Before you teach — read this first
Grade 1 · Lesson 56 — More than one
U1 · Level One — Parts of Speech · Prepositions (8 of 9) · 10–15 minutes · 18 slides ·
Launch → I do → We do → You do → Closure
The grammar behind this lesson — read this before you teach it.PrepositionsWhat it is. A preposition shows how something sits in relation to something else — in place, in time, or in the way it belongs.
Why our test works. The test asks whether another relationship word could stand in its place — in the box, on the box, under the box. It works because prepositions form a small closed set that all do the same job, so they are interchangeable in a way that nouns and verbs are not. If swapping in another relationship word keeps the sentence sensible, the word is a preposition.
Leans on. Nouns, because a preposition always has a noun after it. If nothing follows, it is doing a different job.
Watch for. The same word can be a preposition or an adverb — he went in has no noun after in, so there it is not a preposition. That is why the test asks about what follows, not just about the word itself.
What this lesson is
Lesson 8 of 9 on prepositions. The single idea is: A sentence can have two — the cat under the chair in the kitchen. The tool the children are handed is the question “Can I say it in front of “the box”?” — by the end of the topic that question, not the teacher, settles every case. Held constant today: Two, never three. The worked example is built on He walked except the box., ringing except.
Why it matters — say this in your own words, about ten seconds.
“When we write it clearly, the reader understands us the first time.”
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: Verbs + Adverbs · Adverbs. 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
- Sixty seconds of retrieval opens it: “Yesterday: finding them in sentences. Quick — one together.” Same language as when it was taught, a new example. If the class cannot do this, that is today's real work — stop and reteach.
- Ten seconds on why it matters — “When we write it clearly, the reader understands us the first time.” Your words, not those; it is a different reason every lesson so what lands is the idea rather than a sentence they can recite.
- You name the one idea: A sentence can have two — the cat under the chair in the kitchen. Then the plan — what it is, the question we ask, and that we will find them together.
- Then you do one yourself, on screen, one click per move: He walked except the box. · the question · ring except · name it a preposition. Do it exactly the way you want it done — this is the task they are about to do on their boards, not an easier one.
- You build the same thing on the board and leave it up for prepositions. The four steps are identical in every lesson of this unit — sentence, question, test, answer — so the children read the method rather than the layout, and today's board shows He walked except the box. still marked when they start work.
- The We-do runs 4 items on whiteboards — Two clauses: People laughed, so we laughed., As the bus approached, the crowd gathered., opposite, underneath. You are scanning for who applies the question and who is guessing from meaning; those look identical on a right answer and completely different on a wrong one.
- Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves — Sheet and pencil · Ask the question on every item · Find the preposition in each one. Then they work alone, with the same worked example printed at the head of their sheet.
- Close on The dog gave him a skinny stick. — an item they have not met, so it measures rather than reminds — then the line they leave with: “A preposition tells where or when.”
- Watch for: Names the preposition but not the noun it brought — Only half the idea has been asked for in earlier topics. If you see it: “Under WHAT? Say the whole thing.” Never accept the preposition alone. (Remedial sheet 15.)