Making a Complete Sentence

We spent most of the first quarter learning about writing sentences.  One of the key things the children have to understand is what makes a complete sentence.  I've found one of the most effective ways to get this concept across to the children is to tell them a sentence is made up of two parts, a who part, and a what part.  For the sake of not confusing first graders, I don't distinguish between people and animals and other inanimate objects as the who in a sentence.

We spend several weeks looking at various sentences and identifying the who and what part of each sentence to makes sure they are complete sentences.  When we do group writing, I often will put just one part or the other of the sentence and have them tell me whether or not it's a complete sentence and why it is or is not a complete sentence.

I also provide lots of opportunities for the children to write in complete sentences by providing a daily writing prompt in our morning work time and having the children respond in sentences.  When I check their writing, if I see a child only has a phrase, I'll ask them to apply the test.  For instance, if the prompt was what is your favorite pet, and they write "my dog," I'll ask them who.  They will respond "my dog."  Then I will say "what," and they realize that there is no what part of the sentence. So after they tell me "what," they go back and rewrite their sentence to make it a complete sentence.

After practicing this for around three to four weeks, I'm ready to let the children work on making compete sentences independently.  I use the free resource that I created for my store, Fall Subject Predicate Sentence Puzzles, as an independent center.
                         

 I use the sentence recording sheet as a formative assessment to judge whether or not they understand that sentences have two parts, the who and the what part.  If they can correctly color the who and what part of the sentences, they understand the concept.  If they have trouble distinguishing between the who and what part of the sentences, they need more instruction on the concept.

If you would like to try out this resource in your classroom, click on any of the pictures above to visit my store and download it for free!

I've joined up with many other sellers to bring you some wonderful freebies to help you with your fall planning.  Check out the link up below to see all the great resources available!

Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for TpT giftcard giveaways as well!

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Silly Sentence Fun!

Last week, I finished up this new Thanksgiving resource. I developed it to use with my students because we've been working on writing complete sentences.  I wanted them to practice deciding if a sentence was complete by identifying the who part and the what part of a sentence.

I finally got to use this activity with my children today.  We did it first as a whole group activity, and then I put it into our literacy center rotation for this month.  It really is perfect because there are so many different combinations of sentences the children can make.

So I ran off the color saving option in totally black and white.  I put each sheet into a wipe off pocket. 

We used the paperclip spinners to find a word or phrase on each spinner.  Then we put the words together in the order of the spinners.  The first time we spun, we came up with "sailed hunted corn and stuffing."  The kids decided that was not a sentence because it didn't tell us who. 

The second spin, we got the words "the pilgrims ate corn and stuffing"  The kids agreed that was a sentence because it told us who -- the Pilgrims and what ate corn and stuffing.  All right.  Now to write it correctly on the recording sheet!  After everyone finished writing the sentence, I showed them how to check it using the check boxes and fix the sentence if necessary.  

After a few more non-sentence spins, we spun "the mayflower cooked in the forest."  At first, some of the children said it wasn't a sentence, and some said it was.  So we applied the test.  Does it tell us who?  Yes - The Mayflower.  Does it tell us what it does?  Yes -- cooks in the forest.  So it's a sentence, albeit a silly sentence!    Don't you just love the picture of the Mayflower cooking in the forest?  Again, the children wrote the sentence and used the check boxes to check for capitalization and ending punctuation.  We continued on in this manner until we had four sentences written and proofread for capitalization and end marks. The favorite silly sentence was "Turkeys cooked the spider."   Then the children illustrated the sentences.  

I was so pleased with the way this activity turned out.  The children were engaged and attentive the whole time.  They loved the novel approach of spinning a sentence and deciding if what they spun was really a sentence. Now that they know how to use it, I'm anxious to put the activity into centers for November and hear them working through the process themselves!

In addition to the center work, there are 8 pages of follow-up black and white activities that practice and reinforce complete sentences.  

If you would like to try out these activities with your students, click on the picture above and visit my TpT store.  

If you're looking for Christmas spin-a-sentence, you can find it here:

Have a great day, everyone!

Too Good not to Share

Hey all!  I am so excited to have my freebie featured on Primary Paradise's new weekly Facebook Feature (mine is #2)

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There are five fantastic free resources for teachers today, all dealing with Thanksgiving themes! She plans on doing it every week, so be sure to like her page so you don't miss any of the freebies.  This made my day; I love quality freebies!