Lesson plan
Prepositions vs. Conjunctions
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to determine whether to use a conjunction or preposition in a text and explain their reasoning.
Introduction
(5 minutes)- Display a picture of the Pentagon.
- Ask students if they recognize the building and if they know what people do in the building.
- Explain that the Pentagon is where a lot of the people in charge of the military work. Tell them they cannot get into the building without permission.
- Ask students if they can think of any other buildings in the United States that are government buildings with limited access.
- Allow students to share their answers (e.g. the Capitol Building and the White House).
- Explain that today they are going to edit a journal entry about getting into the Pentagon so that it makes sense. They will add either a preposition or a conjunction and explain their choices.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling
(5 minutes)- List the following prepositions and conjunctions on the board: under, through, and, or.
- Read the student objective and define conjunction as a word used to connect two clauses (e.g. and, but, nor, or, for), and write the definition on the board.
- Define a preposition as a word that shows where something is or when something happened, and write the definition on the board.
- Write the following on the board: The teacher walked ____ the classroom.
- Read through the sentence, and fill in the blank with the correct preposition from the options listed on the board.
- Think aloud about your choice by placing some of the words on the line and reading the sentence. Eliminate the conjunctions because there are no clauses in between the blank. Reinforce the decision to use a preposition in this sentence by showing that the sentence mentions a location (i.e. the classroom).
- Read through the correct sentence: The teacher walked through the classroom.
- Explain that you chose this preposition based on the options given.
Guided Practice
(12 minutes)- Ask students if they could have chosen another preposition (e.g. into or around).
- Allow a student to pretend to be the teacher and model what it would look like to enter the classroom or walk through the classroom.
- Write the following on the board: The teacher walked through the classroom _____ into the hallway.
- Tell the students to look at the options listed on the board and turn and talk to their partner about the right answer for the sentence.
- Ask one student to share their answer (i.e. and) and explain their choice.
- Allow a student to act out the sentence.
- Emphasize to students that the conjunction connected the two things the teacher did.
- Distribute The Pentagon Tour Tips and Tricks worksheet, read the directions, and complete the first paragraph with student volunteers giving their answers and explanations.
- Ask another student to restate the volunteer’s explanations.
- Assign the students A–B partners and tell them to complete the second paragraph in The Pentagon Tour Tips and Tricks worksheet. Tell the students you may choose them randomly to explain their answers.
- Choose non-volunteers to explain their answers on the page. Prompt them to share why they would use a conjunction instead of a preposition, and vice versa.
Independent working time
(8 minutes)- Review the directions for The Pentagon Tour Tips and Tricks worksheet.
- Explain they will now complete the rest of the worksheet using the words from the word box.
- Tell students they may have to explain their answers to the class at the end.
Differentiation
Support:
- Assign the words in the word box to specific paragraphs in The Pentagon Tour Tips and Tricks worksheet.
- Give students only one of the two paragraphs to complete for their independent practice.
- Support student understanding of prepositions and conjunctions with the Conjunctions: The Cure for Your Run-ons and Practice with Prepositional Phrases worksheets.
- Provide the following words for students to choose to fill the blank on their exit ticket: but, or, in, while.
- Use sentence frames for the discussion and exit ticket. For example: I chose ____ because ____.
Enrichment:
- Challenge students to find the prepositional phrases throughout The Pentagon Tour Tips and Tricks worksheet and underline them.
- Ask students to complete The Pentagon Tour Tips and Tricks worksheet without the word box.
- Allow students to write their own journal entry using at least ten prepositions and conjunctions.
Assessment
(3 minutes)- Pass out the lined paper.
- Write the following on the board: The student gave us nice tips, ____ I want to know if the Pentagon has any food!
- Require students to fill in the blank with a conjunction or preposition, and justify their answer in 1–3 sentences.
Review and closing
(2 minutes)- Ask for volunteers to share their answers from their independent practice.
- Remind students this is an opportunity to share an explanation if they haven't done so already.
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