Title/Subject of Lesson: Using Prepositional Phrases

Gary Woodward

PLANNING

Date:Apr. 12. 2011Grade level: Grade six

Title/Subject of Lesson: Using prepositional phrases

Objective(s):Students will be able to identifyprepositional phrases.

Students will be able to effectively use prepositional phrases in their own writing.

State (or District) Core Curriculum Standard(s)

8.2.c. Use strong verbs and precise and vivid language to convey meaning.

8.3 B) students will be able to “enhance fluency by using transitional words, phrases to connect ideas…(e.g., varied sentence length, simple and compound sentences).”

Concept(s) to Be Taught:

structure of prepositional phrases
punctuation that accompanies prepositional phrases
identifying therhetorical effectproduced by usingan absolute

Materials Needed:

Prepositional phrase examples

Within two minutes, or even less,he had forgotten all his troubles.

(Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer).

In fact, sharks come in all shapes and sizes.

(Nicola Davies, Surprising Sharks)

After all, who would except a shark to have a built in lantern or blow up like a party balloon, or lie on the sea floor like a scrap of old carpet.

(Nicola Davies, Surprising Sharks)

The pebble was flaming red, shiny, and perfectly round, like a marble.

(William Steig, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble)

A preposition is the first word in a prepositional phrase. Here are common prepositions: about, above, across, after, along, at, before, behind, below, beyond, by, down, except, from, in, inside, like, near, off, on, over, outside, to, through, under, up, upon, with, within, without.(Killgallon 50-54)

Overheads of all these quotes, as well as imitation, and combining exercises

Strategies to Be Used:

modeling, guided practice, independent practice
sentence imitation, sentence combining

PERFORMING

Announcements: None

Continuation from Previous Lesson:Students are in the process of writing a reversal paper. One of the mentor texts is a picture book called: Surprising Sharks. It features prepositional phrase. I thought that student writing could be enhanced if students were able to insert prepositional phrases into sentences. This would lead to sentence variation. Although prepositional phrases can be inserted in many different locations within a sentence, I have chosen due to the age of students to focus on the beginning or end of a sentence.

Lesson Presentation:

A)Getting Started: [review of prior knowledge]

[modeling]Begin by showing the list of prepositions to tune students into what students are looking for in the each model and ask what effect they think the preposition has:

with #1 the preposition is within

with #2 the preposition is in and before
With#3, the preposition is after
With#4, the prepositional phrase is like
What does the prepositional phrase do in the writing? Give a sense of time, helps to order things. It can act as a transition in topics. It can be a simile as in # 4
Ask students to look at the structure. Students will notice that a comma is used to separate the phrase

B)Directing the Learning: [learning activities]

[modeling/sentence imitation] OK, now we are I am going to show you how to compose with a prepositional phrase. I’ll imitate Mark Twain sentence. Show the sentence imitation overhead with my example. Discuss how I came up with and composed the model.

[guided practice/sentence imitation] Now, you try imitating the structure of Mark Twain’s model. Remember that the prepositional phrase in this model comes at the beginning. I’ve got a fill in the blanks format for you on the overhead, write a sentence on your paper.

[guided practice/sentence combining] Locate the prepositional phrase in the model and in the scrambled list. I am going to use William Steig’s model. What goes first for the scrambled sentences? Next, what word looks the same as the next piece in the model ?and next? What is the final piece in the model?

Now with a partner, here is a set of sentences that I want you to work on combining to match the model. Now I want you to write with a partner your own imitation of the model and identify the prepositional phrase.

C)Bringing the Lesson to a Conclusion:

[independent practice/accountability]Ok you are writing reversal at the moment. I’d like you to read through your drafts to see if you can find a sentence where you have already used a prepositional phrase. If you cannot find one, think of a place where you might think it is appropriate to insert one. Remember that prepositional phrases help with transition, give a sense of time, help to order things and can act as a simile.
How does it change your writing? Does it add or detract? What is the rhetorical effect?

Assignment: You must include at least twoprepositional phrasesin your draft.

Evaluation: Was the lesson successful? What worked and what didn’t, what will I modify?

Overheads

Within two minutes, or even less,he had forgotten all his troubles.

(Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer).

In fact, sharks come in all shapes and sizes.

(Nicola Davies, Surprising Sharks).

After all, who would except a shark to have a built in lantern or blow up like a party balloon, or lie on the sea floor like a scrap of old carpet.

(Nicola Davies, Surprising Sharks)

The pebble was flaming red, shiny, and perfectly round, like a marble.

(William Steig, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble)

Within two minutes, or even less,he had forgotten all his troubles.

(Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer).

Before long, he had forgotten all his troubles.

______, he had forgotten all his troubles.

Locate the prepositional phrase in the model and in the scrambled list. What goes first from the scrambled sentences? Next what word looks the same as the next piece in the model ?and the next? What is the final piece in the model?

MODEL: The pebble was flaming red, shiny, and perfectly round, like a marble.

William Steig, “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble”

a. The snake was bright green.

b. The snake was tiny.

c. And the snake was very thin.

d. The snake was like a shoelace.

a. Theshark was smoky blue.

b. Theshark was scary.

c. And the snake was tubular.

d. The snake was like a torpedo