Before you teach — read this first
Grade 7 · Lesson 4 — Verb
U0 · Re-teach the level below · Verb (—) · 10–15 minutes · 17 slides ·
Launch → I do → We do → You do → Closure
The grammar behind this lesson — read this before you teach it.VerbWhat it is. A verb is the doing or the being of the sentence. Every complete sentence has one.
Why our test works. 'What is happening?' finds action verbs; 'is it just telling me that something IS?' finds being verbs. Both work because a verb is the only word that changes with time — ran, runs, will run — so if a word can be moved into yesterday or tomorrow, it is a verb.
Leans on. Knowing a sentence is a complete thought. The verb is what makes it complete.
Watch for. Being verbs feel like nothing is happening, so children skip them. *She is tall* has a verb, and the child needs it before linking verbs make sense.
What this lesson is
A review day. No new concept: today drills clauses are built on subjects and verbs, a sentence can have two clauses, clauses can hold phrases. Choose the focus from the last assessment rather than from a plan made months ago — the sheet works on whatever you pick. The worked example is built on The bird flew., ringing flew.
Why it matters — say this in your own words, about ten seconds.
“We learn language so we can teach people about Allah.”
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: Noun. 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
- Ten seconds on why it matters — “We learn language so we can teach people about Allah.” Your words, not those; it is a different reason every lesson so what lands is the idea rather than a sentence they can recite.
- Then you do one yourself, on screen, one click per move: The bird flew. · the question · ring flew · name it a clause. 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 clauses are built on subjects and verbs, a sentence can have two clauses, clauses can hold phrases. 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 The bird flew. still marked when they start work.
- The We-do runs 4 items on whiteboards — Appositive phrases appear immediately after the nouns that they define, and they typically contain a noun and attendant words.Does this group have a subject and its verb?, When you write each clause, notice the real subject, and make sure that your verb matches it and only it.How many subject-verb cores are there?, They walked past the frog, and under the bough, and 'round the rock, and past the beetle busy being himself.How many subject-verb cores are there?, Maybe stormed in from stage right, Bizzie scrambling behind, and Joe snapped on the lights, with their cricky complaints.Is there a subject and verb, or only a phrase?. 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 · Read the question above each one BEFORE you answer it · Find the clauses are built on subjects and verb or the a sentence can have two clause or the clauses can hold phrase. Then they work alone, with the same worked example printed at the head of their sheet.
- Close on From some leaves, a green frog watched them pass, with the shadows trailing behind, and she said rurp. — an item they have not met, so it measures rather than reminds — then the line they leave with: “Clauses are built on subjects and verbs.”
- Watch for: Calls a phrase a clause — Both are groups of words. If you see it: “Where is its subject? Where is its verb? No core, no clause.” (Remedial sheet 28.)