Teacher | Sarah Fullerton Class | Language Arts Grade | 7 Date | 10 December 2012 Lesson Topic | Prepositional Phrases This lesson takes place during the first semester “focus on grammar.” The classroom is set up around Grammar Football League (GFL), in which students work in teams to review, learn, and test on language (grammar) standards with a football theme. At the beginning of the quarter, students were put into seating arrangements of heterogeneous teams and designed a team helmet. Students enjoy competing against other teams, using test scores to earn yards and touchdowns on the grammar football field set-­‐up on a large board on the back wall of the classroom. Students have reviewed parts of speech and recently completed a series of lessons on phrases and clauses. Content Standards | Common Core Language Standards Conventions of Standard English 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. a. Explain the function of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences. b. Place phrases and clauses within a sentence, recognizing and correcting misplaced and dangling modifiers. Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 6. Acquire and use accurately grade-­‐appropriate general academic and domain-­‐
specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards | Stage IV (Grade 7) IV-­‐L-­‐1 PREP: E-­‐1 Using prepositions of location. IV-­‐L-­‐1 PREP: E-­‐2 Using prepositions of direction. IV-­‐L-­‐1 PREP: E-­‐5 Selecting a preposition to complete a given sentence. Key Vocabulary | prepositional phrase, preposition, phrase, clause Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) | Students will: 1. Recall information from previous grammar lessons on prepositions and phrases and clauses. 2. Apply their previous learning to hypothesize a working definition of prepositional phrases. 3. Understand the definition of prepositional phrases and analyze how they function in sentences. 4. Create sentences and identify the prepositional phrases. 5. Evaluate their learning today. Visuals, Materials, Resources | class-­‐made posters from previous lessons on prepositions and phrases and clauses. Post-­‐it® tabletop easel pad (for teacher-­‐made visual of K-­‐W-­‐L chart and Cornell Notes), teacher-­‐made PowerPoint presentation with visuals for whiteboard game, digital projector, whiteboards, Expo markers, whiteboard erasers (cloths/rags), pre-­‐made exit slips, Word Wall Link to Students’ Past Experiences | The teacher will lead a brief discussion on how we use prepositions (therefore prepositional phrases) in our every day speech, especially when giving directions to find something (location, object, etc.). Activating Prior Knowledge | Before we begin the lesson on prepositional phrases, the teacher will display our previous class-­‐made learning posters on prepositions and phrases and clauses. Working in their Grammar Football League (GFL) teams, students will fill out the “K” and “W” section of a K-­‐W-­‐L chart together (each student will have a K-­‐W-­‐L chart, but at this point their answers may be communal). They can reference the Cornell notes they previously made (and should have filed in their class notebooks) while working on the K-­‐W-­‐L chart. Content Objectives | The students will be able to… Content Objectives 1. Explain the definition and function of a prepositional phrase by summarizing their learning today in the “L” section of their K-­‐W-­‐L chart. 2. Identify and place prepositional phrases correctly in team-­‐generated sentences during today’s whiteboard activity. 3. Define the following academic vocabulary: preposition, phrase, clause, and prepositional phrase. Language Objectives 1. Select proper prepositions of location and direction to complete team-­‐generated (or teacher-­‐directed) sentences during today’s whiteboard activity. Review and Assessment | Informal Content Objectives 1. Teacher will check students’ K-­‐W-­‐L charts for completion and accuracy in the “L” column. 2. Teacher will monitor students’ team-­‐generated sentences during the whiteboard activity and provide feedback as necessary. 3. Teacher will walk around the classroom and monitor GFL team discussions as students are filling in the “K” and “W” sections of their K-­‐W-­‐L charts (preposition, phrase, and clause are all review vocabulary). Teacher will review students’ Cornell Notes for correct definition of prepositional phrases. Grammar Football game to follow in upcoming days for more formal assessment. Language Objectives 1. 1. Teacher will monitor students’ team-­‐generated sentences during the whiteboard activity and provide feedback as necessary. Lesson Procedures | 1. The lesson begins with the teacher going over the content and language objectives that are already written in their designated place on the board. Students will write the objectives at the top of a new page in their interactive notebooks (along with today’s date and the title “Prepositional Phrases”). 2. Next, the teacher will review with the class the posters we made during previous lessons on prepositions and phrases and clauses. Students will create a K-­‐W-­‐L chart on the first page of today’s notes in their interactive notebooks under the content and language objectives. The teacher will also create a blank one on the front board. See K-­‐W-­‐L set-­‐up in the diagram below (notebook graphic courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net): 3. Working in their GFL teams (the desks are already situated into these groups of fours), the students will have 10 minutes to fill out the “K” (what you already know) and “W” (what you want to know) sections of the K-­‐W-­‐L chart. Although the students are working together and may have the same answers for these sections, each student must have his/her own K-­‐W-­‐L chart drawn in his/her interactive notebook. 4. After the ten minutes is up, have one representative from each GFL team write an idea under the “K” section and “W” section of the class K-­‐W-­‐L chart on the front board. Remind students that no ideas can be repeated on the class K-­‐W-­‐L! Once each group has “reported,” read each idea and encourage students to add to their individual K-­‐W-­‐L charts. Fix any misconceptions in the “K” section as needed. Next, the teacher will lead a brief discussion on how we use prepositions (therefore prepositional phrases) in our every day speech, especially when giving directions to find something (location, object, etc.). 5. On a clean page in their interactive notebooks, have students set up a Cornell Notes page with the title “Prepositional Phrases.” The teacher will also create a large version on a Post-­‐it® tabletop easel pad. See Cornell Notes set-­‐up in the diagram below (notebook graphic courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net): 6. Instruct the students to take three minutes brainstorm “essential questions” in their GFL teams for the left column of their Cornell Notes. Students have taken Cornell Notes on parts of speech and other grammar lessons with teacher-­‐generated essential questions, so by now they should be able to create some of their own. After three minutes, bring the class back together and ask a group what they think the first essential question should be. It should be along the lines of, “What is a prepositional phrase?” or “What is the definition of a prepositional phrase?” Guide students to this question. 7. Students write this essential question in the left-­‐hand column of their Cornell Notes while the teacher writes it on the large, class version. Then, ask students to hypothesize based on their knowledge of prepositions and phrases what a prepositional phrase might be. Call on a few students to give a potential answer, and have the class agree or disagree with the hypotheses using thumbs up/thumbs down. Then, provide students with definition (a prepositional phrase is a type of phrase that begins with a preposition and ends with the object of a preposition with optional descriptive words in the middle; they never contain the subject of the sentence). The teacher will write this on the class poster while the students copy it into the right column of their Cornell Notes (under the flap, so that they can use their notes as a study aid). 8. Have another group provide a different essential question that they came up with. The second essential question should be, “What is the purpose of a prepositional phrase?” or “What do prepositional phrases do?” Guide students to this question. Repeat step seven with the following answer under the flap: a prepositional phrase can work like an adjective, an adverb, or sometimes a noun. 9. Provide the next essential question for students: “What questions do prepositional phrases answer?” Repeat step seven with the following answer: an adjective prepositional phrase answers the question, “Which one?” An adverb prepositional phrase answers the questions: “How?” or “When?” or “Where?” 10. Ask a group to give the class the last essential question that we always use: “What are some examples of [prepositional phrases]?” Repeat step seven with the following examples and have students underline the prepositional phrases: Adjective (“Which one?”) The dog with the floppy ears is cuter. Adverb (“How?”) Kim is tired from all the exercise she did. Adverb (“When?”) During class, we took notes. Adverb (“Where?”) We ate our lunch in the cafeteria. 11. Discuss how the prepositional phrases answer the questions and how they function descriptively in their sentences (i.e. “Why does ‘with the floppy ears’ function as an adjective?” “Because it describes the noun, the dog.”) 12. Take three student volunteers to pass out one whiteboard, Expo marker, and eraser (cloth) to each GFL team. Explain to students that we will be reviewing prepositional phrases in the form of a game. Begin the PowerPoint slideshow. The first few slides re-­‐state what the Cornell Notes already covered. The second half of the show is an anecdotal game in which the students are shown a picture. In their GFL teams, the students must create a sentence to describe “where the bunny is” in the picture (“where’s the bunny” is a trick we used to identify prepositions during a previous parts of speech lesson) and underline the prepositional phrase(s) in their sentence. The teams earn a point for each sentence with correctly identified prepositional phrases. As the teacher checks each group’s sentence in front of the whole class at the end of each round, have the class identify whether the prepositional phrase works as an adjective or adverb in the sentence. See the sample whiteboard activity PowerPoint slides below: 13. After the game, teacher will close the lesson with students (see “Wrap-­‐Up”). Differentiation | These numbers line up directly with numbered lesson procedures. 1. For reviewing the learning objectives, the objectives will already be written on the board so student can copy them down as the teacher reads aloud. 2. Students will be reviewing their previous notes (or team member’s notes) and will have a visual on how to create a K-­‐W-­‐L chart. 3. Students will be working in pre-­‐determined (teacher-­‐assigned) heterogeneous groups of four. Bilingual partners will be together in groups as available. ELL students may fill in the K-­‐W-­‐L chart in their home language and all students are encouraged to use bullet points. 4. Only one group representative is required to write on the board, and that student may also have their K-­‐W-­‐L chart with them to copy down an idea their group had. 5. The Cornell Notes will be demonstrated on the board while the students are also completing them in their interactive notebooks. 6. Students are working in their teams and bilingual partners will be used as available. 7. The teacher is providing a model version of Cornell Notes on the front board for students’ reference. Students may write in their home language if it’s easier, as the notes are for their benefit and study aid. 8. See above. 9. See above. 10. See above. 11. ELL students can discuss with a bilingual partner during the class discussion. 12. The quick PowerPoint review re-­‐states what was learned during the lesson in case students need extra time to finish their Cornell Notes. The game relies on visuals, and students are working in teams to create a sentence and identify the prepositional phrase(s). Students and teacher will complete a “practice round” to demonstrate how the game works. The teacher will have a sentence starter on the board (“The bunny is…”) in case students need help generating sentences. 13. ELL students may work with an available bilingual partner to fill in the “L” section of their K-­‐W-­‐L chart. Again, the K-­‐W-­‐L chart may be written in their home language. For the exit slip, ELL students may confer with a bilingual partner and write their exit slip in their home language if necessary. SEI Strategies | clearly stated objectives, gestures, modified language, paraphrasing, graphic organizers (K-­‐W-­‐L chart and Cornell Notes), group work/bilingual partners, modeling/demonstration, thumbs up/thumbs down, whiteboard activity, visuals, Word Wall, exit slips Wrap-­‐Up | Students will have five to ten minutes (teacher will walk around the class to judge time necessary for students) to individually complete the “L” section of their K-­‐W-­‐L chart. When students are done, the teacher will randomly select students to share one thing they wrote. The last student will add “prepositional phrase” to our class Word Wall. Before leaving, students will complete an exit slip by writing a new sentence (not one used in Cornell Notes or during the game), underlining the prepositional phrase(s), and determining whether the prepositional phrase functions as an adjective or adverb in the sentence. They will also write a sentence or two evaluating their learning today.