Daily Grammar Practice Overview
We didn't invent grammar; we just made it make sense!
What is Daily Grammar Practice?
Daily Grammar Practice (with optional video support) is a unique, highly successful, research-based approach to helping students understand, apply, and actually remember grammar concepts. The program is thorough and effective, yet surprisingly simple to implement. Daily Grammar Practice is not "fluffy," and it's not a "quick fix." It is a simple, logical process that actually moves grammar concepts to long-term memory so that students can apply the concepts to their writing.
Download "Daily Grammar Practice at a Glance"--a one-page overview of DGP for grades 4-12.
Take a two-minute tour here or scroll down for more information:
How does Daily Grammar Practice work?
The key to Daily Grammar Practice is its organization. Most methods are organized by concept--a lesson on nouns, a lesson on verbs. Daily Grammar Practice pulls all the concepts together so students always see the big picture. Daily Grammar Practice is also daily. Other "daily" grammar programs require students to apply grammar skills by correcting errors in sentences. However, students can't apply what they don't understand.
Daily Grammar Practice helps students understand the basics of grammar and mechanics so that they can get the most out of lessons in usage and writing. Daily Grammar Practice works like a daily grammar vitamin. It gives students one sentence per week to work with. Each day, students have a different task to accomplish with the week's sentence. At the beginning of each class, you go over the day's assignment. (Video support is available to help you if you need it!)
Students correct any errors they have made and ask any questions they may have. You explain any new concepts that the sentence presents. The whole process takes a couple of minutes, and you're ready to move on with class. Students learn through daily repetition and discovery. You don't have to do any other grammar exercises--ever. You may be wondering how students can possibly learn everything they need to know about grammar and mechanics with only one sentence per week. Here's why:
Less is more. They really take these sentences apart and understand every aspect of them.
Concepts are broken into small parts, but the program is organized in a way that allows students to see how all of the parts fit together. Concepts are then revisited on a daily basis so that they aren't forgotten.
The sentences they're working with aren't just random sentences. They're intentionally loaded with specific concepts at specific times. They start simple and get increasingly difficult. Concepts that students should have mastered at their grade level appear in early sentences and appear often. More difficult concepts appear later.
What do you need to get started?
All you really need to use Daily Grammar Practice in your classroom is a teacher's guide. Students can use optional student workbooks, or they can work with photocopies of the help pages and sentence lists found in the teacher's guide. Optional CDs allow teachers to project each day's sentence for instructional purposes. Teachers can also project student workbooks with a document camera, or they can write the sentences on the board.
What is DGP Academy video support?
If you are a teacher who wants to be more prepared to answer your students’ questions, or if you are a student working through DGP on your own at home without a teacher to help you, DGP Academy is perfect for you!
DGP Academy provides short video lessons (about 1-5 minutes each) to accompany each day of Daily Grammar Practice. Dawn Burnette, creator of DGP, walks you through every sentence, explaining all of the concepts and answering questions that students and teachers often ask. It’s like having an expert as your own personal instructor!
To utilize the DGP Academy videos, teachers still need a copy of the teacher’s guide, and students still need either workbooks or photocopied help pages and sentence lists from the teacher’s guide. Video access also requires you to create a free account on our website at checkout. Note that the videos are streams, not downloads, so you can show them in a live online class but can't post them to your online platform for students to watch later.
View sample videos on our blog post.
Want to learn more?
Join us for a FREE, LIVE webinar! Click HERE for more information.
What others say about us:
"I have used DGP for years in my classroom, and it works. Although the current way of thinking in education discounts the use of explicit grammar instruction, my experience reveals that DGP is much more than teaching grammar. My students learn to use their notes to uncover the mysteries of each new sentence. They learn to look at what they have already done each day of the week to help them with the diagram. The curriculum teaches them to refer back to something they already learned. Diagramming the sentence is the reward at the end of the week, the puzzle that can only be completed if students have paid attention all week long. It is a thinking exercise, and a valuable life skill. My students have a weekly quiz, different words, but the same sentence structure we analyzed all week, and they can use their notes. This is how we determine who is paying attention in class and who is learning. Again, students can use their notes, which encourages them to utilize resources, a real life skill. There is nothing more exciting in class than to observe students flipping through their notes to extract information, or looking at previous work during the week to help them complete the day's work. This is valuable, but it isn't "sexy," and people who have bought into the "grammar is old school" idea have no idea that Daily Grammar Practice is not only about teaching grammar, but also about teaching thinking, organizing the mind to utilize previous knowledge in order to move forward. My students benefit from DGP, so I'm willing to take the heat. I love DGP."