Dear Teacher: Welcome to Reading Rods! Reading Rods offer many outstanding features! Read on to discover how to put Reading Rods to work today!

Transcription

1 Dear Teacher: Welcome to Reading Rods! Your Sentence Building Reading Rod Set contains 156 interlocking plastic Rods printed with words representing different parts of speech and punctuation marks. Students link the Rods together in a variety of ways to build sentences, examine parts of speech and add appropriate punctuation. Because Reading Rods are designed to be touched, handled, and manipulated, developing grammar skills and language awareness becomes an inviting and fun-filled hands-on adventure. The Sentence Building Set contains: 35 green noun Rods (including four noun ending Rods and one blank Rod) 12 light-green pronoun Rods 36 yellow verb Rods (including two verb ending Rods) 25 red adjective Rods (including three adjective ending Rods) 8 pink article Rods 11 orange adverb Rods 10 blue preposition Rods 5 purple conjunction Rods 3 turquoise interjection Rods (including one blank Rod) 11 white punctuation Rods (including one blank Rod) Reading Rods offer many outstanding features! They are made from color-coded, lightweight, durable plastic. Reading Rods are versatile. Games and activities using Rods can easily be geared up or down to suit students various needs, abilities, and learning styles. Reading Rods stay fixed in position until the teacher or learner deliberately rearranges them. Reading Rods can only be linked together from left to right, which supports the same directionality found in reading and writing. Students of all ability levels can link Reading Rods together to generate print and experience reading success. This book is filled with Reading Rod activity ideas to help guide readers through a variety of meaningful exercises and activities. As they engage in these Reading Rod experiences, students will begin to develop reading and writing skills and concepts related to: parts of speech, including: nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections sentence construction and patterns, including: subjects and predicates simple, compound, and complex sentences punctuation subject/predicate agreement The topics in this book are presented sequentially, so each topic builds on prior knowledge while laying a foundation for new learning to come. Each topic is presented with objectives, a list of supplies necessary to get started, a warm up activity, activities for exploring, assessing and extending the learning, plus a blackline master perfect for reinforcing Reading Rod learning in school or at home. We know you ll be pleased to allow this innovative, hands-on teaching tool to revolutionize the reading and writing instruction in your classroom. Read on to discover how to put Reading Rods to work today! Unlike cards and tiles, which have traditionally been used in reading and writing instruction, 1

2 Table of Contents Lessons Lesson 1: Alphabetical Order Page 3 Lesson 2: Nouns Page 4 Lesson 3: Verbs Page 5 Lesson 4: Pronouns and Verb Tenses Page 6 Lesson 5: Adjectives Page 7 Lesson 6: Basic Sentence Patterns and Punctuation Page 8 Lesson 7: Adverbs Page 9 Lesson 8: Conjunctions Page 10 Lesson 9: Compound Sentences Page 11 Lesson 10: Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases Page 12 Lesson 11: Plural and Possessive Nouns Page 13 Lesson 12: Helping and Linking Verbs Page 14 Lesson 13: Interjections, Articles, and More Punctuation Page 15 Lesson 14: Complex Sentences Page 16 Demonstration Cards Demonstration Cards Blackline Masters Lesson 1: Easy as ABC Page 33 Lesson 2: Noun Hunt Page 34 Lesson 3: Verb Search Page 35 Lesson 4: Picking Out Pronouns Page 36 Lesson 5: Amazing Adjectives Page 37 Lesson 6: What s My Pattern? Page 38 Lesson 7: Adverb Action Page 39 Lesson 8: What s the Connection? Page 40 Lesson 9: Sentence Join-Up Page 41 Lesson 10: Positively Prepositions Page 42 Lesson 11: Plural vs. Possessive Page 43 Lesson 12: Helping Out Page 44 Lesson 13: Punctuation & More Page 45 Lesson 14: Sentence Sleuth Page 46 Extra Blackline Masters: Putting Together Parts of Speech Page 47 Punctuation Match-Up Page 48 2

3 Lesson 1: Alphabetical Order Objectives: You'll Need: To review alphabetical order To introduce noun Rods Supply of green noun Rods (except noun ending Rods) Container, such as a plastic tub or shoe box Activity tray Chart paper Marker Easy as ABC blackline master Warming Up Ask the students to arrange themselves by first names in alphabetical order. If more than one student s name begin with the same letter, write their names on the board and show students how you look at the second letter (or to the third letter, if necessary) to determine which word comes next in alphabetical order. Ask children to tell why they think it might be important to understand alphabetical order. Ask them to brainstorm a list of places where alphabetical order is used (in the phone book, in dictionaries, in catalog indexes, etc.). Have on hand some samples of such materials arranged in alphabetical order. Exploring the Concept Place the noun Rods into the container. Have students each select one noun Rod at random and place it into the activity tray. Read the words together. Then, without telling students what you are doing, arrange the Rods in alphabetical order from left to right in the activity tray slots. Ask students to tell you as much as they can about these Rods (They may say, for example, that the Rods are green, that they each spell a whole word, etc.). Guide children to notice that the words begin with particular letters and that the letters are arranged in alphabetical order from left to right. offer each child an additional three noun Rods and have them fit these into the correct slots in their train so that each group of eight Rods is arranged in alphabetical order. Challenge children to combine their individual Rod trains into one long train. Explain that in order to put all the words in alphabetical order, the individual Rod trains must be taken apart and reorganized. Extending the Learning Write the following word list on a piece of chart paper. Have students rewrite the list in alphabetical order. If students are having difficulty with putting the words in alphabetical order, start with a shorter list. Gradually, add more words to the list. Students can write their newly alphabetized list to the right of the first list. A C B D eggs city aunt bird door man food apple Dad baby Mom ball toy face way duck book feet fish mug Divide the remaining noun Rods among the students. Instruct each to child arrange his or her collection of noun Rods in alphabetical order. Take time to have students explain the reasoning for their Rod arrangements. Have students work together to join their Rods into one long train of Rods in alphabetical order from beginning to end. Ask them to read the words printed on the Rods. Assessing Learning Have each child choose five green noun Rods. Ask students to each put their collection of Rods in alphabetical order. Then, Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Easy as ABC blackline master on page 33. Have students rewrite the lists of words in alphabetical order. 3

4 Lesson 2: Nouns Objectives: To introduce the concept of nouns To recognize and sort nouns into three categories of words that name people, places, and things Supply of green noun Rods (except noun ending Rods) Container, such as a plastic tub or shoe box Activity tray You'll Need: Chart paper Markers Green crayons Noun Hunt blackline master Warming Up Place the green noun Rods into the container. Remove four Rods, including the one printed with the word milk, and display these in the activity tray. Play a game in which you describe a noun for them to find. ( I m thinking of a word that begins with a letter m and is something you drink. That s right! It is the word milk. ) Continue making-up clues for several more nouns. Place all the noun Rods back into the container. Remove those Rods printed with words that name people: boy, Dad, man, mom, baby, sister, uncle, brother, father, friend, cousin, woman, women, children, neighbor, Grandma, grandma, Grandpa, grandpa. Have children read the words and tell what is alike about these words. (They each name a person.) Exploring the Concept Repeat the activity described above using those noun Rods that name places (way, zoo, city, home, house, party, place, road, room, side, store, town, tree, world, school, states, etc.) and those noun Rods that name things (air, bat, car, day, end, eye, fun, bag, mitt, pen, sun, hat, toy, mug, apple, ball, bird, book, door, duck, eggs, face, feet, fish, food, game, etc.). Tell children that words that name people, places, and things are called nouns. Point out that it is possible for a noun to name both a thing and a place depending on how it is used. For example: The car drove by. (thing) He sat in the car. (place) Assessing Learning Place all the noun Rods (except the noun ending Rods) in the center of the table. Have children identify the noun Rods that name people, noun Rods that name places, and noun Rods that name things. Have them use chart paper to group the words into these three separate categories. 4 Extending the Learning Cut pieces of construction paper in half horizontally. Fold each of these in half again from left-to-right. Open each folded paper and print one noun word inside. Have students fold the papers closed again and use the front of each folded paper to write clues for the noun printed inside. For example, if the noun printed inside is book, the clues on the front cover might read, You read me. I am in the library. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Noun Hunt blackline master on page 34. Have children use green crayons to underline all the nouns in the story.

5 Lesson 3: Verbs Objectives: To introduce the concept of verbs To define some verbs as action words You'll Need: Supply of yellow verb Rods (except verb ending Rods) Container, such as a plastic tub or shoe box Activity tray Chart paper Markers Yellow Demonstration Cards Verb Search blackline master Warming Up Place the yellow verb Rods into the container. Ask each child to take several yellow Rods and read them aloud. Place the Rod printed with the word laugh into the tray. Have children take turns acting out this word by laughing in different ways (high, low, loudly, softly, etc.) Tell children that the word laugh is an action verb because it tells about an action or something you can do. Have each child look through the verb Rods to find another action verb he or she can easily act out. Place these into the tray and read them together. Take turns acting the words out. Exploring the Concept Show students the Rod printed with the word care. Invite them to try acting this verb out. If children have trouble acting this word out, explain that some verbs describe mental actions that are not easily seen, so they are not easy to act out. Challenge children to locate other verb Rods that show mental actions that are not easy to act out (like, knew, mean, become, etc.). Have students link together a Rod train of action verbs that are easy to act out and a Rod train of verbs that are not easy to act out. If students are unable to complete the task, talk about each word individually. Have students generate a list of verbs that are not printed on Rods and decide to which train they would add each verb. Assessing Learning Meet individually with children and have them select several verb Rods to use in sentences. Invite children to act out any action verbs for you to guess. Extending the Learning Help children choose the action verb cards from among the collection of Reading Rod demonstration cards. Have children arrange the verb cards in alphabetical order on a bulletin board or pocket chart display. Title the display, Action Verbs Word Wall. Use index cards to record other action verbs to add to the display. Encourage children to collect words from books and from the world around them. For extra practice, have children illustrate each action verb. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Verb Search blackline master on page 35. Have children use yellow crayons to underline all the verbs in the story. 5

6 Lesson 4: Pronouns and Verb Tenses Objectives: To introduce the concept of pronouns To demonstrate how pronouns can take the place of nouns To introduce verb tenses Supply of green noun Rods, yellow verb Rods, light-green pronoun Rods, pink article Rods, and white punctuation Rods Activity tray You'll Need: Chart paper Markers Light-green crayons Picking Out Pronouns blackline master Warming Up Use Rods to build this sentence then place it into the activity tray: The kitten drank the milk. Read the sentence together. Have children identify the nouns (kitten and milk) and the verb (drank) in the sentence. Then, as children watch, replace the Rods printed with the words The and kitten with the pronoun Rod She. Read this new sentence together: She drank the milk. Ask the children to tell how this sentence is different from the first one. (The words The kitten are replaced by the pronoun She.) Replace the noun Rods the and milk with the pronoun Rod it. Read this new sentence together: She drank it. Discuss this new change. Explain that these new words printed on the light-green Rods are called pronouns and can take the place of nouns in a sentence. Exploring the Concept Invite children to use the noun (green), action verb (yellow), and article (pink) Rods to build one sentence each. Have children identify the nouns and verbs in their sentences. Provide them with the light-green pronoun Rods. Challenge children to take turns substituting the pronoun Rods for each of the nouns and reading the new sentences aloud. Use this as a chance to explain that some pronouns take the place of a single noun (e.g., the single pronoun she can take the place of single noun girl), and others take the place of plural (more than one) nouns (e.g., the plural pronoun them can take the place of the plural noun children). Assessing Learning Have each child select two pronoun Rods and use them in sentences. Challenge children to use more than one pronoun in a sentence. 6 Then, have children work together to link-up all the pronoun Rods in alphabetical order. Extending the Learning Write the following sentences on the board or on chart paper. Have students underline each noun and circle each pronoun. Then have them tell which noun each pronoun goes with. James ate the apple. He said it was juicy. Amy left her books on the floor. They were covered in dirt. Leo jumped on the rock. He slipped on it. To demonstrate past, present and future verb tenses, build this sentence and display it in the tray: I call you. Have students read the sentence aloud. Ask students how they might reword the sentence to tell about the action if it already happened in the past. Then link the verb ending ed to the word call to change the sentence to I called you. Read this sentence together. Ask students how they might reword the sentence to tell about the action if it was going to happen in the future. Then remove the ed ending Rod and add the Rod printed with the word will before the word call so the sentence now reads: I will call you. Tell students that these three ways of writing the verb (call, called, and will call) are called verb tenses, and these different tenses are used to talk about events as they happen in the past, the present, and the future. As you share other reading experiences, draw students attention to the verb tense(s) being used. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Picking Out Pronouns blackline master on page 36. Have children use light-green crayons to underline all the pronouns in the story.

7 Lesson 5: Adjectives Objectives: To introduce the concept of adjectives To demonstrate that adjectives are words that describe or limit nouns You'll Need: Supply of green noun Rods, yellow verb Rods, light-green pronoun Rods, pink article Rods, red adjective Rods, and white punctuation Rods Container, such as a plastic tub or shoe box Activity tray Chart paper Markers Red crayons Amazing Adjectives blackline master Warming Up Place all the red adjective Rods into the container. Ask children to tell you what they know about red adjective Rods. Then use Rods to build this sentence and place it into the activity tray: Grandpa ate the pizza. Have children point out the nouns and the verb in the sentence. Then add the red adjective Rod printed with the word warm to the sentence so that it now reads, Grandpa ate the warm pizza. Ask children to tell you what the word warm is describing (the noun pizza). Tell children that words that describe or tell about nouns are called adjectives. Exploring the Concept Have each child choose two green noun Rods. Then have them each choose a red adjective Rod to describe each noun Rod. Have children link these adjective/noun word pairs together, place them into the tray, and read them aloud. For example, children might link-up the following: black rabbit best food short tree warm kitten cold milk six people long spaghetti Point out that while some of the adjectives tell how the noun looks, smells, tastes, or sounds, other adjectives tell the number or the amount of the noun (e.g., six people). Assessing Learning Invite students to use the red adjective Rods along with the other Rods in the container to build sentences. Have children tell whether the adjectives they chose describe the noun or limit the noun by telling about an amount or number related to the noun. Extending the Learning Write the following sentence on the board: The girl ate the sandwich. Have children suggest any number of adjectives they could use to tell about the noun girl and the noun sandwich. Jot these on the chart using editing marks to show where they should be inserted into the sentence. Then rewrite the sentence including all the adjectives for each noun. The end result might look something like this: The smiling, tall, blonde, silly girl ate the juicy, delicious, turkey tomato sandwich. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Amazing Adjectives blackline master on page 37. Have children use red crayons to underline all the adjectives in the story. 7

8 Lesson 6: Basic Sentence Patterns and Punctuation Objectives: You'll Need: To introduce basic sentence patterns To introduce punctuation marks To practice punctuating basic sentences: N-V, N-V-N, and N-V-ADJ Supply of green noun Rods, yellow verb Rods, light-green pronoun Rods, pink article Rods, red adjective Rods, and white punctuation Rods Activity tray Chart paper Markers What s My Pattern? blackline master Warming Up Use the Rods to build this sentence. Then display it in the activity tray: Mom cooks. Have children read the sentence and tell about the type of words that make up the sentence pattern (N-V). Have them notice the period at the end of the sentence. Tell children that this sentence is a simple declarative sentence because it makes a statement, and a declarative sentence ends with a period. Add the word spaghetti to the sentence so it now reads: Mom cooks spaghetti. Again, have children read the sentence, tell about the type of words that make up the sentence, and note the period Rod at the end of the sentence (N-V-N). Finally, build this sentence: Mom is great. (N-V-ADJ). Challenge the children to identify the sentence s pattern and ending punctuation. Explain that the word great tells about the noun Mom, so great is an adjective. Exploring the Concept Write the following words on the board or on chart paper. Have children tell you each one s sentence pattern. Dad paints. (N-V) Dad paints the wall. (N-V-N) Fred helps. (N-V) Fred helps Dad. (N-V-N) The wall is blue. (N-V-ADJ) Look again at the Rod sentence Mom is great. As children watch, remove the period Rod and replace it with the Rod printed with an exclamation point. Ask children how this mark changes the sentence. (It tells us to read it with feeling.) 8 Have students read the same sentence, first with the period ending in place and then with the exclamation point ending in place. Show children the Rod printed with the question mark. Ask children if the words in the sentence could be rearranged so they ask a question. (Tip: When students build the question is Mom great?, remind them that a capital letter is needed to make the sentence grammatically correct Is Mom Great?) Write the question on the board, beginning it with a capital letter and ask what punctuation mark is used at the end of a question (question mark). Help students notice that when they pose a question, their voices lift slightly toward the end of the sentence. Assessing Learning Ask students to work together to build a N-V sentence, a N-V-N sentence, and a N-V-ADJ sentence. Have children punctuate the sentences with the period Rod, and then with the exclamation point Rod. Have children read each punctuated version aloud to see how the different punctuation affects meaning. Extending the Learning Have students look at a piece of their own writing to discover some sentence patterns they used, as well as the punctuation they used. Ask, Does each one of your sentences have an end mark of a period, an exclamation point, or a question mark? Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the What s My Pattern? blackline master on page 38. Have students use the page to circle the sentence patterns that match each sentence and to add end mark punctuation to each sentence.

9 Lesson 7: Adverbs Warming Up Objectives: To introduce the concept of adverbs To demonstrate that adverbs are words that describe verbs To demonstrate that adverbs sometimes end in ly Show children the green noun, the yellow verb, the red adjective and the light-green pronoun Rods. Ask children to tell about each type of word. Place all the Rods except the yellow verb Rods back into the container. Spread the verb Rods out on the table along with the orange adverb Rods. As children watch, link some adverb Rods and some action verb Rods together, for example: sleep late sing often skip later left yesterday Ask the children to read these words. Tell children that the words printed on the orange Rods are called adverbs and that adverbs are sometimes used to describe or tell about the verbs. Exploring the Concept Expand your definition of adverbs by telling children that adverbs can modify verbs by telling when, where, or how an action happens. Look again at the adverb/action verb phrases you built: sleep late sing often skip later left yesterday. Have the children identify the adverbs as telling when, where, or how the action verb happens. Write the following sentences on the board or on chart paper: She skipped happily. He ate hungrily. The dog ran quickly. Help students identify and underline the adverbs. Ask, What do you notice about the way these adverbs are spelled? (They all end in ly.) Assessing Learning You'll Need: Supply of green noun Rods, yellow verb Rods, light-green pronoun Rods, pink article Rods, red adjective Rods, orange adverb Rods, and white punctuation Rods Container, such as a plastic tub or shoe box Meet with children individually. Offer each child an action verb Rod. Challenge him or her to find an adverb Rod that can be used to describe or tell about his or her action verb. Have the child identify the adverbs as telling when, where, or how the action verb happens. Then, offer the student the adverb Rod printed with the ly ending. Show how, by adding this Rod onto other adverb or adjective Rods, he or she can build new adverbs (e.g., narrowly, partly, lately, wrongly, lastly, etc.). Invite each child to use these new words in a sentence. Extending the Learning Chart paper Markers Orange crayons Adverb Action blackline master Read aloud to the class several passages collected from favorite books. Notice together how authors use adverbs and verbs to strengthen their work and to make it more interesting. Notice, too, that good writers do not overuse these words. Then have children read through their own writings to notice if they are using adverbs and verbs effectively. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Adverb Action blackline master on page 39. Have children use orange crayons to underline all the adverbs in the story. 9

10 Lesson 8: Conjunctions Objectives: You'll Need: To introduce conjunctions To use conjunctions to join words and sentences Supply of green noun Rods, yellow verb Rods, lightgreen pronoun Rods, pink article Rods, red adjective Rods, orange adverb Rods, purple conjunction Rods, and white punctuation Rods Activity tray Chart paper Markers What s the Connection? blackline master Warming Up Show children the purple conjunction Rods. As children watch, use Rods to build these sentences and then place them into the activity tray: Mom and my brother sang. Dad and Grandma are warm. Ask children to identify the types of words used to build these sentences. Then ask them to tell what job they think the purple conjunction Rods do in each sentence. (They link the two nouns together.) Tell students that in these sentences, the nouns Mom, brother, Dad, and Grandma are the subjects of the sentence because the action happens to them. The verbs sang and are warm are predicates because they tell something about these subjects. (Tip: Define predicate for students as the part of the sentence that tells what happened. Tell students the predicate always includes the verb.) Exploring the Concept Continue exploring conjunctions by building the following single subject sentences and placing them in the tray for the children to read. The pizza tasted cold. The girl ran home. Offer children two more noun subject Rods: spaghetti and boy, plus two conjunction Rods printed with the word and. Show children how to use these Rods to change the single subject in each sentence to a compound subject. The pizza and spaghetti tasted cold. The girl and boy ran home. Have children identify the two subjects (pizza and spaghetti/girl and boy) in each sentence. Have them point out the conjunction (and) that joins each of these two subjects. Read the words printed on the other purple Rods to learn that other conjunctions include the words because, but, for, if, or, so, while, and yet. 10 Assessing Learning Write the following sentences on the board or on chart paper: The fish and turtle were fed. The child and his mom went home. The pig and the duck ran away. The cake and ice cream tasted good. Help students identify and underline the conjunctions and underline the two subject nouns in each sentence. Have children each think of a sentence that contains one of the other conjunctions: because, but, for, if, or, so, while, and yet. Extending the Learning Have children work together to write an add-on story that features conjunctions. Begin by printing this opening story line on a piece of chart paper: One day, my friend and I were walking through the neighborhood when we spotted something strange. Then ask each child in turn to add on a sentence that contains one of the other conjunctions: because, but, for, if, or, so, while, and yet. Record the story on chart paper. Use a purple-colored marker to underline the conjunction in each sentence. Be prepared to bring the story to a close by adding a final sentence or two of your own. In addition, have children read through other original creative writing pieces to discover examples of how they used conjunctions and compound subjects in their own writing. Using the Blackline Master A STRANGE DAY Make copies of the What s the Connection? blackline master on page 40. Have children use purple crayons to underline all the conjunctions in the story.

11 Lesson 9: Compound Sentences Objectives: You'll Need: To build compound sentences To use commas in compound sentences Supply of green noun Rods, yellow verb Rods, lightgreen pronoun Rods, pink article Rods, red adjective Rods, orange adverb Rods, purple conjunction Rods, and white punctuation Rods Activity tray Chart paper Marker Sentence Join-Up blackline master Warming Up Direct students to use the Rods to build the following sentences and place them into the tray: He drank milk. I ate pizza. Ask children to identify the subject of each sentence (the pronouns He and I). Offer children the conjunction Rod and. Have them use this Rod to join the two sentences together to make one compound sentence. Show children how, when forming the new compound sentence, the period end mark from the first sentence is replaced by a comma. He drank milk, and I ate pizza. Assessing Learning Write the following compound sentences on the board or on chart paper: The boys went home, but we stayed there. The baby fell asleep, so the mother stopped singing. The cat ate the food, and the dog took a nap. My dad ate pizza, and my sister ate fish. Ask children to use purple markers to underline the conjunctions that join together the two sentences in each compound sentence. Have them use the markers to circle the commas placed before each conjunction. Point out the two subjects and predicates in the first sentence. Ask children to take turns pointing out the subject/predicate pairs in the remaining compound sentences. Exploring the Concept Look again at the compound sentence you built: He drank milk, and I ate pizza. Ask children to try replacing the conjunction and with the conjunctions but and so to build other compound sentences. Ask children to notice how the meaning of the sentence changes with each conjunction change. (Hint: A comma is placed before the conjunction when sentences are combined with the following conjunctions: and, but, or, yet, and so. Other conjunctions such as because and while do not require a comma before the conjunction.) Extending the Learning Print the following simple sentence pairs on the board or on chart paper. Ask children to rewrite each sentence pair as a compound sentence by joining each pair together with a comma and one of the conjunctions they learned about (Hint: Remind children that, unless it belongs to a proper noun, the uppercase letter that begins the second simple sentence will have to be changed to a lowercase letter when it appears in the middle of the compound sentence.) The man ate. His dog slept. The girl drank juice. The boy drank milk. The bird ate seed. The duck flew away. The teacher read the book. The children listened. The cat played ball. The dog ate dinner. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Sentence Join-Up blackline master on page 41. Have children use conjunctions and commas to join sets of two simple sentences into compound sentences. 11

12 Lesson 10: Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases Objectives: You'll Need: Warming Up To introduce prepositions and prepositional phrases To build sentences that include prepositional phrases Show children the blue preposition Rods. Explain that these words are called prepositions, and they show how two words or ideas are connected to each other. Explain that some prepositions tell about an object s place or position. Clarify this last point by offering children simple commands to carry out. As you give children each direction, show children the preposition Rod that matches the one in that command. Place your hand on your head. Place your hand under the table. Place your hand upon your ear. Place a Rod between your hands. Exploring the Concept Have children take turns selecting a preposition Rod to use in a sentence. Write each sentence on the board or on chart paper. Ask students to use blue markers to underline the prepositions in each of their sentences. Have them notice that the preposition is always the first word in a prepositional phrase, and that a noun or pronoun is always the last word. Explain that this noun or pronoun in the prepositional phrase is the object of the preposition because the preposition links this object to another noun or pronoun in the sentence. Supply of green noun Rods, yellow verb Rods, lightgreen pronoun Rods, pink article Rods, red adjective Rods, orange adverb Rods, purple conjunction Rods, blue preposition Rods, and white punctuation Rods Have children circle each preposition and then underline each noun or pronoun that serves as the object of that preposition. Extending the Learning Container, such as a plastic tub or shoe box Chart paper Markers Drawing paper Positively Prepositions blackline master Look at the list of prepositional phrases. Have children each choose a prepositional phrase to include in a complete sentence. Have children write and illustrate their sentences on drawing paper.. Assessing Learning Write the following prepositional phrases on the board or on chart paper: on the table under the bed in the lake out the door next to the girl above the picture around the block down the slide off the bridge until we meet again 12 Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Positively Prepositions blackline master on page 42. Have children use blue crayons to underline all the prepositions in the story.

13 Lesson 11: Plural and Possessive Nouns Objectives: You'll Need: To introduce the concept of plural and possessive nouns To build sentences containing plural and possessive nouns All Sentence Building Rods Chart paper Markers Plural vs. Possessive blackline master Warming Up Use Rods to build the following sentence and place it into the activity tray: Mom has a bicycle. Read the sentence together. Ask children to tell how many bicycles Mom has (one). Use Rods to change the sentence so it reads: Mom has bicycles. Read the sentence together. Ask children to tell how many bicycles Mom has now (more than one). Ask children to tell what you did to change the sentence so it has this new meaning (took away the article a and added an s ending to the word bicycle). Help children understand that by adding s to the end of the word bicycle, it changed the word from a singular noun, meaning one bicycle, to a plural noun, meaning more than one bicycle. Exploring the Concept Show children noun Rods that can be changed from singular to plural by adding the ending s. Then have children add the s Rod to each word. For example: animal-animals or store-stores. Tell children that some nouns that end in ch, sh or x require an -es ending to make them plural. Write several examples on the board or on chart paper. Have children change each word from the singular to the plural form by adding the -es ending. Tell children that by adding an apostrophe plus the letter s onto a word, the word can show possession or ownership. Revisit the sentence Mom has a bicycle. Ask children to tell who the bicycle belongs to (Mom). As children look on, take the Rod sentence apart and build the phrase Mom s bicycle. Tell children that here, the apostrophe and the s are used to show that the bicycle belongs to Mom. Assessing Learning Offer children the following words. Have children change each word from the singular to the plural form by adding s or es endings: book, rat, beach, arm, match, cousin, etc. Ask children to explain their reasoning for using s or es. Then, write these sentences on the board or chart paper. Have children show the possessive form by adding an s to the underlined nouns: The watch belongs to Dad. It is Dad watch. The feathers are from the duck. They are the duck feathers. That book belongs to the teacher. It is the teacher book. Extending the Learning Review subjects and predicates as presented in Lesson 8. Then use the Rods to demonstrate how subject-predicate agreement changes depending on whether the subject is singular or plural. Build this sentence and have students read it together: The man smells pizza. Identify the sentence s subject (man) and predicate (smells pizza). Help children identify the subject as a singular noun. Show them the Rod printed with the word men. Guide students to agree that the word men is a plural noun. As children watch, substitute this Rod for the Rod printed with man so the sentence now reads: The men smells pizza. Read the sentence together and ask children to tell if it sounds correct. Ask children how they might change the predicate so it sounds better. Help children remove the Rod printed with the s ending from the word smells and then rebuild the sentence so it correctly reads: The men smell pizza. Read the sentence again. Write other sample sentences and have children choose a predicate that will best agree with the single or plural subject. (Hint: Remind children that a compound subject is a plural subject.) Help children look through books and magazines for plural nouns formed with final s and es endings and for examples of print featuring plural subject-predicate agreement. Have children cut these out and glue them collage-style to construction paper to make a mini-posters of these plural noun forms. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Plural vs. Possessive blackline master on page 43. Have the students use green crayons to underline each plural noun and use pencils to add an apostrophe to possessive nouns. 13

14 Lesson 12: Helping and Linking Verbs Objectives: You'll Need: To introduce helping verbs and linking verbs To recognize these verb forms in sentences Supply of green noun Rods (including s and es Rods), yellow verb Rods, light-green pronoun Rods, pink article Rods, and white punctuation Rods Activity tray Chart paper Markers Yellow crayons Helping Out blackline master Warming Up Review the concept of an action verb as presented in Lesson 3. Offer children the supply of yellow verb Rods and have them select the ones printed with action verbs. Then write the following helping verbs on the board or on chart paper: am, is, are, was, were, be, been, do, did, have, has, had, will, can, may, might, could, should, and would. Ask children to locate these words as printed on the yellow verb Rods. Help them join each of these helping verb Rods to an action verb Rod to build predicates, such as: am gone, did cook, will play, might sleep, etc. Exploring the Concept Ask students to use Rods to build the following sentence and place it into the activity tray: Dad has read the book. Ask students to locate the subject (Dad) and the main verb (read). Ask students to locate the helping verb (has). Point out that the helping verb has helps tell when Dad read (in the past). Challenge children to locate other helping verb Rods that would make sense in this sentence. Ask them to build these new versions. Record these on the board or on chart paper. For example, students may build sentences such as: Dad might read the book. Dad did read the book. Dad will read the book. Dad may read the book. Dad could read the book. Dad should read the book. Dad can read the book. Have students comment on how the helping verb in each predicate helps the main verb express a different thought. Assessing Learning Offer students the following sentences. Have them suggest a helping verb to place in each blank spot. (Hint: Have a list of helping verbs on hand for students to use as a reference.) 14 The boy play with the ball. The girl jumping rope. Ms. Brown planned the lesson. The dogs gone to the park. The children earn money for the trip. The baby walk soon. She bake a pie. He go to the beach. Extending the Learning Have each child secretly pick a helping verb word and make up a sentence including that verb. Ask the other children to identify both the main and helping verbs that make up the predicate in each sentence. Help children understand that sometimes helping verbs are known as linking verbs when they link a subject to a noun, pronoun, or adjective in the predicate. Tell students that linking verbs do not show action. Offer children these sample sentences that include examples of linking verbs: I feel sick. (The linking verb feel links I with the adjective sick.) He grew sad. (The linking verb grew links He with the adjective sad.) He looked messy. (The linking verb looked links He with the adjective messy.) Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Helping Out blackline master on page 44. Have students use the page to supply a helping verb for each sentence and to use a yellow crayon to underline the linking verb in other sentences.

15 Lesson 13: Interjections, Articles, and More Punctuation Objectives: You'll Need: To introduce interjections To introduce articles To introduce usage of punctuation, including quotation marks, parentheses, colons, semicolons, and dashes All Sentence Building Rods Activity tray Chart paper Markers Punctuation & More blackline master Warming Up Display the turquoise interjection Rods in the activity tray and ask children to read them aloud. Tell children that interjections are words that express feelings or emotions. Ask children to tell some of the interjections they know and use. Children may offer some of the following: Yeah! Yikes! Cool! Alright! Excellent! Hooray! Ask volunteers to use an interjection in a sentence. Write these on the board or on chart paper, leaving off the punctuation. Have children take turns placing an exclamation point or comma after each interjection. Read the completed list together. Exploring the Concept Look again at the list of interjections you generated. Add the interjections listed on the three interjection Rods. Show children how adding an exclamation point after each interjection shows that the word(s) are being said with energy and strong emotion. Introduce the pink article Rods A, a, An, an, The and the. Ask children to read these familiar words. Tell children that these words are called articles. Show children the other punctuation marks not yet introduced, including the quotation marks, the parentheses, the colons, the semicolons, and the dashes. Take time to share the definitions below and to note how each one is used in writing. Quotation Marks: These are often used to set off words spoken by a speaker, quotations borrowed from a book or magazine, titles of publications, and to show that words are being said in a special way. Joe said, I want to go home. He wrote an article for the True Blue Gazette. She got sick before the big school play. Parentheses: These are placed around words that are in a sentence to add extra information or to make an idea clearer. Jon thought that the idea (as good as it sounded) would not work. Colons: Among other uses, a colon is used to introduce a list. For homework you must: do spelling, write a letter, and finish math. Semicolons: This mark is a cross between a period and a comma. It can be used in place of a period or in place of a comma as long as there is a complete sentence on either side of it. I ran the race; I won the race. I ate the sandwich quickly; but I was still hungry. Dashes: A dash shows a sudden break in a sentence. It is also used to emphasize a word or phrase or to show someone s speech has been interrupted. He walked actually ran to the store. Hello yes, I remember oh, yes. Assessing Learning Write the following sentences on the board or on chart paper. Have students underline the punctuation marks in each sentence, tell what each one is called, and describe the reason why each is being used. Hi! I hoped you would come over. Please go to the store and buy: milk, eggs, butter, and cream. I rode to the doctor; I rode home. Extending the Learning Have children begin to incorporate punctuation marks in their own writing efforts. Make a chart of the punctuation marks and definitions and post it in your writing corner. Also, draw children s attention to punctuation as it appears in their shared reading experiences. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Punctuation & More blackline master on page 45. Have students use the page to add punctuation 15

16 Lesson 14: Complex Sentences Objectives: You'll Need: To identify complex sentences To build complex sentences All Sentence Building Rods Container, such as a plastic tub or shoe box Activity tray Chart paper Markers Sentence Sleuth blackline master Warming Up Use Rods to build the following two clauses: If the baby throws the ball and my sister will laugh. Place the clauses into the activity tray so that one clause is displayed in the top slot, and the other is displayed in the second slot. Ask children to tell which is an independent clause because it is a complete sentence by itself (my sister will laugh). Because the other phrase does not make sense by itself (it depends on the complete sentence to make sense) it is a dependent clause. Tell children that when a sentence has two parts, that each contain a subject and a verb, and one clause is dependent on the other to make sense, it is a complex sentence. Help children build the complex sentence by joining the independent and dependent clauses together and adding correct punctuation. Exploring the Concept Have children build this sentence and display it in the activity tray: My cousins are jumping because they like it. Ask for volunteers willing to tell about the features that make this a complex sentence (two subjects, two verbs, one independent clause and one dependent clause). Separate the dependent clause (because they like it) from the sentence. Draw the children s attention to the subordinating conjunction because. Help them understand that subordinating conjunctions in complex sentences help express time (I went for a walk while she read her book.), cause or reason (Tom must practice because the concert is next week.), purpose or result (Spot played in the mud so we gave him a bath.), and condition (We can go to the park if you clean your room.). Assessing Learning Offer children the complete set of Sentence Building Rods Have children use the Rods to build simple sentences. Then have children use one of four conjunctions: while, because, so, and if to build dependent clauses to link with each of the simple sentences to build complex sentences. Tell children that a dependent clause can appear anywhere in the simple sentence (before, in the middle of, or after). Have children identify the nouns, verbs, dependent clauses, and independent clauses in each complex sentence. Extending the Learning Write the following complex sentences on the board or on chart paper. Have students read each sentence aloud and identify the features of each one. Help them note the comma placements and realize that commas are not used if the independent clause comes first. The boy went to the store so he could buy candy. Because the gate was left open, the dog ran away. The plant grew tall while it was in the sun. If I call you, I ll want you to come over. Using the Blackline Master Make copies of the Sentence Sleuth blackline master on page 46. Have students use the page to identify simple and complex sentences. 16 or and yet so because while so yet

17 mom milk night Dad girl game cat apple pizza

18 kitten school baseball bicycle family money friend woman women

19 grandma He us Grandpa Who his children I We

20 you It Her My its our er ness s

21 him she can You it is me am ate

22 got go had They your are them whom Their

23 play write said teach sing love call say will

24 enjoy walk want read sung smile sang wrote would

25 threw a an amaze a big throw a two

26 A happy red the the The ing ed s

27 best warm soon new fast too old little so

28 ly than very favorite er est this good different

29 again of but well at or with in and

30 and if because for into even yesterday today to

31 Hey. - here ), (

32 ; :,,.? Wow An!

33 Lesson 1 Alphabetical Order Name Easy as A B C Read each list of words below. Rewrite each list on the blank lines so they are in alphabetical order. Check your answers with an alphabet strip. sun List 1 List 2 eye bat cat hen boy car zoo fun men hat bag mitt mom day dad A B C D 33

34 Lesson 2 Identifying Nouns Name Noun Hunt Read the story below. Use a green crayon to underline each noun in the story. *Remember: A noun is a word than names a person, place, or thing. At the Petting Zoo For my birthday, my Mother and Grandma took my friend and me to a petting zoo to see the animals. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining when we left that morning. When we got to the zoo, Mother paid money for us to get inside the zoo. Lots of people were there. We saw ducks and birds. We also saw fish, rabbits, and kittens. We bought food to feed the animals. At lunchtime, we bought pizza to eat. Later, rain began to fall, so we left. We got into our car and drove back to our house. By the time we got home, it was dark outside. We went inside and had cake and ice cream. I had a great birthday at the zoo! 34 Answers: zoo, birthday, Mother, Grandma, friend, zoo, animals, sun, morning, zoo, Mother, money, zoo, people, ducks, birds, fish, rabbits, kittens, food, animals, pizza, rain, car, house, home, cake, ice cream, birthday, zoo.

35 Lesson 3 Identifying Verbs Name Verb Search Read the story below. Use a yellow crayon to underline each action verb in the story. *Remember: Verbs are words that sometimes name an action. Fun at the Library Every Wednesday, my aunt and I walk to the library. On the way there, we talk and talk. My aunt tells me stories from long ago, and we laugh together. Sometimes we stop at the store, and my aunt buys us ice cream cones. At the library, we look at all the books and pick out our favorites. I like the animal books. My aunt likes the art books. (She paints pictures in her spare time.) We borrow the books, and then we walk home again. While we walk, I tell her about my library books. More: Write a short paragraph about a special day you had with someone in your family. Use a yellow crayon to underline the action verbs you use. Answers: walk, talk, talk, tells, laugh, stop, buys, look, pick, like, likes, paints, borrow, walk,walk, tell 35