Lesson 3 - Commonly Confused Words #1

🕐 Lesson Overview

Bellringer - Fix the Errors
What's a homophone?
Notes: Your/You're, There/They're/Their, Two/To/Too, Its/It's

⭐ Objectives

I can select and use the proper form of common homophones.
I can follow conventions of standard written English.

📏 Standards

🗽 NYSNGSS

7L3:
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
7L4b:
Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).
7L6:
Acquire and accurately use general academic and content-specific words and phrases; apply vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

🗒️ Lesson Plan

Anticipatory Set

As a bellringer, students will rewrite the following passage in their journals, correcting the errors that they find.

Nathan ate dinner at they’re house. then he went back home. when he walked in the house, his mom asked him, “what are you’re too favorite movies?”

The teacher will take attendance as students write and correct. Once sufficient time has elapsed, the teacher will invite students to share their corrections. The teacher should mark the corrections on the board, and students should correct any errors that they missed in their journals. The class will then review the agenda and objectives.

Developmental Activity

The teacher will help students define word homophone by breaking down its structure: homo- is a prefix meaning "same" and -phone is a suffix meaning sound. Homophones, therefore, are words that sound the same but mean something different.

The teacher will then instruct students on the differences between some of the most commonly confused homophones in the English language. The teacher will provide examples of the correct usage of each. Students will take the following brief notes in their journals.

Your/You're

your → possessive (Who does it belong to?)

you're → you are

They're/Their/There

they're → they are

their → possessive

there → location (Where?)

Its/It's

its → possessive

it's → it is

To/Two/Too

to → preposition (direction, location, time, introducing an object)

two → a number (2)

too → adverb ("I ate too much ice cream!")

Closure

The class will practice usage of these words together by completing the following sentences with the correct word.

Kate and Jen went (to, two, too) a football game.

The house over (they’re, their, there) is made of stone.

I have been to every one of (your, you’re) baseball games this season.

Our school is very proud of (its, it’s) students.

Students will then have the remainder of the class period to complete Commonly Confused Practice #1.