Instructional Strategies

Teacher actions are highlighted.

• Students should be familiar with clauses conjoined by and and but and adverbial clauses telling Why--? and When--? and Relative clauses are adjective clauses that modify nouns.

• Review several ways students have learned to join short sentences to make a longer sentence, for example:

  • Clauses conjoined using and

  • Clauses conjoined using but

  • Adverbial clauses of cause

  • Adverbial clauses of time

• Write two sentences on the board:

  • Kim helped her dad.

  • Her dad is writing a book about sea animals.

• Tell the students that two sentences can be joined but in a way different from what they have learned before.

• Show how these two sentences can be joined to make a clear and fluent sentence.

• Write the sentence under the two short sentences:

  • Kim helped her dad who is writing a book about sea animals.

• Discuss how you combined the two sentences.

  • Kim helped her dad. Her dad is writing a book about sea animals.

    • Show the students that her dad is repeated (both sentences have a common element).

    • Illustrate: The period in the first sentence was deleted.

    • The word/phrase that is repeated was deleted e.g., Her dad in the second sentence.

    • 'Who'  was substituted for the deleted phrase.

• Repeat these steps with another set of sentences:

  • Mason waved at Mr. Steinhoff. Mr. Steinhoff is his baseball coach.

    • Find the words that are repeated:

    • Mason waved at Mr. Steinhoff. Mr. Steinhoff is his baseball coach.

• Tell the students, substitute 'who' for the repeated words:

  • Mason waved at Mr. Steinhoff who is his baseball coach.

  • In both sets of sentences 'who' is substituted for the word/phrase that was repeated and deleted.

• Reinforce these steps using 3 or 4 more sets of sentences.

• Write another set of sentences on the board. This set should require the relative pronoun 'that':

  • Ivan was playing with a small, black and white puppy. The puppy was a birthday gift.

  • Underline the common elements:

    • Ivan was playing with a small, black and white puppy. The puppy was a birthday gift.

• Write the new sentence:

  • Ivan was playing with a small, black and white puppy that was a birthday gift to him.

• Explain the word 'that' is a substitute for the word puppy. Ask the students: Why is 'that' in this sentence and not 'who'. (e.g. substituting a pronoun for a person so you used 'who'. A puppy is not a person, it is an animal, so we used 'that'.)