Video
In this introductory video actions in real life are described in words and shown visually through art. Show video as an introduction to the lesson. Before watching, ask introductory questions (listed below). Watch through one time, and then replay and pause the writing segments so the students can determine which sentences are better (blue or red). See teacher notes and questions below.
Questions and Teacher Notes
Questions to ask before the video:
1. Think about the setting where the video is taking place. Imagine how you would describe it to someone who has not seen it yet.
2. Think about the people you see in this video. Imagine how you would describe them to someone else.
3. While you are watching the video, look for different actions and write them down in your notes. Think about how you could describe these actions to someone who has not seen the video.
Ask these questions after the video or replay video a second time and pause to ask questions:
1. What did the girl look like in the video? How would you describe her?
2. What actions did you see in the video? How would you describe the actions?
3. What was happening to the tall grass and the tree?
Replay and pause the sentence writing video segments, asking the following questions (or show pictures on the stills page when asking questions):
1. Look at the two sentences. Compare and contrast the first (blue) and second (red) sentences. What are the differences?
(The first sentence does not tell us very much. The second sentence has more details.)
2. Do both sentences describe what is happening in the video? What is the difference between the sentences?
(Yes, but the second sentence describes more.)
3. Which sentence is better? (The second one)
4. Why do you think it is better? (It has more words and more details.)
5. Which one is more interesting to read? (The second one)
6. Why? (It tells me more and has interesting words.)
7. What do you think is missing in the first sentence? (descriptive words and details)
8. If you had to draw a picture to go with one of these sentences, which sentence would you prefer to use? Why? (The second one, because it gives me more details to help me draw a picture about it.)
9. How would you create a better sentence than the first one? Give me an example. (The happy girl wearing the striped dress ran fast down the steep hill.)
10. Why is this sentence (student’s example sentence) better? (It describes the girl and what she was wearing, and it describes the hill.)
11. What words did he/she use that make it a better sentence? (happy, striped dress, fast, steep hill)
12. Descriptive sentences use many different types of words. What are these different types called? (Parts of speech; nouns, verbs, etc.)
Note: This last question leads into the interactive presentation which teaches students about the five parts of speech included in this lesson (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.)
1. Think about the setting where the video is taking place. Imagine how you would describe it to someone who has not seen it yet.
2. Think about the people you see in this video. Imagine how you would describe them to someone else.
3. While you are watching the video, look for different actions and write them down in your notes. Think about how you could describe these actions to someone who has not seen the video.
Ask these questions after the video or replay video a second time and pause to ask questions:
1. What did the girl look like in the video? How would you describe her?
2. What actions did you see in the video? How would you describe the actions?
3. What was happening to the tall grass and the tree?
Replay and pause the sentence writing video segments, asking the following questions (or show pictures on the stills page when asking questions):
1. Look at the two sentences. Compare and contrast the first (blue) and second (red) sentences. What are the differences?
(The first sentence does not tell us very much. The second sentence has more details.)
2. Do both sentences describe what is happening in the video? What is the difference between the sentences?
(Yes, but the second sentence describes more.)
3. Which sentence is better? (The second one)
4. Why do you think it is better? (It has more words and more details.)
5. Which one is more interesting to read? (The second one)
6. Why? (It tells me more and has interesting words.)
7. What do you think is missing in the first sentence? (descriptive words and details)
8. If you had to draw a picture to go with one of these sentences, which sentence would you prefer to use? Why? (The second one, because it gives me more details to help me draw a picture about it.)
9. How would you create a better sentence than the first one? Give me an example. (The happy girl wearing the striped dress ran fast down the steep hill.)
10. Why is this sentence (student’s example sentence) better? (It describes the girl and what she was wearing, and it describes the hill.)
11. What words did he/she use that make it a better sentence? (happy, striped dress, fast, steep hill)
12. Descriptive sentences use many different types of words. What are these different types called? (Parts of speech; nouns, verbs, etc.)
Note: This last question leads into the interactive presentation which teaches students about the five parts of speech included in this lesson (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.)