Skill Spotlight: Expanding Sentences with Function Questions

Ashlea Edwards: So our simple sentence is going to be, "Cloaks were worn."

Narrator: To expand on the simple sentence, "Cloaks were worn," Ms. Edwards asks what she calls function questions. These are simple questions like "When?", "Where?", "Why?", or "How?" that function as tools to dig up more detail to build the simple sentence up.

Ashlea Edwards: So thinking about that text and the cloaks that were worn, what kind of cloaks were worn?

Students: Purple cloaks.

Narrator: Purple coats. Yes. Okay. So who wore purple coats?

Students: Royals. Royals.

Narrator: Or royalty we could say.
Working from a passage the students have in front of them is important. All the answers to the function questions are right there in the text waiting to be found.

Ashlea Edwards: Okay. Purple cloaks were worn by royalty when?

Students: In medieval.

Ashlea Edwards: Yeah. What was it?

Student: Medieval times.

Ashlea Edwards: In medieval times. Very good.

Narrator: Once the function questions are answered, the next step is to take those details and build a new, more complex sentence.

Ashlea Edwards: Okay. So now we have answered all of these questions about the cloaks being worn, but can I just say, "Cloaks were worn, purple royalty, medieval times, so expensive, snail snot, 3000 snails?" I can't just say it like that. So now we have to figure out how to put this sentence together. So our simple sentence is, "Cloaks were worn." And the first thing that I think we should start our sentence with is when. So when were purple cloaks worn?

Students: In medieval times.

Ashlea Edwards: In medieval times. And then we need to take our simple sentence and include it. So should we say, "Cloaks were worn" or can we be more specific?

Students: Purple cloaks.

Ashlea Edwards: Purple cloaks. And now we're going to have to decide how are we going to describe these purple cloaks? As being so expensive? As it taking 3,000 snails?

Narrator: The goal isn't to stuff every detail into one sentence. It's to build a sentence that's more complex and still makes sense.

Ashlea Edwards: By who?

Students: Royalty.

Ashlea Edwards: Because?

Student: Because they're so expensive to make.

Ashlea Edwards: Okay, let's see if this makes sense. Do y'all want to read it with me? All eyes up here and let's read it.

Together: "In medieval times, purple cloaks were worn by royalty because they are hard to make."

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; the AFT; and several anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy. Reading Is Essential for All People and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C. and was developed in collaboration with the Barksdale Reading Institute and First Book.