Before you teach — read this first
Grade 1 · Lesson 9 — Which question am I asking?
U0 · Square One · What a word is + What a sentence is (1 of 2) · 10–15 minutes · 19 slides ·
Launch → I do → We do → You do → Closure
What this lesson is
The first interleaved day, and the thing being taught is neither word-counting nor sentence-judging — both are secure by now. It is the act of working out which question is being asked before answering it. That skill is the whole reason interleaving works, and it is invisible unless you name it, which is why the objective is stated to the children outright. Unannounced mixing feels to a six-year-old like the teacher being random; announced, it becomes a game they can win. The error this lesson exists to surface is the child who answers the previous question out of habit — watch for a number written where a W or P belongs.
Why it matters — say this in your own words, about ten seconds.
“Allah made us, and taught us how to speak.”
A different reason every lesson, on purpose. It is not on a slide and it
is not a script — if you have a better reason today, use yours. What should land is the
idea, not a sentence they can recite.
Recall — sixty seconds, before anything new
Retrieve: What a sentence is · What a word is. Ask for it before you introduce anything, take the answers from boards rather than from hands so you see all thirty, and do not re-teach — note who has lost it and carry on. This is the middle of the launch: context, then this, then why it matters. Only what today leans on — a minute spent retrieving something unrelated costs the same and buys nothing, and the child who cannot recall the prerequisite is the one you will lose in the I-do.
How it goes
- You tell them straight out that something changes today: up to now every question in a lesson has been the same kind, and today they are going to jump around. Their first job, before answering anything, is to notice which question they are being asked.
- You put both questions up and leave them up. How many words? gets a number. Whole thought, or only a piece? gets a W or a P. Write NUMBER and W/P on the board and leave those there too — the point today is not to tax memory.
- The purpose line comes round again, for the ninth lesson. Pause after “Adam.” If most of the class finishes the sentence for you, it has landed, and that is worth noticing.
- The I-do holds the sentence constant and varies only the question: The lamp fell asked twice, once for a count and once for a judgement, giving two different right answers. Using the same sentence for both is what makes the point visible — nothing changed except what was asked.
- The We-do runs six items in an unpredictable order. Say the sentence first and the question second, always in that order — it forces them to hold the sentence and then decide what to do with it, which is the actual cognitive move being trained.
- On the sheet the question is printed above each item. Watch for children answering the previous question out of habit; that is the diagnostic you came for.
- Close on a punctuated fragment, then the anchor — listen for the question first — and send the study guide home for tomorrow's quiz.