It's only the second week of school, and I'm already starting to do the "juggling act!" There is so much introductory content to cover in such a short period of time. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir! While I'm spending the majority of our class time on the writing process (as promised!) we're also working on complete sentence mini-lessons.
The major concept that I'm trying to stress right now is that complete sentences can be long or short, but they must
have a subject and predicate! This is the anchor chart I've used for the past couple years:
Fortunately, my students came to me with awesome prior knowledge of nouns and verbs. After defining subject and predicate/how they relate to nouns and verbs, I wrote the following sentence:
Dogs bark.
I asked, "Is this a complete sentence?" All four class periods reacted the same exact way; which almost never happens! I heard "No!" coming from all sides of the room, but after some wait time and a slight grin from me, "No!" quickly turned to "Yes!" As I underlined "dog" with red and boxed "bark" with green, it started to sink in. This sentence was great proof that a short sentence does not have to mean an incomplete sentence. If it has a subject and predicate, it's complete!
Kids commonly struggle with finding the subject and predicate of a sentence, so I made a FREEBIE printable for all you hardworking writing teachers out there! Keep fighting the good fight. They will get it, and it will help them for years to come!
I completely understand the "juggling act." My teacher friends and I have hardly had time to breathe during our first 3 weeks of school. Hopefully, things will settle down a bit as we get into a routine (with a new schedule). I love your ideas, and I'd like to invite you to my linky called "Fun Friday." It is all about the fun things we do in our classrooms! I'd love for you to stop by and link up!
ReplyDeleteKelly
Teaching Fourth
Just wanted to let you know that I am using your lesson as inspiration for mine. I'm in college right now and I have to do a lesson with my fourth graders on Monday on Subject and Predicate. I had no idea where to start! You really saved my butt! Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteKate
To be a teacher, it is a dream I will never be able to accomplish I guess. That's because even if I want to teach, I always tremble when I'm in front of a crowd especially if it's a classroom full of students. I'd just end up shaking and not do a good job. That's why I admire a lot of teachers today who do their best in teaching their students how to write an essay paper, read, and more.
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ReplyDeleteWow very nice and informative post about Subject and Predicate. I needed some clarification. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am a mom trying to get my son caught up in his 3rd grade class. I feel that his class is moving through subjects too quickly for him to keep up so finding helpful gems like this to do at home is amazing!
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