Before you teach — read this first
Grade 1 · Lesson 66 — What two things is it joining?
U1 · Level One — Parts of Speech · Conjunctions (4 of 6) · 10–15 minutes · 18 slides ·
Launch → I do → We do → You do → Closure
The grammar behind this lesson — read this before you teach it.ConjunctionsWhat it is. A conjunction joins. It holds two things together — two words, two groups, or two whole ideas.
Why our test works. 'What two things is it holding together?' works because a conjunction cannot join one thing. If the child cannot name both sides, the word is not conjoining anything.
Leans on. Knowing what a complete idea is, so the two sides can be seen.
Watch for. Children name the two words either side rather than the two real parts. Ask them to say each side on its own.
What this lesson is
Lesson 4 of 6 on conjunctions. The single idea is: Every conjunction has something on each side, and I can name both. The tool the children are handed is the question “What two things is it holding together?” — by the end of the topic that question, not the teacher, settles every case. Held constant today: Naming BOTH sides is the whole skill. “And is a conjunction” shows nothing. The worked example is built on Bread and milk., ringing and.
Why it matters — say this in your own words, about ten seconds.
“A writer who knows the parts can build anything.”
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: Adjectives + Verbs · Verbs + Adverbs + Prepositions. 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: but — a surprise. 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 — “A writer who knows the parts can build anything.” 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: Every conjunction has something on each side, and I can name both. 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: Bread and milk. · the question · ring and · name it a conjunction. 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 conjunctions. 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 Bread and milk. still marked when they start work.
- The We-do runs 4 items on whiteboards — The subject is equated with a noun., The dog gave him a skinny stick., Can we tell them apart?, They were little, like fleas, hilt they modified nouns.. 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 conjunction in each one. Then they work alone, with the same worked example printed at the head of their sheet.
- Close on We gave Poodle and him some soup. — an item they have not met, so it measures rather than reminds — then the line they leave with: “A conjunction joins.”
- Watch for: Names the conjunction but not what it joins — Recognising a three-letter word is easy; tracking both sides is the skill. If you see it: “And what? And what else? Point to both.” Never accept the word alone. (Remedial sheet 17.)