Ruby Duell
LRC 552/LRC 553
Small Group Lesson Plan
Date/Assignment / 2/7/12- Small group activity for determining the difference between sentences and sentence fragments
Demographics: / Grade 5; 4 fifth grade readers, 3 sixth grade readers, 1 fourth grade reader, and 1 third grade reader as established by Burns and Roe Reading Assessments
20 minute mini remedial lesson given to two groups of students who performed poorly on a previous sentence fragment assessment given by the in-class teacher, in Mrs. Clarkson’s classroom at Slingerlands Elementary School in the Bethlehem Central School District
Rationale: / Mrs. Clarkson had me grade her student’s ELA homework one week that assessed their ability to identify a sentence and a sentence fragment. In grading the assignment, I found that most students grasped the concept quite well and performed satisfactorily. However, there was a group of 9 students who seemed to have either guessed hastily or did not truly understand the difference between a complete sentence and a fragment. I made a list of these students for Mrs. Clarkson and she asked me to develop a remedial lesson plan to further work on this skill during literacy stations.
This lesson addresses the NYS Core Curriculum 5th Grade ELA Standards:
Writing Standard 4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task purpose and audience.
Writing Standard 5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
Forming complete sentences is essential for students to move from writing at the sentence level to the paragraph level. In order to write at the paragraph level, students need to be able to write complete sentences with a verb and subject agreement. This can be tough for young learners because “we do not always talk in complete sentences; we sometimes speak in “fragments”, such as ‘Fire!’, ‘Off with his head’, ‘From Cuba’, ‘Next!’, and ‘Shall we?’” (Harnish, 2009). It can be hard for children to understand that these fragments are not acceptable all the time, especially when writing in an academic setting. Grammar and conventions can be dreadful and boring for many students, so “if we want students to use language more correctly in their own writing and speaking, then we must teach them to do so in that meaning-producing situation that will co-produce and support that learning. What we need is the contextualized learning of correct language use” (Wilhelm, 2001, p.62). This lesson plan accomplishes that goal.
Harnish, R. M. (2009). The problem of fragments: Two interpretative strategies. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17(2), 251-282.
Wilhelm, Jeffrey D. (2001). Undoing the great grammatical scam!” Voices from the Middle, 8(3), 62.
Goal: / 1. To identify the subject and verb in a given sentence.
2. To differentiate between complete sentences and fragments
3. To write one sentence and one fragment
Objectives: / 1. Students will answer individually on their white boards when presented with a sentence or fragment by the teacher whether it is a sentence (S) or fragment (F)
2. Students will identify the subject and verb if the given example is a sentence on their white boards by writing the correct words down
3. Students will write one sentence and one fragment on their white boards and explain what differentiates them from each other
4. Students will complete the Sentence Fragment game as an assessment
Resources: / · Individual white boards, dry erase markers and erasers
· Sentence/fragment large flash cards
· Sentence Fragment Game with Song Titles work sheet
Introduction: / Ask one student to get enough white boards and dry erase markers and erasers for everyone at the table.
1. Teacher asks students to write what makes up a complete sentence on their white boards (a subject and a verb)
2. Teacher asks students to show everyone their answers and leads quick discussion on difference between sentences and fragments (A sentence fragment is a group of words that lacks some elements necessary to form a complete sentence. To be complete, a sentence must have a subject (someone or something that is doing something) and a verb (what the subject is doing). A command like “Sit!” is also a sentence, even though it is only a verb. The subject of a command (“You,” or “Fido,” or whomever is being told to sit) is implied.)
Mini-Lesson: / Explain and Model:
1. Teacher explains that she is going to show a series of flash cards that contain either a sentence or a fragment on them. Students are to write S for complete sentence or F for fragment on their white boards and then when asked, show the table their white boards. If the consensus is a sentence, the teacher will ask students to write the subject and verb in the sentence on their white boards
· Flashcards contain the following phrases/sentences:
· I was late for class
· As we waited for the train to stop
· Until you eat your vegetables
· They plan to visit the Grand Canyon this summer
· Even though he was a robot
· For example, hockey and skating
· We even ate snails
· She loves cows
Guided Practice:
2. Teacher then asks students to write one sentence and one fragment for the group to go over together on their white boards
3. The group looks at each individual’s sentence and fragment, finding the subjects and verbs and explaining the difference between the two
After Mini-Lesson / Individual Practice:
1. Students will work on their Sentence Fragment Game worksheets, if they do not finish they are due for homework to be assessed by Miss Duell
Accommodations? / This lesson is in small group format in order to reinforce the concept to students who showed difficulty on the previous sentence/fragment assessment given by Mrs. Clarkson. Groups were arranged heterogeneously based on their reading levels and who the children work well with. The two groups are as follows:
Group 1:
· Kaitlin
· Tony
· Jacob
· Lindsey I.
Group 2:
· Dominique
· Max Butler
· Brian Murray
· Sarah
· Ryan T.
Assessment: / Sentence Fragment Game Worksheet (and bonus if completed)
Reflection: / This was my first go at teaching both a mini lesson and a lesson in small group format. I really enjoyed the one on one it allowed me to have with the students. This was a lesson intended to help students who had difficulty as shown on a previous sentence/fragment assessment given by Mrs. Clarkson. Once in the groups, I could tell that these students really did have a hard time grasping the concept of complete sentences vs. fragments. They especially became confused when a sentence was very short, such as “he ran” and immediately thought that meant it was a fragment. The first group had a little more difficulty grasping the concept because they often forgot that a sentence has to contain a complete thought. With the second group, I made sure to remind them over and over again through each flash card (white board sentence) that a complete sentence needed three things: a subject, a predicate, and express a complete thought. By doing this, I found that the second group had a much easier time differentiating between a sentence and a fragment. This was one of those lessons where the more that you do it, the better you become. I could see a great improvement in how I talked to the students and conversed with them and came up with examples in the second group as compared to the first group. Overall, I thought the lessons went smoothly and helped to reinforce and even re-teach a little about what a sentence is and what a fragment is. I felt that the students greatly benefitted from partaking in the lesson.
One student, Ryan, from the second group, was assessed at a 3rd grade reading level by Mrs. Clarkson’s assessments. I found he had the most difficulty understanding because he did not really know the parts of speech (subject, verb, predicate, noun, etc.). He stated that he thought “think” was a noun and that “cows” was a verb. After explaining that one cannot “cows”, Ryan cannot “cows”, Sarah cannot “cows” he understood that a verb expresses an action. In fact, once he got these concepts down, he was excelling at differentiating between sentences and fragments.
Name ______ELA
Date ______Sentence Fragments
Sentence Fragment Game
A sentence fragment is a group of words that lacks some elements necessary to form a complete sentence. To be complete, a sentence must have a subject (someone or something that is doing something) and a verb (what the subject is doing). A command like “Sit!” is also a sentence, even though it is only a verb. The subject of a command (“You,” or “Fido,” or whomever is being told to sit) is implied.
Directions: Listed below are song titles, some of which are fragments and others of which are complete sentences. Classify them by placing an S in the Sentence column if it is a sentence or an F in the fragment column if it is a fragment. If you do it correctly, the total in both columns will be the same.
Song Title / Sentence (S) / Fragment (F)1. “Thinking of You”
2. “Love in this Club”
3. “Live Your Life”
4. “You Found Me”
5. “What Time is It”
6. “When You Look Me in the Eyes”
7. “Dead and Gone”
8. “In Love With a Girl”
9. “Crying Out for Me”
10. “Just Dance”
11. “I’m Yours”
12. “We Fly”
13. “Whatever You Like”
14. “Down the Road”
15. “Hollywood’s Not America”
Total: / Total:
**Bonus: On the back, list 5 song titles you know. Then decide if they are sentences or fragments by writing an S for sentence or an F for fragment next to it.