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Sentence Openers
Objectives
To identify and explore a variety of sentence openings (focusing particularly on '-ing verbs')
Resources
Plain paper | Lined paper
Today's Lesson
Spelling
Review spelling words to prepare for the test at the end of the week.
Main Activity
Reflect on yesterday’s learning about sentence openers. Ask: Why did we look for them? Why did we sort them? Explain that using different ways to start sentences in our writing and speaking is really important, so that the reader or listener doesn’t get bored of the same sentence starter every time!
A great way of starting sentences is by using -ing verbs. At this point, you may wish to watch the following video that will explain how ‘ing’ verbs can be used as effective sentence openers.
Write a large -ing on a plain piece of paper, and write underneath: Walking… Then say ‘Walking through the forest, Anesh heard a snap right behind him.’ What effect does starting with ‘Walking’ have? It is that we can immediately see what the character (Anesh) is doing. This puts a picture in the reader’s or listener’s mind. And that keeps them hooked.
Ask your student to help you add more -ing verb openers to the plain piece of paper. By the end, you should have filled the paper! Waiting, Listening, Sitting, Eating, Hiding, Chasing… The list is endless.
To finish, ask your student to choose five different -ing verbs and to use them to write five different sentences, just like the example above.
Extend to using two -ing verbs as openers, e.g.: Hiding and waiting, the wolf knew its feast was about to arrive.