Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences
Teaching simple, compound and complex sentences can be tough! In my 5th grade class, I usually try to focus on a grammar target each week. If the students show mastery by Friday, I will move on. I am very impressed with my kiddos this week! We worked on simple, compound, and complex sentences. Usually, I spend a couple of weeks on this skill because it seems to take some of them a little more time to understand. This year, however, the students did a wonderful job! I want to share one of the activities that we completed involving sentence types. The kids really loved it, and it can be used for other skills as well.
Objectives
Students will…
- accurately write simple, compound, and complex sentences.
- accurately identify simple, compound, and complex sentences.
- practice self assessment and peer assessment.
Materials
- Construction Paper
- Pencil
- Small Post it Notes
- Sentence Posters (Optional)
Procedures
- First, the teacher introduces activity as a “game”. Students will be making a game board and game pieces, and they will have the other students in the class play their game.
- Each student gets one sheet of construction paper, and folds it “brochure style”.
- Create 3 columns using the fold lines. (Simple Sentences, Compound Sentences, Complex Sentences.)
- Next, each student writes 3 simple, 3 compound, and 3 complex sentences on the post-its and places them in the correct column.
- Teacher checks sentences for accuracy. If sentences are incorrect, the teacher will provide extra instruction. (I did this during centers, and it worked very well.)
- Students takes off all of the post-its and puts them in an envelope or plastic bag, They now have a finished “game”.
- Students exchange games with a partner, and sort their partners sentences in the correct location.
- When finished, the students exchange the games BACK to the creator, and the creator checks the sentences for accuracy.
Here is an example of a completed activity board and some photos of the activity in action.
Overall, the students were extremely engaged, interested, and they were able to create, identify, and assess their work! It worked well paired with some other activities. I also used sentence posters, a flip book, and practice sheets. To download additional simple, compound, and complex activities that I used in my classroom, click the link below!
