This writing conventions lesson focuses on using varied sentence openings. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students read the passage and identify sentences that are repetitive. Then, they vary sentence opening by rewriting repetitive sentences using common sentence openings such as an -ly word, -ing phrase, or prepositional phrase. Finally, they answer questions about the personal style of the author that reflects on other sentence opening options. In addition to the lesson, there are four pages of Independent Practice and review modeled on current adaptive testing methods.