Unleash the Cup
Netball World Cup 2015 Educational Resource
for Australian Primary Schools
Our Netball
World Cup News
English — Years 5 & 6
Lesson 3
Writing Complex Sentences About Netball
Netball HQ
191 Johnston Street
Fitzroy, VIC 3065
[email protected]
www.netball.asn.au
Our Netball World Cup News
English — Years 5 & 6
Teaching and Learning Plan
Lesson 3
Writing Complex Sentences About Netball
For Teachers
For Students
Lesson Delivery
WALT – We are learning to...
You should take a flexible approach to teaching this
lesson. You are encouraged to modify it and its
timings to suit the ability and skills of your students.
Make our writing more interesting and informative by
constructing complex sentences.
Lesson Venue
Classroom.
Lesson Duration
60 minutes.
Student Prior Knowledge
Students should be able to identify and write
a simple sentence or independent clause.
Video and Audio Resources Available
Video resource available for this lesson are:
> Video 12.4 – Australia Vs New Zealand
Preparing for this Lesson
>> S tudent information – Subordinating conjunctions
– displayed at OUR NETBALL WORLD CUP MEDIA
CENTRE for the class to view
>> A
ctivity sheet 20.1 – Complex netball sentences
– one hard copy per media team
>> T eacher information – Complex netball sentences
solution – for your reference
>> A
ctivity sheet 20.2 – Developing a match
report – one hard copy or digital interactive
version per student.
WILF – What I’m looking for...
>> I understand how subordinating conjunctions
connect ideas in a complex sentence
>> I understand the difference between independent
and dependent clauses in a complex sentence
>> I can recognise independent and dependent clauses
and subordinating conjunctions in a complex
sentence
>> I can develop complex sentences from
simple sentences.
TIB – This is because...
It will help us write our Netball World Cup
news report later in the unit.
2
Our Netball World Cup News
English — Years 5 & 6
Teaching and Learning Plan
3
Lesson 3
Writing Complex Sentences About Netball
Activity Steps
1. Learning about complex sentences (10 minutes)
Have students commence the lesson in their
media teams.
In the previous lesson, students built a word bank and
created simple sentences about netball. By now they
should know that a simple sentence (independent clause)
contains a subject and a predicate, expresses a single
thought and makes sense on its own.
Explain to them that now they will start developing
sentences that contain at least two ideas. These
sentences are called complex sentences.
Display the following sentence on the board:
Because she trains hard, Jessica was selected in the
Australian Netball World Cup squad.
Ask the class — what two ideas are expressed
in this sentence?
They should recognise that the two ideas are:
>> Jessica trains hard.
>> J essica was selected in the Australian Netball
World Cup squad.
ave them consider what action led to another action.
H
In this case, Jessica trained hard and the outcome was
that she was selected in the Australian Netball World Cup
squad.
There was a clear cause (Jessica trained hard) and effect
(Jessica was selected in the Australian Netball World Cup
squad) to her actions. These ideas are connected and
for more fluent and interesting writing, would better be
suited to one sentence.
Ask the class–what word in the sentence on the board
connected both the ideas?
The word because was used in the sentence to connect
both ideas. It acted as a subordinating conjunction that
explained the cause and effect relationship between
the actions.
Display Student information – Subordinating conjunctions
at OUR NETBALL WORLD CUP MEDIA CENTRE for the
class to view. This provides students with a range of
subordinating conjunctions that they can use in their
writing.
Now take some time to discuss with your class the
clauses that form complex sentences.
2. Independent clauses and dependent clauses
(10 minutes)
Revisit with students the sentence on the board:
Because she trains hard, Jessica was selected in the
Australian Netball World Cup squad.
Ask the class to identify a simple sentence or
independent clause in this complex sentence.
The independent clause is Jessica was selected in the
Australian Netball World Cup squad as it makes sense on
its own. The rest of the complex sentence, Because she
trains hard,makes little sense on its own but explains why
she made the squad.
Because she trains hard is an example of a dependent
clause or an adverb clause.
This type of clause is a group of words with a subject and
a predicate that modifies verbs, adverbs and adjectives by
telling when, why, how, how much and what condition.
All dependent clauses or adverb clauses begin with a
subordinating conjunction, in this case the word because.
Explain to students that in their writing they can choose
to start their complex sentence with a dependent clause
or end it with a dependent clause.
Our Netball World Cup News
English — Years 5 & 6
Teaching and Learning Plan
4
Lesson 3
Writing Complex Sentences About Netball
Activity Steps
Use the sentence on the board as an example:
Because she trains hard, Jessica was selected in the
Australian Netball World Cup squad.
Ask the class – does this complex sentence start or end
with a dependent clause?
Once they have recognised that it starts with a
dependent clause, ask them to rearrange the sentence so
it ends with a dependent clause, i.e., Jessica was selected
in the Australian Netball World Cup squad because she
trains hard.
Ask our Community
The school’s social media networks are also a great
way to source information for this task. Click on
the icons below for ideas how…
Have the class compare the two versions of the complex
sentence. Ask them to identify the differences.
Along with the rearrangement of dependent and
independent clauses, they should also notice that in
the second version no comma is required. A comma is
only required when the complex sentence starts with a
dependent clause.
3. Identifying independent clauses,
dependent clauses and subordinating
conjunctions (10 minutes)
Distribute Activity sheet 20.1 – Complex netball
sentences – one hard copy per media team.
Have student groups work together to circle
subordinating conjunctions and use different colours
pens or pencils to identify independent and dependent
clauses in the article.
You may want to model the first complex sentence in this
activity sheet with the class.
Once completed, have teams come together to share and
justify their decisions. You can use Teacher information
– Complex netball sentences solution to assist you in
supporting your students’ responses.
4. Developing a match report (30 minutes)
For this activity have students work individually.
Distribute Activity sheet 20.2 – Developing a
match report – one hard copy or digital interactive
version per student.
Explain to them that they will now be taking on the role
of a sports presenter who has been given a task to report
on a netball match that they will be watching on video.
They will start planning their report by writing five simple
sentences (independent clauses) on aspects of the game
that they noticed and feel are important.
They will then try to make their writing more interesting
by turning their simple sentences into complex sentences
that include a dependent clause and subordinating
conjunction.
Have students watch Video 12.4 –
Australia Vs New Zealand and complete
the activity sheet.
Ask them to share and justify their work to the class.
Let students know that in the next lesson they will make
their writing even more interesting by learning how to
use figurative language in their report.
Netball HQ
191 Johnston Street
Fitzroy, VIC 3065
[email protected]
www.netball.asn.au