Writing Sentences, But Differently

I've done this with the class as a whole a few times, just so they get comfortable with it. Next week they'll be on their own.

Basically, I give them a simple five- or six-word sentence. Underneath it are blank lines.

First they take the first word, (ex: Meg), and substitute a new name (ex: Bill), followed by the rest of the sentence as is, and write it on the first line.

Second line, they change only the second word (ex: bit), while writing the remainder of the sentence as is.

Third line, third word - fourth line, fourth word - fifth line, fifth word. You get the idea.

(For fun, to challenge my more advanced students, they got to write the "hidden" sentence" on the back of the paper, which was using all the words they substituted in. Ex: "Bill threw a  cold toast.")

Sentence examples:
A frog sat on a log.
Did you see the duck?
My mom can make cupcakes.
Bob saw the red bug run.
She has a big purple crayon.