Shelydon Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 I am teaching 10 7th graders with IEW. We meet for 1.5 hours once a week, then they do homework. I have done this for years with great results. My group this year is really low, significantly below grade level and most can't put together a grammatically correct simple sentence. They don't understand subject/verb agreement, can't use plurals, tense hop, etc. I would like to add a 'how to compose sentences' each week to see if we can shore up some skills. Any suggestions on a workbook style curriculum I can use? Or something printable from teachers pay teachers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Have a look at Killgallon's books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelydon Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 17 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said: Have a look at Killgallon's books. Thanks! I have these. I think they are too advanced. Here is a type of sentences I am seeing in Chinese peoples gives grilled Scorpions. like in Japan. Or chocolate silkworms. with Freed aunts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 I would start them off with beginning diagramming: subject/predicate. Just make them a worksheet with several blank simple diagrams. Play games where you split the class in two and half get a noun and half get a verb deck. The first two turn over a card and walk to the front of the room. If the cards agree with each other, they shake hands. If not, they bow and walk away. Or noun can stand there and wait for a different verb to appear. Progress to finding the subject/predicate in a sentence and underline/highlight each one. After they get it down, build with one part of speech/part of sentence each week. I would not give them worksheets that were not tailor made. You have 7th graders that are significantly behind in written English. Not one or two, but a group. It's not an ability issue. It's a 'what's being done at home' issue. Giving them more work that isn't fully dovetailed into the class isn't going to get done. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Agree with diagramming. Show what works. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Writing Skills by Diane Hanbury King. A is super basic, workbook 1 or 2? Either use the workbook or use the workbook as examples of activities so you can tailor it to what you are working on in class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 15 hours ago, Shelydon said: They don't understand subject/verb agreement, can't use plurals, tense hop, etc. Do they not use these in their speech as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelydon Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 15 hours ago, HomeAgain said: I would start them off with beginning diagramming: subject/predicate. Just make them a worksheet with several blank simple diagrams. Play games where you split the class in two and half get a noun and half get a verb deck. The first two turn over a card and walk to the front of the room. If the cards agree with each other, they shake hands. If not, they bow and walk away. Or noun can stand there and wait for a different verb to appear. Progress to finding the subject/predicate in a sentence and underline/highlight each one. After they get it down, build with one part of speech/part of sentence each week. I would not give them worksheets that were not tailor made. You have 7th graders that are significantly behind in written English. Not one or two, but a group. It's not an ability issue. It's a 'what's being done at home' issue. Giving them more work that isn't fully dovetailed into the class isn't going to get done. Fantastic ideas! The games are perfect. This is a group of previously public schooled kiddos. The parents really have no idea what they were taught previously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelydon Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 1 hour ago, EKS said: Do they not use these in their speech as well? They do. It is very normal to use correct forms in speaking but not in writing. 14 hours ago, Clarita said: Writing Skills by Diane Hanbury King. A is super basic, workbook 1 or 2? Either use the workbook or use the workbook as examples of activities so you can tailor it to what you are working on in class. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 (edited) I would also go back to grammar. I pulled out Junior Analytical Grammar (which is level 1 now) for a teen I'm helping. It's 4th-5th grade level but it's not babyish. They can remember some of the terms but have no conceptual understanding. Our attempts to discuss what's wrong with an incomplete sentence, when they don't have the vocabulary to say "it needs a verb," simply aren't productive. In JAG they're learning basic sentence structure while picking up the vocabulary (with comprehension!) we'll need to go further. Edited September 25 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Some activities from the Giggly Guide to Grammar may help. It's definitely good for the age group, and I can't truly remember, but I think some of the exercises would help with sentence structure, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 3 hours ago, Shelydon said: It is very normal to use correct forms in speaking but not in writing. I understand this. But remediation would be different if they were also using incorrect forms in speech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelydon Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 28 minutes ago, EKS said: I understand this. But remediation would be different if they were also using incorrect forms in speech. Yes. I'd refer to an SLP for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 You may also want to check out a book called Mechanically Inclined if you want fun activities for middle school age students who struggle with basic mechanics. It's written by a middle school teacher on how to teach grammar and mechanics. The reason he wrote the book is because he encountered what you encountered for years and this was the solution that he found works for him. Might be good for you because a lot of the activities are group oriented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 We use, love and highly recommend Reasoning and Writing at grade level. Both of my kids write superbly for their ages/stages. Since you have an older class, I recommend you investigate the Older Student, remedial condensed version called Expressive Writing I and/or II. You could give the placement test and then get the level that the majority of them need. If it's like the elementary series then it's a scripted program with very well done exercises for the students to practice and grow on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forty-two Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 On 9/24/2024 at 5:57 PM, Shelydon said: Thanks! I have these. I think they are too advanced. Here is a type of sentences I am seeing in Chinese peoples gives grilled Scorpions. like in Japan. Or chocolate silkworms. with Freed aunts. Killgallon also proved too advanced a starting point for my ds. We had been doing Writing Skills A, and he was doing well enough, but his sentences were extremely basic. I suppose I could have kept going - the series covers compound and complex sentences - but his sisters had so much better sentence structure at his age that I decided to pause and go do some of what I had done with them that I hadn't done with him. They'd really enjoyed Killgallon at his age, but ds was unable to do the imitations without a great deal of help from me. After a few weeks, I paused Killgallon and started doing Drawing Sentences from the beginning, having him do both diagrams and imitations, starting right from subj/pred. That's been what he's needed, though it's been slow going. (He gets blank page syndrome, even with imitating very basic sentences, though he's slowing building up the ability.) So another vote for diagramming and building sentences from the ground up. Grammar for Writers (a program I pink-sparkly-heart *love*, but too advanced for your students) focuses on first and foremost determining "who did what", and aligning that with the subject/predicate. I use that a lot with ds; he often assumes the subject (because it was mentioned in the previous sentence) - it helps him figure out what is missing in his sentence. (It wasn't missing in his head, and it wasn't missing on the page (just in the current sentence), so having to explicitly state it again really baffled him for a while. He sometimes ends up repeating everything, because he's not sure which bits he needs and which bits he doesn't. Relating it back to "who did what" is helping him identify the parts he needs.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelydon Posted Thursday at 07:40 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 07:40 PM On 9/26/2024 at 12:34 PM, Clarita said: You may also want to check out a book called Mechanically Inclined if you want fun activities for middle school age students who struggle with basic mechanics. It's written by a middle school teacher on how to teach grammar and mechanics. The reason he wrote the book is because he encountered what you encountered for years and this was the solution that he found works for him. Might be good for you because a lot of the activities are group oriented. This sounds great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelydon Posted Thursday at 07:41 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 07:41 PM On 9/26/2024 at 2:06 PM, forty-two said: Killgallon also proved too advanced a starting point for my ds. We had been doing Writing Skills A, and he was doing well enough, but his sentences were extremely basic. I suppose I could have kept going - the series covers compound and complex sentences - but his sisters had so much better sentence structure at his age that I decided to pause and go do some of what I had done with them that I hadn't done with him. They'd really enjoyed Killgallon at his age, but ds was unable to do the imitations without a great deal of help from me. After a few weeks, I paused Killgallon and started doing Drawing Sentences from the beginning, having him do both diagrams and imitations, starting right from subj/pred. That's been what he's needed, though it's been slow going. (He gets blank page syndrome, even with imitating very basic sentences, though he's slowing building up the ability.) So another vote for diagramming and building sentences from the ground up. Grammar for Writers (a program I pink-sparkly-heart *love*, but too advanced for your students) focuses on first and foremost determining "who did what", and aligning that with the subject/predicate. I use that a lot with ds; he often assumes the subject (because it was mentioned in the previous sentence) - it helps him figure out what is missing in his sentence. (It wasn't missing in his head, and it wasn't missing on the page (just in the current sentence), so having to explicitly state it again really baffled him for a while. He sometimes ends up repeating everything, because he's not sure which bits he needs and which bits he doesn't. Relating it back to "who did what" is helping him identify the parts he needs.) Thanks-- that's a good idea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelydon Posted Thursday at 07:42 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 07:42 PM On 9/26/2024 at 12:53 PM, mathmarm said: We use, love and highly recommend Reasoning and Writing at grade level. Both of my kids write superbly for their ages/stages. Since you have an older class, I recommend you investigate the Older Student, remedial condensed version called Expressive Writing I and/or II. You could give the placement test and then get the level that the majority of them need. If it's like the elementary series then it's a scripted program with very well done exercises for the students to practice and grow on. I had not heard of this, thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted yesterday at 02:32 PM Share Posted yesterday at 02:32 PM On 10/24/2024 at 3:42 PM, Shelydon said: I had not heard of this, thank you Rereading the OP again, I think level 2 would be perfect. Level 1 seems like a better fit for Remedial Elementary and ESOL students. Level 2 starts with 10 "pre lesson" on the essential sentence composing skills and then a 45-lesson program. I heard that the pre lessons can be doubled up on--1.5 or 2 each day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malam Posted 3 hours ago Share Posted 3 hours ago On 9/26/2024 at 10:53 PM, mathmarm said: We use, love and highly recommend Reasoning and Writing at grade level. Both of my kids write superbly for their ages/stages. Since you have an older class, I recommend you investigate the Older Student, remedial condensed version called Expressive Writing I and/or II. You could give the placement test and then get the level that the majority of them need. If it's like the elementary series then it's a scripted program with very well done exercises for the students to practice and grow on. Which materials do you need? Some of it seems very expensive, e.g. https://www.mheducation.com/prek-12/product/reasoning-writing-level-teacher-materials-mcgraw-hill/9780026849241.html https://www.mheducation.com/prek-12/product/expressive-writing-level-1-teacher-materials-mcgraw-hill/9780076035878.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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