What does that mean? I mean, I get what that means. But I had absolutely no idea how to teach that. No idea! Until I figured it out. And let me tell you, when we (a teammate and I) figured it out, you would've thought we found the cure for some disease. We would call that disease adverbials.
Now let's go back. The standard states that students must be able to write a simple sentence. Easy! For the most part, my 2nd graders can write simple sentences using a subject and a predicate. No big deal. I have my students work on this skill the first few weeks of school, and I put it in a station.
Next, the kiddos need to expand the sentences. This is the fun part! Like, I really love teaching kids to expand sentences. I love it because it's at this time I get to teach the word Details. I have a freebie that you can pick up here.
So now we get to it. . . drum roll please. . . rearranging sentences.
Like I said, once I discovered the adverbial disease, I couldn't stop smiling. It was kind of sad. But at the same time, really amazing. If you teach the primary grades, you get me. It's not that you don't know how to write a sentence using this or that. It's just that we don't teach it so we don't know how to explain it.
And now, how to teach Rearranging Sentences!
Once your kiddos know the parts of a sentence--subject, predicate, and adjectives--you can get into adverbs. Above you saw my Adverb anchor chart. I use this to explain adverbs.
Using your simple sentence or expanded sentence, add an adverb to the end of the sentence.
Now show the kids that the adverb can be moved to the front of the sentence.
What?! Wait! That's it?! Yes, that's it.
What were we so worried about?
I am all about hands-on in my classroom. It just makes me happy.
I have an activity to let kids manipulate simple, expanded and rearranged sentences. With this activity, kids make sentences using ice cream.
There are different station activities to keep kids practicing independently. My favorite!
Now, we're on the Know It phase of Rearranging Sentences so I have kids practice their skills independently.
But if you know me, you know that I think applying grammar skills to writing is the true test.
I hope this helped! And check out my freebie! Your kids will love it!
And if you'd like some more help, check these out!