LITERACY ACTIVITY FORM

Title: Paragraph Organization through the Use of Sentence Strips

Course Name: Any Content Area Grade Level: Intermediate Grades/Resource

Content Objective of the lesson:

Read sentence strips on a specific topic and organize the information into paragraphs.

Language/Literacy Objective of the lesson:

Read, write, listen, and speak about a given topic.

State Standards Addressed:

Estimated Time Required: 20 minutes (Extension @45 minutes)

Materials Needed:

Article on a topic

Sentence strips

Construction paper, scissors, and glue

Procedure:

  1. Prior to class teacher picks a topic, locates an article on the topic, chooses the three most important paragraphs from the article, retypes the paragraphs sentence by sentence (not in paragraph form), randomly rearranges the order of the sentences, and duplicates the page so that each group of students will have a copy.
  1. Students are assigned into groups of three. Each group is given the sentence page, a large piece of construction paper, scissors, and glue.
  1. Students cut the paper into strips containing one sentence each. As a group, they read through the sentences and sort the sentences into three categories. (Each category represents one paragraph of the original article.) All students in the group must agree with the results of the sorting. (In my class a set of sentence strips about llamas had to be sorted into paragraphs about their habitat, their physical characteristics & abilities, and how the llamas were used by the Incas).
  1. Next each student in the group takes one of the categories and arranges the sentences into a logical sequence to recreate the original paragraph. The entire group reviews each of the paragraphs. When all students in the group agree that each paragraph makes sense, the strips can be glued in order in paragraphs on the construction paper or poster board. Each person in the group is responsible for one of the paragraphs.

Extension: 45 minutes

Students in a group can be given a topic, three paragraph headings, and blank

sentence strips. Each student in the group must create one or more sentence

strips for each paragraph heading. The group must come up with an introductory

sentence for each paragraph, at least three supporting details, and a concluding

sentence.

The sentence strips can then be arranged in a logical order to create the

three paragraphs. Teacher will approve the paragraphs or make suggestions for

revision. If groups are assigned different topics, groups that finish early can

shuffle their sentence strips and trade with another group so each group can

re-create each other’s paragraphs.

Teacher Response to the Activity (include what went well, what did not go so well, how different students responded to activity, and what you would do differently next time)

I completed this activity with my High School Resource History class. The first part took a bit of prep time on the part of the teacher and not as much time as anticipated on the part of the students. The extension work was challenging and went well, probably because they had just completed the first half of the assignment.