Students are asked to complete a Prewriting Narrative Organizer where they list Who, When, Where and write Event 1, Event 2, and Event 3 with accompanying "How I felt" boxes, which requires them to order events and clarify chronology. Students are instructed to include an introductory paragraph, body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph and to use the organizer to guide their writing, prompting organization of ideas. During revision, students use an Editing and Revision checklist that asks them to confirm that the chronology of events is clear and that key details are explained, which leads them to review relationships among events.

The lesson explicitly teaches that conjunctions (such as and, or, but) are used to combine sentences and lists the coordinating conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. In Activity 1 students are asked to combine pairs of sentences using those conjunctions and to insert commas when joining two independent clauses. In Activity 2 students sequence events to show the progression and relationships among events, reinforcing how ordering and connectors clarify relationships.

The Skills section instructs students to "revise writing to improve the organization and consistency of ideas within and between paragraphs," and to "edit and revise manuscripts to improve the meaning and focus of writing by adding, deleting, consolidating, clarifying, and rearranging words and sentences." Students are asked to draft a three-paragraph essay, edit and revise it using the New Environment Essay Rubric, and conference with a parent during revision. The rubric includes criteria for "Sentences: length, flow, clarity" and overall "Writing: detail and engagement," which directs students to improve coherence and flow.

Activity 1 explicitly teaches students about transitional words and phrases when discussing run-on sentences, giving examples such as 'then,' 'therefore,' 'however,' and 'on the other hand.' The lesson lists coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) and instructs students to insert a comma plus a coordinating conjunction or use a semicolon or start a new sentence with a transitional word and a comma. The student activity requires students to revise run-on sentences using these punctuation and transition strategies.

The lesson explicitly teaches using transitional words or phrases after separating clauses (step 4 in the run-on revisions) and lists examples such as however, moreover, and on the other hand. The Revising Run-Ons student page and examples show semicolon + conjunctive adverb use (e.g., "Rip Van Winkle had been asleep for twenty years; however, he had no idea how much time had passed" and "He slept for twenty years; therefore, life passed him by"). Students are directed to revise run-on sentences using transitions (semicolon + conjunctive adverb and semicolon + transitional word + comma) as part of their practice.

Students sequence and relate events using the Plot Diagram graphic organizer, identifying main events, problem, climax, and resolution. The Skills list and Activity 2 ask students to "write multi-step directions" and to create an activity with a "Directions" section, which requires students to order steps and describe how to complete the activity. Students also organize story elements (character, setting, theme, conflict) in graphic organizers that require linking ideas across sections.

Students are repeatedly asked to focus on organization and the logical order of sentences and paragraphs (e.g., "The focus of this writing project is on organization and ideas" and rubric item: "Are my sentences/paragraphs in a logical order?"). Activity 5 instructs students to review writing tips (run-ons, fragments) and consult the Handy Guide to Writing while drafting, which addresses sentence- and paragraph-level mechanics. Students complete graphic organizers (plot diagram, theme & conflict, character/setting sheets) that require arranging ideas in a coherent sequence before writing.

Students are explicitly instructed to "use transitional words and phrases" and are given a chart of common transition words and phrases organized by purpose (time/sequence, examples, contrast, similarity, summary). The argumentative essay rubric includes "Use of transitions?" as a criterion under Organization, so students must include transitions to meet rubric expectations. The argumentative outline pages include prompts for a "Lead-in to next argument," which prompts students to plan and write transitional language between paragraphs.

Students are explicitly told to "use transitions in your writing as you move from one idea to the next" and to consult a provided "Transition Examples" sheet that lists transition types (time, contrast, cause/effect, example, conclusion, etc.). The Expository Rubric used to evaluate student writing includes "Use of transitions" under Organization, and the Skills list specifies providing "transitional expressions that link one paragraph to another" and to "use a variety of sentence transitions to link paragraphs." Students are also asked at the end to provide examples of transition words when explaining expository writing.

The lesson explicitly defines coordinating and subordinating conjunctions in the "Things to Know" section and presents a table of subordinating conjunctions organized by cause, time, condition, and other relationships. Student activities require labeling conjunctions in sentences (Options 1 and 2) and the answer keys show students identifying conjunctions in context. The parent notes ask the child to give examples of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and to use each type in a sentence.

Students identify conjunctions as coordinating or subordinating in Activity 1 Part III, with an answer key labeling items as "subordinating" or "coordinating." The simile activity (Symbols & Similes) requires students to explain comparisons using the prompt format "Winnie is like ______ because ______," which has students produce a causal connector. The parts-of-speech review throughout the lesson draws attention to conjunctions and their forms.

The lesson presents a list of dependent words (because, since, after, before, if, although, that, even though) and explains how adding a dependent word creates dependent clauses that must attach to independent clauses. Students are asked to revise dependent clauses by adding independent clauses in the "Recognizing Independent & Dependent Clauses" activity. The lesson also discusses combining shorter sentences and varying sentence length by attaching dependent clauses to independent clauses.

Students are asked to combine short, choppy sentences into longer sentences and are given explicit examples that use transitional forms (e.g., "Although Cassie felt like crying, she didn't want Mama to suspect something was wrong." and "Cassie felt like crying, but she didn't want Mama to suspect something was wrong."). The Activity 1 directions tell students to vary how sentences start and to practice joining related sentences, and the Student/Parent pages list example combined sentences that use subordinating conjunctions and coordinating conjunctions. The Parent Plan instructs students to combine 2-3 sentences and to vary the method of combining, which gives students practice selecting connectors to show relationships.

The lesson explicitly defines coordinating and subordinating conjunctions in the "Things to Know" and Activity 1 material and provides a Conjunction Cards student activity with 16 conjunctions (e.g., and, but, because, when, although, as soon as). Students are instructed to draw a conjunction card and two noun cards and create sentences that use the conjunctions as coordinating or subordinating connectors, and Option 2 asks students to write five sentences using new card draws. The "Things to Review" and parent notes also direct students to review examples of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and how they combine sentences.

The Parent Plan explicitly lists "Use conjunctions to connect ideas" and "use effective coordination and subordination of ideas" as skills students should develop. The grammar mini‑lesson shows students how to combine independent clauses with coordinating conjunctions (e.g., "He went to the store, but he didn't buy anything") and how to punctuate dependent and independent clauses (e.g., "Before they planted the crops, they checked the weather report"). The Student Activity Page asks students to combine sentences and insert commas when joining clauses, which gives practice linking clauses with conjunctions.

Students are asked to "improve transitions by adding, deleting, combining, and rearranging sentences or larger units of text" in the Skills section. The Editing and Revising Sentences activity directs students to combine short sentences, correct fragments and run-ons, and specifically tells them that to fix a run-on they should separate clauses with a comma AND a coordinating conjunction (one of the FANBOYS). The student editing passages require students to rewrite sentences and combine clauses, which gives direct practice with coordinating transitions between clauses.

Students are given a definition of transition words and multiple concrete examples (e.g., "Later," "As a result") and are instructed to refer to a chart of commonly used transitions. Students practice identifying transition words in the text (highlighting words on pp. 78–79) and complete an activity that requires arranging sentences into a logical sequence using suggested transition words from a transitions box. Students also are asked to combine sentences using transitions and to produce sentences aloud using transition words during review.

The lesson explicitly instructs students to use transition words and phrases in the first sentence of each body paragraph and provides example topic sentences showing how transitions link paragraphs. A categorized list of common paragraph transitions (Order, Addition/Comparison, Contrast, Importance) with typical uses is provided. Students complete a Student Activity Page that requires rewriting topic sentences to include transitional elements and an answer key lists possible transitions to use.

Students receive explicit instruction that a dash is used to "introduce, clarify, or set off information" and read multiple examples that define and illustrate those uses. Students practice inserting dashes in sentences on several activity pages (e.g., rewriting sentences with correct punctuation and identifying dashes in poem lines). Option 2 of the dashes activity requires students to locate poem lines with dashes and explain how the dash defines, renames, or interrupts information.

The lesson includes a "Combining Sentences" activity that directs students to use participial (verbal) phrases to combine two sentences into one and to convert single sentences into participial phrases. Examples and an answer key show students forming participial phrases (e.g., "Sitting in the meadow, Cusi carefully watched his flock") to link ideas within a sentence. Student activity pages provide multiple practice items where students must create combined sentences using these verbal phrases.

Students are presented with a definition and examples of transition words and phrases, including lists of sequence and time transitions (first, second, next; before, after, meanwhile, suddenly). Students practice identifying time/sequence transitions by underlining those words/phrases in an "Aztec Creation Myth" passage, and they are asked to retell the Incan creation myth orally, which encourages use of sequence-related transitions. Parent guidance and the Skills section explicitly state that students should use transitional words and phrases and link one paragraph to another.

The Skills section explicitly lists using transitional words and phrases and linking paragraphs as targets for student practice. Activity 1 provides a labeled chart of transition types (time, cause-effect, addition/comparison, contrast, example) and directs students to write a short, multi-paragraph book review using transitions to link paragraphs and show sequence and relationships. The student directions require use of time, cause-effect, contrast/comparison transitions to show how events are related and at least one example transition, and the Parent Plan asks caregivers to check for smooth linkage between paragraphs.

The Skills list explicitly tells students to "use transitions and conjunctions to connect ideas." Activity 1 instructs students to "include transitions to make your writing smoother" and models revision by adding the transition "another" to improve flow. The Student Activity Page gives transition/starting examples such as "In addition" and shows clause openers like "Because," which students can use when composing the informative paragraph about the author.

The narrative rubric's Sentence Structure category explicitly lists "Use of transitional words/phrases," indicating students will be evaluated on transitions. The Organizing a Narrative Essay activity instructs students to put events in chronological order and use them as topics for body paragraphs, which prompts sequencing and logical connections. Activity 5 asks students to revise using the rubric and vary sentence structure, giving students an opportunity to edit for flow and coherence.