Before you teach — read this first
Grade 7 · Lesson 6 — The naming part has a name
U0 · Re-teach the level below · Subject (1 of 4) · 10–15 minutes · 18 slides ·
Launch → I do → We do → You do → Closure
The grammar behind this lesson — read this before you teach it.SubjectWhat it is. The subject is who or what the sentence is about — the noun or pronoun the whole sentence hangs on.
Why our test works. 'Who or what is doing the verb?' works because the subject and the verb agree with each other: change the subject from one to many and the verb changes with it. That agreement is the proof of the link.
Leans on. Nouns and verbs together. This is the first time the child uses two levels at once, which is why it is harder than either alone.
Watch for. The subject is not always first, and it is never inside a prepositional phrase. The box of apples is heavy — the subject is box, not apples.
What this lesson is
Lesson 1 of 4 on subject. The single idea is: The part that tells who or what is called the subject. The tool the children are handed is the question “Who or what is this about?” — by the end of the topic that question, not the teacher, settles every case. Held constant today: Say out loud that this is Unit 0's naming part. Nothing new but the word. The worked example is built on Boy is here., ringing boy.
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 + Verb · Verb. 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: noun + verb. 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 — “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.
- You name the one idea: The part that tells who or what is called the subject. 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: Boy is here. · the question · ring boy · name it a subject. 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 subject. 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 Boy is here. still marked when they start work.
- The We-do runs 4 items on whiteboards — Notice that a verbal infinitive is different from a prepositional phase such as to Boston, which is two words., Notice also the brainpower of Mary Shelley's vocabulary; in this one sentence she uses endeavour, sustain, dejection, and assailed., dog, sun. 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 subject in each one. Then they work alone, with the same worked example printed at the head of their sheet.
- Close on Note that the sentence begins with a direct object, which in this case is a noun of direct address. — an item they have not met, so it measures rather than reminds — then the line they leave with: “The subject is who or what it is about.”
- Watch for: Marks the first word rather than the subject — The subject usually starts the sentence, so position works often enough to hide. If you see it: “Who or what is it ABOUT? Say the whole naming part.” (Remedial sheet 19.)