In my first grade classroom I have been doing Daily Oral Language as part of my morning work for the past four years. When I spoke with other teachers we all had the same complaint; the kids could correct the sentences on the board, but they did not apply these grammar skills to their writing. I started thinking about ways that I could improve this practice and make it more meaningful to my students. I decided on changing things up a bit.
Now instead of correcting an incorrect sentence, my students are shown a pair of sentences, one written correctly, one written incorrectly. They have to decide which sentence is written correctly and copy down the correct sentence. For example:
the cat ran down main street
The cat ran down Main Street.
This practices makes the student think critically about the differences in the sentences and helps them apply grammar rules to their own writing. Also I found that a lot of the grammar concepts were covered in a similar way on standardized tests, students were asked to discriminate between correct and incorrect sentences.
I am including a set of cards that has some example questions, you can project these, copy them onto the board, or use them as a center!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I have been feeling the same frustration. I hand out a sheet with the incorrect sentence and we correct together. They are supposed to mark the changes in the sentence and then re-write it correctly. Not only do they not apply to their own writing, but sometimes they copy it incorrectly. I appreciate the suggestion.
ReplyDeletewow thanks i am trying to get my students to do all of this thank you very much
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!! I have been having the same frustration and am excited to try your approach!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea! Thanks
ReplyDeleteDaily Oral Language (DOL) is an effective language learning technique. Is Game Real It involves brief exercises to correct grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary in spoken or written sentences.
ReplyDelete