Sentence Composing Activities “Snow”byJuliaAlvarez

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Sentence Composing Activities “Snow” by Julia Alvarez

Foundation Lesson About this Lesson The activities presented here offer students practice with sentence composing techniques described in Don Killgallon’s Sentence Composing for Middle School. The Killgallon series, which spans ability levels from elementary to college, focuses on sentence development using both classical and contemporary texts as models. Killgallon believes that students learn to create complex sentence structures by first reading rich texts and then imitating those sentence structures as they write. Performing Killgallon-style exercises like sentence unscrambling, imitating, combining, and expanding allows students to see clearly how parts of sentences work together to create meaning. With practice, students will begin to transfer these composing techniques to their own writing and to think deliberatively about the effects created by their writing choices. “Sentence Composing Activities” guides students through exercises in which they unscramble, imitate, combine, decombine, and expand various sentences from Julia Alvarez’s short story “Snow.” This lesson provides teachers with a model for incorporating grammar instruction into the study of a literary passage, and teachers are encouraged to create sentence composing lessons like this one, using short passages from works in their own curriculum. This lesson is included in Module 3: Integrating Grammar, Exploring Syntax. Objectives Students will

demonstrate understanding of how different types of clauses and phrases are used in sentences.

advance their own style and voice by imitating stylistic models. Level Grades Six through Eight Connection to Common Core Standards for English Language Arts LTF® Foundation Lessons are designed to be used across grade levels and therefore are aligned to the CCSS Anchor Standards. Teachers should consult their own grade-level-specific Standards. The activities in this lesson allow teachers to address the following Common Core Standards: Explicitly addressed in this lesson Code Standard Level of

Thinking Depth of Knowledge

L.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Understand I

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Teacher Overview—Sentence Composing Activities

“Snow”

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L.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Understand I

L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Understand II

SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Understand II

SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Evaluate III

Implicitly addressed in this lesson Code Standard Level of

Thinking Depth of Knowledge

R.10 Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Understand II

W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Create III

W.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach

Evaluate III

W.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Apply III

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“Snow”

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LTF Skill Focus The foundation for LTF English lessons is the Skill Progression Chart that identifies key skills for each domain, beginning with grade 6 and adding more complex skills at each subsequent grade level while reinforcing skills introduced at previous grade levels. The Skill Focus for each individual lesson identifies the skills actually addressed in that lesson.

Levels of Thinking Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create

Close Reading written, spoken, and visual texts

Grammar purposeful use of language for effect

Composition written, spoken, and visual products

Mechanics Capitalization Punctuation Phrases Appositive Participial Prepositional Clauses Dependent/Subordinate Independent Sentences Structure complex compound compound-complex simple Sentence Variety Sentence Beginnings Sentence Combining Analysis of a Text Meaning and Effect related to parts of speech, phrases, clauses, sentences, and syntax

Types (modes) Descriptive The Process of Composition Editing sentence structure Style/Voice Conscious Manipulation of Sentence Patterns Coordination/Subordination Experimentation with Sentence Variety Imitation of Stylistic Models Use of Various Sentence Openings

Connections to AP* Students are expected to perform syntactical analysis on both the AP English Literature and AP English Language Exams, and students should be able to articulate how authors create specific effects through the manipulation of sentence parts. Students’ own essays are scored holistically, and AP graders reward students for their effective and sophisticated use and control of language and syntax. *Advanced Placement and AP are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board. The College Board was not involved in the production of this material. Materials and Resources

“Snow” by Julia Alvarez copies of Student Activity prepared sentence strips

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“Snow”

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Assessments The following kinds of formative assessments are embedded in this lesson:

writing activities group discussion display of knowledge through manipulatives

Additional assessments are available under the Assessments/Grade Level Assessments section of the LTF website. While there are multiple choice questions for each passage, there are also grammar activities for the following grade-level assessments:

Grade 6: “A Bird Came Down the Walk” Grade 7: Hunger of Memory Grade 8: “The Audacity of Hope” Grade 9: “Dread Tomato Addiction” and “Greene on Green” Grade 10: Madame Bovary and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”

Teaching Suggestions We encourage teachers not to see this lesson as a stand-alone handout for students to complete independently. Instead, teachers will find that students are more engaged and will retain the skills better if they work through the exercises using manipulatives like sentence strips and if they model and share their sentences in whole class and small group settings. Given that students may need to review foundational grammatical concepts as they complete the exercises, teachers should consider extending the lesson over several class periods. One possibility is to begin each class period with a different activity, or teachers may wish to target a specific skill or technique to practice over a longer time period. The lesson opens with a discussion of phrases and clauses. Teachers should review these concepts with students, emphasizing that how a sentence is put together affects its meaning. Teachers also may consider distributing to their students LTF’s “Phrase Toolbox” and “Clause Toolbox” handouts as ready reference tools. These handouts may be found in the Teacher Resource section of the LTF website. All sentences in these activities are taken from the short story “Snow,” which is included at the end of the Student Activity. The first activity requires some advanced preparation, as teachers will need to create sets of manipulatives for groups to use as they complete the exercises. Teachers should divide their class roster into groups of three or four students and prepare two sets of sentence strips for each group. The phrases and clauses to be written on individual sentence strips are included below. Note: Activity One might be more challenging for students without the inclusion of capital letters and punctuation marks that dictate sentence beginnings and endings. Teachers might want to include these clues the first time they use sentence strips and omit them with subsequent uses.

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“Snow”

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Activity One: Sentence Unscrambling First set of sentence strips: hefty women in long black gowns and bonnets like dolls in mourning. Our first year in New York taught by the Sisters of Charity, that made them look peculiar, we rented a small apartment with a Catholic school nearby, Second set of sentence strips: apart from the other children As the only immigrant in my class could tutor me I was put in a special seat in the first row by the window, so that Sister Zoe without disturbing them. Using the first set of sentence strips, ask students to unscramble the sentence by putting the strips in order. Discuss with the class different options for combining the strips and have each group evaluate which order they like best. Repeat the activity with the second set of sentence strips. Activity Two: Sentence Imitating Teachers might assist students by reading the sentence out loud and helping them divide the model sentence into units of meaning or chunks before they begin writing their original sentences. Using the document camera or whiteboard, teachers should share several student examples with the class. Activity Three: Sentence Decombining Teachers might work through this exercise with the whole group, helping students divide the model sentences into chunks so students can more easily determine what units of meaning should be included in the new sentences. Activity Four: Sentence Combining Teachers might have students work in pairs to complete the Sentence Combining activity. Discuss as a class how student groups combine the elements to create logical, grammatical sentences. Activity Five: Sentence Expanding For this activity, additions must be made at the locations designated by slash marks (/), not at random spots throughout the sentences. Teachers might consider having students expand sentences with a partner. Also, teachers might assign one sentence to half the pairs and the second sentence to the other half. Students should share their expansion ideas with the whole group.

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“Snow”

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Additional Activities These sentences combine two skills (unscrambling and imitating, for example) in one activity. Teachers could assign these sentences to student pairs, or they might consider assigning them for independent practice to monitor student understanding. Reading the Original Passage The passage “Snow” from Julia Alvarez’s novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is included in this lesson so students can see in their original context the sentences they have been manipulating. Reading the entire passage and identifying the sentences in context could help students understand why certain constructions are more effective than others. Teachers should have students read the passage aloud and discuss any differences between the original text and the student exercises. Answers The answers for this lesson are subjective and will vary. However, teachers will want to check group and individual answers to make sure students are employing standard grammar and mechanical rules correctly. To obtain the maximum benefit of the lesson, teachers should ask students to go beyond the expected responses.

English

Copyright © 2012 Laying the Foundation®, Inc., Dallas, TX. All rights reserved. Visit: us online at www.ltftraining.org.

Sentence Composing Activities “Snow” by Julia Alvarez

Foundation Lesson Sentences are made up of grammatical units called clauses and phrases. Clauses are groups of related words that contain a subject and a verb. Phrases are groups of words that do not contain both a subject and a verb. When taken together, the words in the phrases function as a single part of speech. Clauses and phrases can be arranged in different ways to create grammatically correct sentences, but rearranging the elements sometimes changes the meaning of the sentences. Look, for example, at the following sentence from Julia Alvarez’s “Snow”:

Sister Zoe explained to a wide-eyed classroom what was happening in Cuba.

We could divide this sentence into grammatical units as follows: Sister Zoe explained (independent clause) to a wide-eyed classroom (prepositional phrase) what was happening (noun clause) in Cuba (prepositional phrase) We could then combine, or “unscramble,” these elements in various orders to make other complete and grammatically correct sentences. Some examples might include:

1. To a wide-eyed classroom, Sister Zoe explained what was happening in Cuba. 2. Sister Zoe explained what was happening to a wide-eyed classroom in Cuba. 3. In Cuba, Sister Zoe explained what was happening to a wide-eyed classroom.

While the first of these sentences doesn’t say exactly what the original sentence said, its meaning is clear. However, the arrangement of the phrases in the second and third sentences changes the meaning of the original sentence completely. Sentences two and three both imply some event happened to the “wide-eyed classroom,” and sentence three suggests that the whole conversation happened “in Cuba.” It is important, therefore, to be sure the grammatical units are arranged in ways that communicate clearly the ideas we want to convey to our readers. As you complete the following activities, keep these ideas in mind.

The following activities are patterned after models found in Sentence Composing for Middle School by Don Killgallon.

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Student Activity—Sentence Composing Activities “Snow”


Activity One—Sentence Unscrambling: Write the following sentence parts on sentence strips. Using your sentence strips, see how many combinations of phrases and clauses you can arrange to create logical and grammatically correct sentences. In the space provided, write the sentence you think is best. Example: I was to repeat: Slowly, the new words she enunciated laundromat, corn flakes, subway, snow. Unscrambled sentence: Slowly, she enunciated the new words I was to repeat: laundromat, cornflakes, subway, snow. 1. hefty women in long black gowns and bonnets like dolls in mourning. Our first year in New York taught by the Sisters of Charity that made them look peculiar, we rented a small apartment with a Catholic school nearby, Write the unscrambled sentence: 2. apart from the other children As the only immigrant in my class, could tutor me I was put in a special seat in the first row by the window, so that Sister Zoe without disturbing them. Write the unscrambled sentence:

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Activity Two—Sentence Imitating: Write an original sentence that imitates each of the model sentences. Make all of your sentence parts match the grammatical parts in the original sentence. Write your new sentence in the space provided. Hint: Before writing your sentence, divide the original into grammatical units so you will know what kinds of phrases and clauses you should include in your own sentence. Example sentence: From my desk I watched the fine powder dust the sidewalk and parked cars below. Divide into grammatical units: From my desk I watched the fine powder dust the sidewalk and parked cars below. Sample imitation sentence: In the woods I heard a gentle breeze rustle the branches and dried leaves above. 3. Model sentence: Sister Zoe explained to a wide-eyed classroom what was happening in

Cuba. Divide into grammatical units: Write a new sentence that imitates the grammatical units in Model Sentence #3: 4. Model sentence: Russian missiles were being assembled, trained supposedly on New York

City. Divide into grammatical units:

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Write a new sentence that imitates the grammatical units in Model Sentence #4: Activity Three—Sentence Decombining: Express the content of the following sentence in shorter sentences. Example sentence: I had a lovely name, she said, and she had me teach the whole class how to pronounce it. Shorter sentences: She said I had a lovely name. She had me teach the whole class. I taught the class how to pronounce it. 5. Sister Zoe jerked around, her full black skirt ballooning as she hurried to my side. Write the shorter sentences: 6. All my life I had heard about the white crystals that fell out of American skies in the winter. Write the shorter sentences: Activity Four—Sentence Combining: Combine the following list of sentences to create one sentence. Write your sentence in the space provided. Example: It was dark. I got up in the morning. It was frosty in the morning. I followed my breath to school. Combined sentence: It was dark when I got up in the morning, frosty when I followed my breath to school.

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7. President Kennedy was on the television. President Kennedy was looking worried too. The television was at home. President Kennedy explained something. He explained that we might have to go to war. The war would be against the Communists. Write the combined sentence: 8. A bell would go off. The bell was ominous. We would file into the hall. We would fall to the floor. We would cover our heads with our coats. We would imagine our hair falling out. We would imagine some bones going soft. The bones were in our arms. Write the combined sentence: Activity Five—Sentence Expanding: Complete the following sentences by adding your own words at the slash mark (/). Try to add approximately the number of words in parentheses. Write your sentence in the space provided. Example: Soon I picked up enough English / (7). Expanded sentence: Soon I picked up enough English to make myself understood by my classmates.

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9. She drew a picture of a mushroom on the blackboard, / (15). Write the expanded sentence: 10. One morning as I sat at my desk daydreaming out the window, / (21) Write the expanded sentence: Additional Activities—Using Multiple Strategies: Unscramble the following sentence; then write a sentence that imitates the unscrambled sentence. Write your sentences in the space provided. Example: I liked them a lot my grandmotherly fourth-grade teacher Sister Zoe especially Unscrambled sentence: I liked them a lot, especially my grandmotherly fourth-grade teacher, Sister Zoe. Sample imitation sentence: I watch movies often, particularly my very favorite genre, romantic comedies. 11. each flake was different irreplaceable and beautiful like a person Sister Zoe had said Write the unscrambled sentence:

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Write a new sentence that imitates the grammatical parts of the unscrambled sentence above: 12. From my desk I watched something. I watched the fine powder. The powder dusted the sidewalk. The powder dusted the parked cars. The cars were below. Write the unscrambled sentence: Write a new sentence that imitates the unscrambled sentence above: Now, unscramble the following sentence parts to match the model sentence provided. Then write an original sentence that imitates the model. Write your sentences in the space provided. 13. Model Sentence: It was dark when I got up in the morning, frosty when I followed my

breath to school. Scrambled sentence angry during the night frightened I was on the line when I heard the dial tone when the telephone rang

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Unscramble the sentence to match the model above and write the unscrambled sentence here: Write a new sentence that imitates the model sentence:

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From HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS. Copyright © 1991 by Julia Alvarez. Published by Plume, an imprint of The Penguin Group (US), and originally in hardcover by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Reprinted by permission of Susan Bergholz Literary Services, New York, NY and Lamy, NM. All rights reserved.

Snow

by Julia Alvarez

Our first year in New York we rented a small apartment with a Catholic school nearby, taught by the Sisters of Charity, hefty women in long black gowns and bonnets that made them look peculiar, like dolls in mourning. I liked them a lot, especially my grandmotherly fourth-grade teacher, Sister Zoe. I had a lovely name, she said, and she had me teach the whole class how to pronounce it. Yo-lan-da. As the only immigrant in my class, I was put in a special seat in the first row by the window, apart from the other children so that Sister Zoe could tutor me without disturbing them. Slowly, she enunciated the new words I was to repeat: laundromat, cornflakes, subway, snow. Soon I picked up enough English to understand holocaust was in the air. Sister Zoe explained to a wide-eyed classroom what was happening in Cuba. Russian missiles were being assembled, trained supposedly on New York City. President Kennedy, looking worried too, was on the television at home, explaining we might have to go to war against the Communists. At school, we had air-raid drills: An ominous bell would go off and we’d file into the hall, fall to the floor, cover our heads with our coats, and imagine our hair falling out, the bones in our arms going soft. At home, Mami and my sisters and I said a rosary for world peace. I heard new vocabulary: nuclear bomb, radioactive fallout, bomb shelter. Sister Zoe explained how it would happen. She drew a picture of a mushroom on the blackboard and dotted a flurry of chalkmarks for the dusty fallout that would kill us all. The months grew cold, November, December. It was dark when I got up in the morning, frosty when I followed my breath to school. One morning as I sat at my desk daydreaming out the window, I saw dots in the air like the ones Sister Zoe had drawn—random at first, then lots and lots. I shrieked, “Bomb! Bomb!” Sister Zoe jerked around, her full black skirt ballooning as she hurried to my side. A few girls began to cry. But then Sister Zoe’s shocked look faded. “Why, Yolanda dear, that’s snow!” She laughed. “Snow.” “Snow,” I repeated. I looked out the window warily. All my life I had heard about the white crystals that fell out of American skies in the winter. From my desk I watched the fine powder dust the sidewalk and parked cars below. Each flake was different, Sister Zoe had said, like a person, irreplaceable and beautiful.

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Sentence Composing Activities “Snow”byJuliaAlvarez