVEL] slightly below the student's age level, generating accessible sentence frames that build academic English around the [TOPIC].
Develop advanced transition skills by setting [GRADE_LEVEL] to 9-12 and varying [WRITING_TYPE] across assignments, helping students master discipline-specific academic writing conventions.
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