4. Video: See Sentence Expansion in the Classroom
Sentence Expansion Skill Explainer
Joan Sedita, M.Ed., Shauna Cotte, M.Ed.Word Recognition x Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension
Assessment
The process of measuring students' progress and providing information to help guide instruction
Word Recognition
The ability to see a word and know how to pronounce it without consciously thinking about it
Phonological Awareness
A group of skills that enable you to recognize and manipulate parts of spoken words
Articulation
The production of speech sounds.
Articulation Skill Explainer
Syllables
Part of a word organized around a single vowel sound
Onset-Rime
Two parts of a word: onset is the initial sound; rime is the vowel and any consonant sounds that follow it.
Phonemic Awareness
The ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds within a spoken word
Phoneme Segmentation and Blending
- Overview of Phoneme Segmentation and Blending
- When to Teach Phoneme Segmentation and Blending
- How to Teach Segmentation and Blending
- Videos: See It in the Classroom
- Lesson Plans for Phoneme Segmentation and Blending
- Assessing Your Students
- What the Research Says
- Resource Hub: Phoneme Segmentation & Blending
Phonics
A method for teaching children the relationship between spoken sounds and written letters so they can learn to decode and encode
Sound-Letter Correspondence
The relationship between a phoneme and the grapheme that spells it
Letter Names and Sounds Skill Explainer
- Overview of Letter Names and Sounds
- When to Teach Letter Names and Sounds
- How to Teach Letter Names and Sounds
- Videos: See It in the Classroom
- Lesson Plans for Letter Names and Sounds
- Student Practice Activities
- Assessing Your Students
- For Students Who Need Additional Support
- What the Research Says
- Resource Hub: Videos, Lessons, Activities
Phonics Patterns
Common letter combinations found in words.
Short Vowels Skill Explainer
- Overview of Short Vowel Sounds
- When to Teach Short Vowel Sounds
- How to Teach Short Vowel Sounds
- Videos: See it in the Classroom
- Lesson Plans for Teaching Short Vowels
- Student Practice Activities with Short Vowels
- Assessing Your Students
- For Students Who Need Additional Support
- Resource Hub: Videos, Lessons, Activities
Closed Syllables Skill Explainer
- Overview of Closed Syllables
- When to Teach Closed Syllables
- How to Teach Closed Syllables
- Lesson Plans for Teaching Closed Syllables
- Videos: See It in the Classroom
- Student Practice Activities
- Assessing Your Students
- For Students Who Need Additional Support
- What the Research Says
- Resource Hub: Videos, Lessons, Activities
Glued Sounds Skill Explainer
Open Syllables Skill Explainer
Spelling with 'c' vs. 'k' Skill Explainer
- Overview of Spelling with 'c' vs. 'k'
- When to Teach Spelling with 'c' vs. 'k'
- How to Teach Spelling with 'c' vs. 'k'
- Lesson Plans for Spelling with 'c' vs. 'k'
- Videos: See It in the Classroom
- Student Practice Activities
- Assessing Your Students
- Students Who Need Additional Support
- Resource Hub: Videos, Lessons, Activities
Consonant Digraphs Skill Explainer
‘-ck’ Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
- Overview of the '-ck' Spelling Rule
- When to Teach the '-ck' Spelling Rule
- How to Teach the '-ck' Spelling Rule
- Videos: See It in the Classroom
- Lesson Plans for the '-ck' Spelling Rule
- Student Practice Activities
- Assessing Your Students
- Students Who Need Additional Support
- Resource Hub: Videos, Lessons, Activities
FLoSS(Z) Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
‘y’ as a Vowel Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
Soft 'c' and Soft 'g' Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
R-Controlled Vowels Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
Vowel Teams and Dipthongs Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
'-tch' Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
- Overview of '-tch' Spelling Rule
- When to Teach '-tch' Spelling Rule
- How to Teach '-tch' Spelling Rule
- Videos: See It in the Classroom
- Lesson Plans for '-tch' Spelling Rule
- Student Practice Activities
- Assessing Your Students
- Students Who Need Additional Support
- What the Research Says
- Resource Hub: Videos, Lessons, Activities
'-dge' Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
Consonant '-le' Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
Schwa Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words
High-frequency words that have a part of their spelling that has to be memorized
Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words
Multisyllable Words
Words that have more than one word part
Prefixes
How to add meaningful beginnings to words
Suffixes
How to add meaningful endings to words
Language Comprehension
The ability to understand the meaning of spoken words
Reading Comprehension
The ability to understand the meaning of printed text
Text Considerations
Characteristics of a text that impact the ease or difficulty of comprehension.
Strategies and Activities
How a reader approaches a specific text, depending on their purpose for reading
Reader’s Skill and Knowledge
The skills and knowledge a reader brings to the reading task that are necessary for comprehension
Sociocultural Context
Elements in a classroom that affect how well a child learns to read
Fluency
The ability to read accurately with automaticity and expression
Fluency: Accuracy, then Automaticity
Reading or decoding words correctly (accuracy) and reading at an appropriate rate (automaticity)
Accuracy, then Automaticity Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
Fluency: Expressive Text Reading
Reading characterized by accuracy with automaticity and expression
Expressive Text Reading Skill Explainer
Coming soon.
(active)
Writing
The act of putting thoughts into print using transcription and composition skills
Handwriting, Spelling, and Typing
Methods for translating speech into written words
Handwriting and Letter Formation Skill Explainer
(active)
Sentence Writing
Composing a complete statement, question, exclamation, or idea with proper grammar and punctuation
Writing a Simple Sentence Skill Explainer
Sentence Expansion Skill Explainer
- Overview of Sentence Expansion
- When to Teach Sentence Expansion
- How to Teach Sentence Expansion
- Video: See It in the Classroom
- Lesson Plan for Sentence Expansion
- Student Practice Activities
- Assessing Your Students
- For Students Who Need Additional Support
- What the Research Says
- Resource Hub: Videos, Lessons, Activities
Features of Structured Literacy
A systematic and explicit approach to teaching reading based on research
In this writing lesson, Maria Bailey, a literacy support teacher at Riverside Elementary School in Toledo, Ohio, teaches second graders about sentence expansion. Students learn to add more details to their sentences by answering simple questions like "Where?" and "Why?" This helps make their writing more interesting and also improves their understanding of sentence structure.
Introducing Sentence Expansion
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Maria Bailey: Alright, one, two, and three. Eyes on me. We've got some fabulous, fabulous ideas here.
Narrator: Today. Literacy support teacher Maria Bailey is helping second graders in Toledo, Ohio add more detail to their sentences. A skill often called sentence expansion.
Maria Bailey: So, boys and girls, we have been working on writing sentences and making them better and more interesting, right? So, some of the sentences that we thought we need to have some help with were sentences like, "I like mom," "I like dad," "It is fun." "Let's play." What is wrong with sentences like that?
Student: They don't share enough detail.
Maria Bailey: There's no details ... Who is fun? What is fun? Tell me more.
Narrator: By learning how to add more detail, students aren't just making their sentences more interesting, they're also building their understanding of sentence structure. Ms. Bailey models how to use simple question words like "when," "where," and "why" to add more detail to their sentences.
Maria Bailey: So these are question words that we use when we are writing a sentence and how we might answer or add more details using one of those question words.
Narrator: In this lesson, students will work on expanding sentences by answering the question "why?" with some help from the word "because."
Maria Bailey: "Because" ... our word "because" is going to answer our "why" ... why is something happening? Why ... why is that happening? The dog was barking because why? Okay, that's our why. So let's start with "the dog was barking because ..." So, let's start.
Narrator: "Turn and talks" are a key part of Ms. Bailey's lesson, giving students the opportunity to safely share ideas while practicing their new sentence elaboration skills.
Students: The dog was barking because he was hungry ...
Maria Bailey: All right, so let's chat. I like a quick share out. Quick share out and then we'll pick one. We'll start right here. Go ahead. Josiah, your group. What'd you say?
Josiah: The dog was barking because it saw another dog.
Maria Bailey: ... because he saw another dog. I like that. That would make a dog bark. Absolutely. Ian.
Ian: The dog was barking because it seen a squirrel.
Maria Bailey: Oh-oh-oh, it saw a squirrel. Okay. I kind of like that because that would make my dogs bark. Thumbs up if that would make a dog bark. Does that make sense to us? Yeah, I think so, too.
Narrator: After Ms. Bailey models a few more examples, it's time for the students to write their sentences down.
Maria Bailey: Okay, so what I want to do right now, guys, I want us to do a little practice with this in partners. So on your paper, let's take a look at your paper today, all right? And let's put our finger at the first sentence. Here we go. "Winter is a fun season because ..." Okay, I want you now, this is on you guys. This is your "We Do." So we, you and your partner, you're going to talk, you're going to come up with an answer, and I'd like you to write it on the lines, okay? If you need any assistance, I'm right here, but let's go. So turn and talk to your partner. Why winter is the fun season. Why? Okay, talk to her partner and then write your answers.
Narrator: As students put their ideas down on paper, Ms. Bailey listens carefully and steps in to help when needed.
Maria Bailey: So, I should see, it should say, because we make something, don't just put one word. We're expanding a sentence here. Okay. Alright. So I have heard a lot of different, some really good ideas, and a lot of them were quite the same. So, I know what you guys like to do in the winter time. So, why don't you share out, what did you come up with? What'd you come up with? What is your sentence?
Students: Winter ... winter is a fun season because we make a snowman.
Maria Bailey: A snowman. And does that make sense, everybody? Thumbs up. If you think that makes sense ... in the winter, we can make a snowman. Now, thumbs up if you also said we can make a snowman ... because half of you did.
Narrator: Now that they've had a chance to practice as a group and with a partner, the next step for Ms. Bailey students will be stretching out their sentences independently.
Maria Bailey: Pat on the back for working so hard today. Oh my gosh, you just kissed that brain. You're amazing.
Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillen Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to the Toledo Federation of Teachers, Riverside Elementary School, and Toledo Public Schools in Toledo, Ohio. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
