Grammar Study by: Janet Angelillo

After reading Mechanically Inclined I wanted to learn some more about how to implement grammar into my K/1 classroom. Grammar Study has a lot of great ideas for students in the elementary grades. I have attached a few of my own graphic organizers that are appropriate for young children.

Picture: The left picture is a grammar skills sheet that the students complete each week on the new skill. The first day of the study we talk about the new grammar skill (compound words) and we read a passage from a book that they are familiar with and find the skill within a text as a whole group. The second day students find the skill with partners in books that they have at their tables and write the words in the first box. There is also a box for questions they may have about the skill of the week. On the third day students create their own definitions for the new skill and talk to a partner about their definitions. On the fourth day students create two sentences using the new skill. This can be from their writing or made up that day. On the last day of the study students play a game with a partner and sort words into two piles compound and non compound words, nouns and proper nouns etc. This is also a quick assessment I use to see who has grasped the concept and who needs more help! In Grammar Study, Angelillo talks about setting up a schedule for the week and I thought that this schedule would be easy to use with all grammar skills and the students would get used to the format.

Pictures: In the first picture students sort their grammar of the week into groups using authentic texts from the classroom. They find the grammar skills with a partner or independently and put them into the correct column. In the second picture students are given sentences from books we have read together and they have to place them under the column that demonstrates that skill. After they complete the sort they have to explain why they sorted the sentences the way they did.

SYNOPSIS
Asking students to memorize the rules of grammar is of limited value; on the other hand, helping them understand the power of grammar from the inside out has the potential to transform their writing and develop their lifelong love affair with language. A brilliant writer herself, Janet Angellilo shows you how to teach your students all the essential skills they need related to grammar through a deeply engaging inquiry study of grammar. For example, she introduces strategies such as "mentor sentences" from well-loved literature as a way to teach students the "sense" or "cadence" of a complete sentence. Janet emphasizes grammar inquiry as the initiation into a literate life fascinated by words.