Dictation Sentences (Grades 1-3)
After the sugar snow had gone,
spring came. Birds sang in the leafing hazel bushes along the crooked rail
fence.
Little
House in the Big Woods by
Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Papa came at last. His steps on
the stairs were slow and heavy tonight. It had been a long hard day at the shop
with very little business done.
All
of a Kind Family by Sydney
Taylor
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“In the sheltered harbor there
were waves, but nothing to matter. The big rocks on either side broke the waves
before they could get in. But they could hear the crashing of breakers on the
outer shoals and along the steep western shore”
Swallows
and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
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Sarah lay on a quilt under a tree.
The
Courage of Sarah Noble by
Alice Dalgliesh
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It was a fine spring morning in
the forest as he started out.
Winnie
the Pooh by AA Milne
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The river was swift and muddy. The
sun shining on it made the ripples first brown and then blue.
Little
Pear by Eleanor Frances Lattimore
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When
Reddy Fox turned to speak to Shadow the Weasel, he found himself alone. At
least he thought himself alone, and he smiled a wicked, selfish smile as he
walked over to Billy Mink’s duck. He was thinking how smart he had been to get
rid of all the others, and of how he would enjoy the feast
all by
himself.
Mother West Wind’s Children by Thornton Burgess
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Mr.
Chipmunk, because you have been faithful, because you have been cheerful,
because you have done your best, henceforth you shall have two pockets, one in
each cheek, so that you can carry two nuts at once, that you may not have to
work so hard the next time I tell you to store a thousand nuts.
Mother West Wind’s Children by Thornton Burgess
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Christopher
Columbus made a mistake when he landed his boats on the shores of the new land!
He thought the world was much smaller than it really is, so he thought he had
sailed all the way around it and had landed in India.That
is why he called the brown skinned people he saw “Indians.”
Vostaas: White
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When she reached the top of the hill, she saw a wood in the distance.
The Tale of
Jemima Puddle-Duck by Beatrix Potter
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The startled hobbits peered out of lamplit
doors to gape at it.
Fellowship of
the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
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He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long gray cloak, and a silver scarf.
Fellowship of
the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein
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"How bright your garden looks!" said Gandalf.
Fellowship of
the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein
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She had small piggy eyes, a sunken mouth, and one of those white flabby
faces that looked exactly as though it had been boiled.
James and the
Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
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Oh, it was a frantic and terrible trip!
James and the
Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
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"Do sea gulls have teeth?" wondered Sal as she wiggled her own loose
one with her tongue.
One Morning in
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It seemed a very unusual kind of bear.
A Bear Called
Paddington by Michael Bond
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They had to lay Toad out on the floor, kicking and calling all sorts of names,
before they could get to work properly.
Wind in the
Willows by Kenneth Grahame
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The lion roared so loud it knocked Peter right off his chair.
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
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Secrets are hard to keep.
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I watched a marsh hawk wheel down behind the barn.
Sarah, Plain and
Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
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The sea washes over and over and around the stone, rolling it until it is round
and perfect.
Sarah, Plain and
Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
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Depend upon it; there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.
Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan
Doyle
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There was no noise now but the lapping of the lake on the rocks.
Swallows and
Amazons by Arthur Ransome
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The villagers hired to clear that stretch of woods had already moved on,
leaving a wake of toppled trees and raw stumps.
Wizard in the
Tree by Lloyd Alexander
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The weather was so cold and the snug house was so comfortable.
Little House by Wilder
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The air was still and cold and dark.
Little House by Wilder
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The rushing sound of the water filled the still air.
Little House by Wilder
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Their stench made his nostrils twitch.
The Cat Who Wished
to be a Man by Lloyd Alexander
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Even Gimli, as stout as any dwarf could be, was
grumbling as he trudged.
Fellowship of
the Ring by J.R.R.Tolkien
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Then he began to slither backward, an inch at a time.
Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall
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There was water trickling down the mountain, but it was sour and brackish.
Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall
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We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
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It was a dwarf with a blue beard tucked into a golden belt, and very bright eyes
under his dark-green hood.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
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The bird rose in its nest of fire, stretched its wings, and flew out into the
room.
The
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Not even black cats would cross his path.
The Whipping Boy by Sid
Fleischman
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When the guests stood up to toast the king, their wigs came
flying off.
The Whipping Boy by Sid
Fleischman
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A plan had been tumbling about in his head.
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
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This was all new to them, dirt, earth, dead leaves, grass, twigs, mushrooms,
worms.
Catwings by Ursula Le Guin
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A little creek ran nearby. They heard the sound of it and went to drink, for
they were very thirsty.
Catwings by Ursula Le Guin
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April rain was dripping off the branches as I rode beneath them.
The
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With that, he started to melt, like butter on a hot plate, very quickly into
the ground.
The Adventures
of King Midas by Lynne Reid Banks
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The badger did not stop running until it was broad daylight,
cold and crystal clear. He halted in a small clearing at the forest edge.
Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jaques
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The flowers shone as if they'd been cleaned and polished, and the tall trees
that lined the road shimmered in silvery green.
The Phantom
Tollbooth by
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There were no
houses. There were no roads. There were no people. There were only trees and the wild animals, who had their homes among them.
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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Laura thought that
Jack Frost was a little man all snowy white wearing a glittering pointed cap
and soft white knee boots made of deer skin.
His coat was white and his mittens were white, and he did not carry a
gun on his back, but in his hands he had shining sharp tools with which he
carved the pictures. Ma said that Jack
Frost came in the night and made the pictures, while everyone was asleep.
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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But Laura was
happiest of all. She had a big rag
doll. She had a face of white cloth with
black button eyes. A black pencil had
made her eyebrows, and her cheeks and her mouth were red with the ink made of
pokeberries.
Little
House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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For days the sun
shone and the weather was warm. There
was no frost on the window in the mornings.
All day the icicles fell one by one from the eaves with soft smashing
and crackling sounds in the snow banks beneath.
The trees shook their wet black branches and chunks of snow fell down.
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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Uncle George was
home from the army. He wore his blue
army coat with the brass buttons and he had bold, merry blue eyes. He was big and broad and he walked with a swagger. Laura looked at him all the times she was
eating her hasty pudding because she had heard Pa say to Ma that he was
wild.
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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The Petersons had
just moved in. Their house was new and
always very neat, because Mrs. Peterson had no little girls to muss it up. She was a Swede. She let Laura and Mary look at all the pretty
things she had brought from
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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But Laura lay
awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely
wound of the wind in the Big Woods. She
looked a Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, and the firelight gleaming on
his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and
knitting. She thought to herself, “ This is now. She
was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and firelight and music were
now. They could not be forgotten, she
thought, because now is now. It can
never be a long time ago.
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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On the other side
of the canvas, Pet and Patty were eating their corn. When Patty whooshed into the feed-box, the
whoosh was right at Laura’s ear. There
were little scurrying sounds in the grass. In the tress by the creek and owl called,
“Who-oo? Who-oo!” Farther away another owl answered “Oo-oo, oo—oo.” Far away on the prairie, the wolves howled,
and under the wagon Jack growled low in his chest. In the wagon everything was safe and
snug.
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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“Have you ever met
up, down yonder, with two little young girls named Mary and Laura?”
“I surely am
acquainted with them,”
Mr. Edwards replied.
“It rests heavy on
my mind,” said Santa Claus. “They are
both of them sweet, pretty, good little young things, and I know they are
expecting me. I surely do hate to
disappoint two good little girls like them.
Yet with the water up the way it is, I can’t ever make it across that
creek. I can figure no way whatsoever to
get to their cabin this year, Edwards,” Santa Claus said. “Would you do me the favor to fetch them
their gifts this one tiem?”
“I’ll do that, and
with pleasure,” Mr. Edwards told him.
Then Santa Claus
and Mr. Edwards stepped across the street to the hitching post where the pack
mule was tied. (“Didn’t he have his
reindeer?” Laura asked. “You known he
couldn’t,” Mary said. “There isn’t any
snow.” “Exactly,” said Mr. Edwards. Santa Claus traveled with a pack mule in the
southwest.
Little
House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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A barn is never perfectly quiet.
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
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She can't wait to taste her mother's lizard stew!
The Story of the
World by Susan Wise Bauer
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It made me feel like I had just been born again and had my whole life to live
over.
The Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
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He whistled softly and Aroma came out and climbed into the basket.
The Complete
Adventures of Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
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