Activity one: Introduction to Diagramming sentences
Title
: Diagramming Sentences
Grades: Grades 6-8
Essential Question
: How can I review grammar
and
history by diagramming sentences?
Performance Task
: Students will diagram sentences.
Standards
: Writing 2.5 Students will check for correct grammar.
Students will use different types of sentences.
Objectives
:
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Students will review parts of speech.
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Students will recognize and model simple sentences.
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Students will review historical content by writing and analyzing sentences.
Materials
: Chalkboard, erase board or overhead for class demonstrations; handouts
Schedule
: One class period for initial explanation followed by homework and additional checking for understanding in subsequent classes since diagramming will become a daily DO-NOW activity.
Procedure
: Following a short discussion of what it means to move to a new place, students will write a sentence expressing personal feelings about moving somewhere new OR they can write a sentence describing why they think a settler in the 1800’s might have moved to a new unfamiliar land. Students will read their sentences and I will select and copy three of the sentences on the board. Sections of the board will be labeled verbs, nouns, adjectives. The class will dissect the sentences and make word lists from the sentences under the headings. I will ask students to think of other ways to dissect the parts of the sentences other than in lists.
After we’ve searched for other ideas for ‘visualizing’ a sentence. I will introduce diagramming sentences as another option for identifying all parts of speech in a sentence, asking students to name any other parts of speech that we didn’t previously list. (Students might say adverb, preposition, or conjunction). Now I’ll write a simple sentence -- S
ettlers move
. -- and show how to diagram it. Try another --
Colonists rebel
. -- and then increase the difficulty by adding an object.
Settlers bought wagons.
The basic sentence is subject-verb-object.
I’ll ask students where in the diagram they would put adjectives or adverbs.
Eager settlers quickly bought new wagons
. We listen to a few ideas before I show the class how to diagram with adjectives and adverbs. Turning to the examples copied on the board students are now asked to change the sentences out loud into a format that we will be able to diagram -- we diagram their suggestions talking about all the parts of speech. We also talk about the content of the sentences trying to understand all the reasons people cite for moving -- either to a new city nowadays -- or to the unexplored lands in the west in the 1800’s.
I can ask students for some simple sentences to use for more practice: we’ll write another three simple sentences on the board and students will try diagramming them independently or with partners, checking for understanding. Homework will be a practice diagramming worksheet of sentences related to the chapter on westward expansion. I’ll let the students know that on the next day, they will learn to diagram more complex sentences.
Assessment:
I will use independent work by students to check for understanding and will look over the diagramming homework sheets to evaluate student understanding.
Handouts
: The student homework sheet will include examples of diagrammed sentences to use as models along with ten simple sentences for the students to diagram.
Activity two: Using new vocabulary in topic sentences
Title
: What is an ‘ism’?
Grades: Grades 7-8
Essential Question
: How is Uncle Sam a symbol for nationalism and patriotism?
Performance Task
: Students will write five topic sentences.
Standards
: Writing 2.4 Student will include new vocabulary to expand own vocabulary when writing
Social Studies: Students will write short statements presenting historical ideas.
Objectives
:
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Students will understand simple definition of nationalism and patriotism.
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Students will write topic sentences.
-
Students will understand Uncle Sam as a political symbol.
Materials
: Chalkboard, erase board or overhead for class demonstrations; handouts
Schedule
: One class period for initial explanation followed by homework
Procedure: The students will begin the lesson working with partners to figure out the meaning of some new words and to identify a person in a picture on a handout. I’ll ask students for suggestions on how they can figure out the meaning of a word without using a dictionary? Responses will lead to a discussion of ‘context clues’ and relying on what a student already knows to perhaps figure out something unfamiliar.
Students receive the handout -- one per student -- and begin the activity with a partner. Students are asked to fill in a box of nine spaces with any words they can think of that end in the suffix ‘ism’. After 5-10 minutes the students share their words and I’ll write the suggestions on the board. Next we will define the words as a group -- not all words will be easily defined (Buddhism, mercantilism, baptism are just some examples of words students come up with along with racism, patriotism, Judaism.)
In preparing for this lesson, I’ve spent some time at a website (Saint-Andre) researching explanations for the meaning of an ‘ism’. I have selected and simplified some definitions to develop two explanations that I think the class can understand: an ‘ism’ can be understood as a basic principle, belief or idea on which actions or other beliefs are based; an ‘ism’ can be understood as a “movement” based on an organized point of view undertaken by a group of people working toward a common goal.8
The class works through the words on the board, modifying the first definitions, trying to understand what these two definitions really mean when applied (as a suffix) to the root words. I’ll save the discussion of nationalism and patriotism until the end.
Students are asked to work with partners to try to define nationalism and patriotism on their own. We’ll look for the root words -- nation and patriot -- and then the students will have five minutes to decipher their meanings. The class shares their definitions and I’ll ask a student to check and read aloud the dictionary definitions of each term -- then the students can modify or edit their definitions as necessary.
A picture of Uncle Sam is printed at the bottom of the handout. As a group we talk about the meaning of a symbol and give some examples -- the Nike symbol and flags always come up as examples. Students are asked if they recognize the cartoon gentleman and either identify him by name (silently on their papers) or make a guess about who he is (writing this guess down including why they made that particular guess.)
As a group we share our guesses and I’ll write on the board the descriptions that the students used in their explanations: stern, old, strict, a leader, wearing the flag, looks like George Washington, wise. This symbol (of patriotism and nationalism) is now identified as Uncle Sam. Students are asked to complete the following sentence: “Uncle Sam looks like a good symbol for America because…” We share the sentences aloud, noting sentences with better details and use of any vocabulary we have been studying. Students get some new ideas from their peers and are now ready to complete the homework assignment, which is to complete five topic sentences about Uncle Sam. Students will receive a handout with five sentence starters.
Assessment:
Student participation in class is noted and I will circulate around the room to check for understanding while students work with their partners. The worksheet from this class will be collected tomorrow with the homework sentences for evaluation.
Handouts:
Handouts include the brainstorming worksheet with the picture of Uncle Sam and a homework sheet with the five sentence starters.
Activity three: Learning centers
Title: The Journals of Lewis and Clark
Grades
: Grades 6-8
Essential Question
: How can I integrate details from reading into my writing?
Performance Task
: Students will write descriptive sentences for a newspaper entry.
Standards
: Reading 1.2 Students will analyze and synthesize information to create new texts.
Social Studies: Students will gather data from primary sources.
Objectives
:
-
Students will read excerpts from the
Journals of Lewis and Clark.
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Students will take effective notes.
-
Students will incorporate detail into descriptive sentences to support a theme.
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Students will use the Internet to research a topic; students will multitask at the computer between a web site and a word processing file.
Materials
: Chalkboard, erase board or overhead for class demonstrations; handouts, computer access to Internet; word processor, printer, pre-designed online form (optional), transparencies of US expansion before and after Louisiana Purchase, large poster board mock-up of a newspaper with headline “Lewis and Clark brave hardship to uncover wonders in the Louisiana Territory.”
Schedule
: The journal reading and writing activity includes two of five learning center activities for a five-day lesson. Students will research at the computer for one session; students will write descriptive sentences for one session. The other three sessions will be used for introducing the lesson, reading and taking notes on the chapter, and completing a map activity. On the last day students will write and copy one of their best sentences onto a card to be added to the newspaper mock-up and displayed.
Procedure:
I’ll begin the lesson (hopefully on a rainy day so the room is dark) with a transparency showing the size of US after the American Revolution and I’ll ask the students to predict how they think the boundaries of the US, pointing to the wall map of North America, grew to their present size. (Did we fight a war? Make a purchase? Steal some land?) We’ll talk about the possibilities and then I’ll show a second transparency of the size of the US after 1803, noting that the American landscape has now doubled in size. We’ll read the few paragraphs in the text that explain the purchase (knowing that students will reread this selection when they take notes later in the week.)
I’ll ask the students to imagine that they had just purchased a brand new home, sight unseen. What would the next step be? What would they want to know about the house? Using student responses, we’ll discuss the reasons that Jefferson might have had for sending Lewis and Clark into the ‘unexplored’ Louisiana territory and beyond to the Pacific Coast.
I’ll explain the way the rotations work through the computer stations and how the independent tasks will be handled throughout the week-- all this information will be outlined on a large chart as well as printed out and placed in a clearly marked folder.
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Computers (one session): students will access a web site9, spend some time exploring the interactive portion of the sight and learning about Lewis and Clark. Students will open a Word template (a note-taking form) and will locate the Lewis and Clark Journals. Students will scan through the Journals -- with the theme in mind that Lewis and Clark endured hardships in order to make new discoveries -- and will select five excerpts (one paragraph each) to copy and paste into the Word template including the citation (date and source). These excerpts must contain details that students can use to support the theme. Students save the file on their floppy and print out a copy (printing two if students are working in pairs).
-
-
Note-taking (two sessions):
Students will develop two column notes of the textbook chapter
on Louisiana Purchase and students will take guided notes on the excerpts they selected from the Journals. In this case, using words found in the excerpts, students will complete a chart of adjective-noun phrases (windy night, white gleaming catfish), verb-adverb phrases (courageously hunted, fearfully whined), and any special nouns, adjectives and verbs that increase the interest for the reader or are unfamiliar to the student. Students are now asked to summarize in a short phrase, five events that occurred in the excerpts that demonstrate or support the theme. (Lewis’s dog was attacked by a bear…The entire camp shared only two rabbits for food one night).
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Map Work (one session): Using the laminated placemat maps available in the classroom (or a map in a textbook) students complete a worksheet that checks their understanding of the geographic references that relate to the Journey of Lewis and Clark. (Mississippi River, mountain chains, the trail to the Pacific, distances traveled and so on.)
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Write/rewrite sentences (one session):
Students gather their chapter notes, the map worksheet, and the excerpts from the Journals and the notes, and develop their own descriptive sentences to support the predetermined theme. Students should write two clusters of sentences (3 or 4 sentences each) that use details and information to elaborate and support the theme. The sentence clusters can focus on separate topics or the students can rewrite the first set of sentences in a new way. I will circulate and talk to students about grammar and style (editing) and will suggest ways to improve the sentence clusters. Students will select one set of sentences, edit and revise, and rewrite on a card to be displayed under our newspaper headline.
Assessment:
I will use the final student selected sentence, the draft sentences, chapter notes, and the notes taken from the Journal excerpts as assessments. I will also evaluate the students’ understanding of the writing process as I circulate around the room.
Handouts:
I will develop the word template (an online form that can be filled in by the students) for the computer (or students can copy excerpts into a word file instead of using the template); I will prepare the map worksheet; and I will prepare homework sheets (vocabulary and sentence diagramming).