Sentence Combining

WHAT IS IT?

Sentence combining is a strategy that helps students produce and comprehend complex sentences (Saddler, 2007, as cited in Caldwell & Leslie, 2013, p.249). When using the sentence combining strategy, teachers should use deconstructed sentences from texts students read in class. Teachers will use these texts to create kernel sentences, or simple sentences that contain the same content from the original text, but in a less complex structure or format. The teacher then guides the student to use the kernel sentence to construct a single complex sentence.

HOW DOES THIS IMPACT STRIVING READERS & WRITERS?

The sentence combining strategy helps cultivate sentence comprehension as well as increased content knowledge (Caldwell & Leslie, 2013). Through the use of this strategy, students will learn about the different components of a sentence and their purposes. This will not only increase students’ comprehension at the sentence level when reading, but also when writing.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

As striving readers begin to encounter more complex texts in higher grade levels, they will need to read the complex language and sentence structures in those texts. In addition, striving writers will be expected to produce longer pieces of writing, the majority of it being expository. The sentence combining strategy will strengthen their ability to communicate information in writing using complex sentences.

HOW WILL I TEACH IT?

Objective: Students will be able to combine two or three simple sentences into a single complex sentence.

Engage: The student will view the Schoolhouse Rock video about coordinating conjunctions. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPoBE-E8VOc). The teacher and student will discuss the purpose of coordinating conjunctions and the FANBOYS mnemonic. The student will then write the FANBOYS mnemonic in their journal for later reference.

Activity: Student will be provided with sentence strips containing simple sentences and index cards with coordinating conjunctions and punctuation marks. These simple sentences will be deconstructed sentences from the “Coyotes” article previously read. The teacher will begin by modeling how to move the sentence strips and index cards to build complex sentences. Then, the teacher and student will work together to build a complex sentence Finally, the student will be able to manipulate other sentence strips to build additional complex sentences. The teacher will check the student’s work, and the student will copy the sentences they built into their journal.

HOW WILL I ASSESS IT?

I will assess the student’s ability to combine simple sentences to create complex sentences through the use of informal observations. In addition, I could create rubrics to assess the structure of each complex sentence where students could earn points for each part of the sentence they include (i.e. capital letters, punctuation, coordinating conjunctions, etc.)

DIFFERENTIATION

This lesson can be differentiated depending on the skill level of the student. For example, a first grader might be working on building simple sentences using word and punctuation cards, whereas a sixth grader might be expected to use introductory phrases with coordinating and/or subordinate conjunctions. The teacher should consider the student’s background knowledge and current grammar skill set before determining the expectation for the complexity of the finished sentence.

ARIZONA ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS, 5th Grade

5.W.2.c

Link ideas within and across categories of information using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., in contrast, especially).

REFERENCES

Arizona Department of Education. (2020). K-12 Standards Section. Arizona Department of Education. https://www.azed.gov/standards-practices/k-12standards/english-language-arts-standards/

Caldwell, J.S. & Leslie, L. (2013). Intervention strategies to follow informal reading inventory assessment: So what do I do now? (3rd ed.). Pearson.

Disney Educational Productions. (2011, December 8). Schoolhouse Rock: Grammar-Conjunction Junction Music Video. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPoBE-E8VOc