Before you teach — read this first

Grade 2 · Lesson 30 — Expand with WHY

Sentence drill · blocked · 30 minutes · 17 slides · Launch → I do → We do → Read → You do → Closure
The language behind this lesson — read this before you teach it.
EXPAND WITH WHY

What it is. WHY expansion works on the child's own sentences, not only supplied ones.

Why our test works. Spiral return of lesson 14, now applied to sentences from their own project drafts — which is where the move has to survive if it is worth teaching.

Leans on. Lesson 14.

Watch for. Use their project sentences. It matters more when the sentence is theirs.

What this lesson is

Practice one sentence move: expand with why. The worked example is the one you build on the board: Teacher writes a plain sentence, then makes the move once, saying what changed and why the The class reads the teaching page printed at the top of the sheet — our own writing, so a child who was absent can still get the lesson.

Why it matters — say this in your own words, about ten seconds.
“A skill you can use on your own work is a skill you actually own.”
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.
How it goes

You open by saying where this sits — what it follows and what it is part of — in one sentence, and then you give them the reason it matters, in your own words, for about ten seconds. Before anything new, sixty seconds of retrieval on U2 set 1: ask, take the answers from boards rather than hands so you see all thirty, and do not re-teach — note who has lost it and carry on.

Then you do one yourself, building it on the board and leaving it up: Teacher writes a plain sentence, then makes the move once, saying what changed and why the new version is better. For example: “The plant died.” becomes “The plant died because it had no water.”. Both stay on the board. The board copy is what they look back at when they stall, so it stays there for the whole lesson.

The We-do is the main whiteboard moment of the lesson — short answers, boards up on your signal, every child visible at once. Class makes the same move on two sentences together, saying the change aloud before writing it. If the answer is a whole sentence rather than a word, take it on the printed sheet instead, because a sentence written on a whiteboard is written once and destroyed.

They read the teaching page — printed at the top of today's sheet — with you, either read-aloud or FASE, never round robin. Stop at the worked example and let them look at it.

Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves. Then they work alone: On the worksheet: make this move on four sentences, double-spaced.

You close on the exit direction — Read one sentence before and after the move. — taken from every child before anyone stands, and then the line you want them to still have tomorrow: Why? Add the reason.

Exit directions — in full, standing still, before anyone moves
Notebook and pencil · Heading first · On the worksheet: make this move on four sentences, double-spaced.
Watch for

Use their project sentences. It matters more when the sentence is theirs.

As-Suffah Academy · Writing · narrative brief