Grade 3 · Lesson 26 — Imitate the pattern

Literature · Poodle and the Art of the Comma · blocked · 30 min · 18 slides · Launch → I do → We do → Read → You do → Closure

Anchor to leave them with: Same shape, new words.

Objective The author's sentence on the board; then the child writes their own on the same frame. Same shape, new content. Using Poodle and the Art of the Comma.

Smallest piece An author's sentence pattern can be borrowed and filled with your own content.

Spot test “Does mine have the same shape as theirs?”

Why that test works Syntactic imitation lets a child write a sentence they could not have invented. They own the structure long before they can name it, which is how structures are actually learned.

Why — in your own words We learn by following those who did it well before us — that is apprenticeship, not imitation.

Practice mode blocked

If it breaks Remedial 31 — the frame written out with blanks

Vocabulary — pre-pointed T2 PATTERN = the shape a sentence has

Materials Mini-whiteboard + pen per student · Printed student sheet (one each) · Deck — 18 slides · Teaching page — printed at the top of the sheet (file no. 65) · Remedial 31 — the frame written out with blanks

The lesson, slide by slide

Slide — what is on it	What you SAY	What happens, and why
Slide 1 LAUNCH Writing — Day 26	(nothing yet — this is up as they come in and settle)	Have Writing — Day 26 up before they enter. Say nothing about it. Same slide every lesson, number only changes. It marks the transition into writing before you speak, which saves you having to. Students: See it on the way in. Know writing is next.
Slide 2 LAUNCH Imitate the pattern	“This is how we set our hand and our page up to write.”	CONTEXT — say where this lesson sits: what it follows, and what it is part of. One sentence. The children should know what kind of work is starting. Context, not a hook. A child who knows what KIND of lesson this is spends no attention working it out. Students: Listen. Orient.
Slide 3 LAUNCH Today ›› Launch I Do We Do Read You Do Closure	“Here is what we will do today.”	Point to Launch once. Do not explain the others. · Retrieval on MWB · 3-5 min Mini-whiteboards: Retrieval on MWB Students: Look.
Slide 4 LAUNCH The author's sentence on the board; then the child writes their own on the same frame. Same shape, new content. Using Poodle and the Art of the Comma.	“The author's sentence on the board; then the child writes their own on the same frame. Same shape, new content. Using Poodle and the Art of the Comma.”	PURPOSE — say it slowly, in these words. The teacher objective in the header is for you; this is the version the class hears. Never read a teacher objective to children. The version in the brief header is written for you and is too long and too abstract to say to a class; this one is what they hear. Students: Listen.
No slide LAUNCH WHY — SAY IT ten seconds, off screen, in your own words	“We learn by following those who did it well before us — that is apprenticeship, not imitation.”	Why this matters. Say it, do not read it. Ten seconds, then move on. Your words, not these. This is the one beat of the lesson that should sound like you mean it rather than like it is written down. Students: Listen.
Slide 5 LAUNCH Sixty seconds — what do you remember?	“Before anything new: U1 set 2.”	Five minutes, boards out. Take answers from boards, not hands. Do not re-teach — this is retrieval, not a lesson. The spiral. These are sets met 2, 5, 10, 20 or 35 lessons ago, and the items are DIFFERENT from the ones taught then — same category, new example. If they cannot recall it, note it and move on. Students: Write answers on boards.
Slide 6 LAUNCH Words we will use T2 PATTERN = the shape a sentence has	“Two words we need before we start.”	Read each, point to it, move on. Do not drill them here. Pre-pointed vocabulary. Naming them now stops the lesson stalling later on a word that was never the point. Students: Listen.
Slide 7 LAUNCH What we will do An author's sentence pattern can be borrowed and filled with your own content.	“An author's sentence pattern can be borrowed and filled with your own content.”	Click once per line. Do not elaborate. Students: Listen.
Slide 8 I DO Today Launch ›› I Do We Do Read You Do Closure	“Now we i do.”	Point to I Do once. Do not explain the others. · 3-4 min Mini-whiteboards: NOT here — they watch, they do not write. Writing during I DO is how the model gets missed. Students: Look.
No slide I DO (board — build the VIP, then leave it up)	(you are narrating each stage as you build it)	Build on the BOARD, not the slide. Teacher reads the page from Poodle and the Art of the Comma aloud with the book open, then models the move on one sentence from it. Then leave it up for the whole lesson. One click per step. The footsteps are never erased — the same strip is printed at the top of their sheet, so come back to it if anyone stalls. Students: Watch it being built. It stays there to look at.
Slide 9 I DO The test “Does mine have the same shape as theirs?”	“Here is the question we ask ourselves: “Does mine have the same shape as theirs?””	Say it, then apply it aloud to the example already on the board. WHY IT WORKS — you will be asked: Syntactic imitation lets a child write a sentence they could not have invented. They own the structure long before they can name it, which is how structures are actually learned. Students: Listen, then say the test back.
Slide 10 WE DO Today Launch I Do ›› We Do Read You Do Closure	“Now we we do.”	Point to We Do once. Do not explain the others. · PRIMARY MWB use · 5-6 min Mini-whiteboards: PRIMARY MWB use Students: Look.
Slide 11 WE DO Together	“Now with me.”	Class does the same move together on a second sentence, checking against the author's own. Take answers from boards, not from hands — that is how you see all thirty. Students: Answer on boards.
Slide 12 READ Today Launch I Do We Do ›› Read You Do Closure	“Now we read.”	Point to Read once. Do not explain the others. Mini-whiteboards: NOT here — they watch, they do not write. Writing during I DO is how the model gets missed. Students: Look.
Slide 13 READ The teaching page — printed at the top of today's sheet	“Look at the top of your sheet. Read it with me.”	Read it with them — FASE or teacher read-aloud, never round robin. Stop at the worked example and let them look at it. NO BOOK. This grade works from printed sheets, and the teaching page is the top of the sheet already in front of them. The page number is for YOUR filing — it is how these pages accumulate into a Grade 3 volume later — and it is not said aloud. Students: Follow along. Read when asked.
Slide 14 YOU DO Today Launch I Do We Do Read ›› You Do Closure	“Now we you do.”	Point to You Do once. Do not explain the others. · Written on the sheet · 4-5 min Mini-whiteboards: Written on the sheet Students: Look.
Slide 15 YOU DO Imitate the pattern — on the sheet, using the page we just read.	“Imitate the pattern — on the sheet, using the page we just read.”	Set them off. Walk the rows. Correct the grip and the setup, not the content, in the first minute. Students: Work in the notebook.
Slide 16 CLOSURE Today Launch I Do We Do Read You Do ›› Closure	“Now we closure.”	Point to Closure once. Do not explain the others. · Display answers on MWB · 2-3 min Mini-whiteboards: Display answers on MWB Students: Look.
Slide 17 CLOSURE Read out your sentence from Poodle and the Art of the Comma.	“Read out your sentence from Poodle and the Art of the Comma.”	Exit Direction. Take it from every child before anyone stands. It belongs to today's content — it is how you know who has it. Students: Answer, then pack away.
Slide 18 CLOSURE Same shape, new words.	“Same shape, new words.”	Say it once. Leave it on screen as they pack away. The anchor — the one line you want them to still have tomorrow. Students: Hear it. Repeat it if asked.

As-Suffah Academy · Writing · run sheet