Lesson 1 - Sentences versus Fragments

🕐 Lesson Overview

• Bellringer
• Notes: Sentences & Fragments
• Fix the Fragments
• Fragment or sentence?

⭐ Objectives

• I can recognize fragments.
• I can revise fragments into complete sentences.

📏 Standards

🗽 NYSNGSS

🗒️ Lesson Plan

Anticipatory Set

The teacher will open class by explaining that, today, the class will be reviewing some basics of grammar and that today's lesson will assist students in writing in complete sentences.

As a bellringer, students will read the following sentences. In their journals, they will need to decide whether the sentence is a complete sentence (CS) or incomplete sentence (IS).

1. I attended Morris Central School.
2. Such as paints, crayons, or markers.
3. After Thanksgiving dinner, I was stuffed!
4. I get embarrassed when I'm really emotional.
5. Because I like English class a lot.

The teacher will take attendance. After students have sufficient time to review the sentences, the teacher will call the class back together to share their responses. The teacher will read each sentence then ask students to raise their hands for complete sentences or incomplete sentences. After voting as a class, the teacher will ask a student to explain what makes each option complete or incomplete. The class will discuss how the incomplete sentences might be made complete. The class will then review the agenda and objectives.

Developmental Activity

Students will take the following notes in their journals.

• A fragment is a group of words that is not a grammatically complete sentence.
• Usually a fragment lacks a subject, verb, or both, or it is missing an element that would otherwise make it a complete thought. Example: ate a great meal Example: Robert and Jack

Students will watch the Khan Academy video "Recognizing fragments."

As a "We Do," the class will go over the following fragments and together make them complete. The teacher should emphasize, while repairing the sentences, that a complete sentence also must have a capital letter and a punctuation mark. The teacher may choose to complete the first example ("I Do") as a model and teacher think aloud.

1. because her Chromebook broke
2. over by the window
3. to see a movie
4. nothing good on TV
5. did a really good job

Students will then practice on the following sentences (independently or with a partner), deciding if they are fragments or sentences. If they identify a fragment, they should turn it into a complete sentence.

1. Mr. Jones and Mrs. Tennyson
2. Mrs. Tennyson studied
3. the students were tired and frightened
4. in a classroom
5. a well-behaved student

Alternatively, students may practice on sentences related to the text being read in class. For example, if the class has started A Long Walk to Water, the following examples may be used:

1. Salva and Nya
2. Salva travelled
3. the refugees were tired and frightened
4. in an airplace
5. a Sudanese refugee

Additional sentences for practice are provided below if the teacher believes the class needs more guided practice.

1. ran to the store
2. my favorite english teacher
3. when my dog ran outside
4. on the morning of my math test
5. they wait
6. loves to lie around in the sun
7. bacon and eggs
8. she sent

Closure

Students will complete the Sentences versus Fragments Practice.