The Elementary School Grammar Toolkit: Using Mentor Texts to Teach Standards-Based Language and Grammar in Grades 3-5

by Sean Ruday

Overview

Teaching grammar can be overwhelming and is often an overlooked part of effective instruction. The Elementary School Grammar Toolkit to the rescue! Now in its second edition, this comprehensive guide makes grammar instruction fun and meaningful.

You will learn how to…

• Teach grammar in a practical way to help students grow as readers and writers by presenting each grammar rule as a useful writing tool.

• Use mentor texts—excerpts from great literature—to help students understand grammar in action.

• Promote metacognition along the way so that students become responsible for their own learning.

• Implement innovative instructional strategies and tools aligned with Common Core and other state standards.

Throughout the book, you'll find step-by-step recommendations for teaching each of the grammar tools to help students meet the Common Core State Standards and other state language standards for grades three to five, plus classroom snapshots that show you the tools in action, handy templates that you can use in the classroom, and new tips for extra support at the end of every chapter.

New! The second edition features revised classroom snapshots and exemplars to showcase successful practices, new visuals, more free charts and activities, and new "Bonus Tips for Support" in each chapter, with extra practices and strategies to use with students who need extra support. The expanded, free annotated bibliography is updated to include contemporary, high-quality children’s and young adult literature and gives examples of key grammatical concepts found in each work. These resources are available as supplemental downloads on our website.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367436803
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/27/2020
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sean Ruday is an associate professor of English education at Longwood University and a former classroom teacher. He frequently writes and presents on innovative ways to improve students' literacy learning. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanRuday and visit his website at www.seanruday.weebly.com.

Table of Contents

Meet the Author vii

Acknowledgments viii

eResources ix

Introduction: What's in Your Toolkit? Connecting Literature and Grammar Instruction 1

Part 1 Grammatical Concepts Aligned With Grade Three Common Core Language Standards 11

1 The Importance of Pronoun Reference 13

2 Subject-Verb Agreement 23

3 Using Commas and Quotation Marks When Writing Dialogue 35

4 Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences 46

5 Recognizing Differences Between Spoken and Written Standard English 58

Part 2 Grammatical Concepts Aligned With Grade Four Common Core Language Standards 69

6 Re-Envisioning Writing With Relative Pronouns and Relative Adverbs 71

7 The Progressive Verb Tenses and Why They Matter 85

8 Why Writers Use Modal Auxiliaries 95

9 Remaking Writing With Prepositional Phrases 104

10 Guidelines for Capitalization Use 114

11 Choosing Words and Phrases to Convey Ideas Precisely 124

Part 3 Grammatical Concepts Aligned With Grade Five Common Core Language Standards 135

12 The Perfect Verb Tenses 137

13 Conjunctions and Interjections 148

14 Using Punctuation for Clarity and Effect 160

15 Dialects and Language Variations 173

16 Figurative Language 184

17 Assessing Students' Knowledge 196

Part 4 Putting It Together 203

Conclusion: Final Thoughts and Tips for Classroom Practice 205

References 209

Appendices 212