Pre -
- Play “Conjunction Junction” by SchoolHouse Rock for the students.
- After you watch the song, ask students to discuss what it is about.
- Then pass out the lyrics to the song (which can be printed off the Schoolhouse Rock website), and have students identify the different ways conjunctions can be used.
- Encourage them to use examples from the song.
- You may refer back to this song as you continue teaching logical connectors.
While -
- Write a list of logical connectors on the board, and then write the sentence “I went to the party, and I was wearing my purple shoes.”
- Ask students to identify the logical connectors in the sentence (and).
- Then have them replace that logical connector with one of the other logical connector from the list.
- Ask students to explain how the sentence has changed. For example, you might replace “and” with “but” or “however.”
- You also might replace it with “because,” which would give the entire sentence a different meaning.
- Make sure that your students understand that all linking words, phrases, or clauses, but that they connect them in different ways.
- If you would like, repeat with other sentences such as “The car raced down the street, and the brakes weren’t working.”
Practice -
- Write one conjunction on each of a stack of notecards, and give out one notecard to each student.
- Then write the beginning of a sentence on the board, such as “The dog leapt at the cat…” and instruct students to finish the sentence using their conjunction.
- Have them work with a partner to perfect their sentences, and then encourage them to share their finished sentences with the class.
