Introducing the Pronoun
Material Description:
Pronoun grammar Box 7, Filler Box VIIA, symbol box
Method:
Oral introduction
Say to a small group of children,’When I want to talk about something I want to do I don’t have to say my name, I can say, “I can talk, I can walk, I can sing”, I am very important and if I want to talk to Maria I don’t have to say her name, I can say, “will you please come here, will you please tell me”. I am very important. Maria is very important because I am talking to her. If I want to talk to Maria about Anne, and I don’t want her to hear I don’t have to say Anne’s name, I can say “She is always talking”, and If I want to talk about James I can say, “he is always late’”. He and she are not very important. If I want to talk about what all of us are doing I can say we, “we are going to do the experiment”. We are all important but I am the most important. If I want to talk to a lot of people I can say, “you and you and you”, and if I want to talk about the people out there I can say ‘“they, they are enjoying the day”. I am the most important, you are a little important, he and she are not so important, we are important. but not as important as I, you when we are speaking about a group are not important, they, when we are speaking about other people they are not important at all.
We have a Grammar Box with I, you, he, she, we, you and they, shall we go and get it?’
Activity
Show the child where the grammar box is kept and ask the child to arrange the long cards, and shuffle them. One child reads the first phrase from the long card, ‘The book fell on the floor and Mary put the book back on the table’, one child makes the phrase with the cards and the other child gets an example from the environment. Then the child reads the second phrase, ‘the book fell on the floor. She put it back on the table’, ask the children, “What has changed?’ (Mary has become she and the book has become it). One child changes the cards.
Symbols
The symbols are placed over the cards, ‘She replaced Mary and ‘it ‘ replaces ‘the book’, for this we have a gorgeous, purple isosceles triangle. Because it replaces the name it looks very small and proud.
Put back the objects, cards and symbols before repeating with all of the Long Cards.
Name Lesson
Remove the cards which name the parts of speech from the Grammar box, revealing the pronoun last.
‘Remember the parts of speech we already know. Do you remember how we talked about the articles, the nouns, the adjective, the adverb and the verb? Today we are talking about a new part of speech the pronoun, the symbol is so tall and proud, the word pronoun comes from Latin meaning ‘for the name’ so it stands for the name’
Recap all the forms of speech, emphasising the pronoun in a loose three period lesson
Transposition
After the lesson:
After the children have been working with the part of speech for sometime, join them and demonstrate transposition.
Move the cards away from the symbols and move the pronoun to a different place, read the new phrase and ask the children, ‘Does that sound right?’ After moving it to both new positions put it back to the original place to show the meaning in context. Remove the pronoun all together. Without the pronoun there is no sense to the sentence, like the noun the pronoun comes before and after the verb. Replace the pronoun.
Give a few more examples
After the lesson:
The child can work with the filler boxes
Display the pronoun chart, which shows the special relationship between the pronoun and the verb family, it’s a if the pronoun is fuelling the verb.
Impressionistic Charts of Persons
Material Description:
Pronoun grammar Box 7, Filler Box VIIA, symbol box
Method:
Oral introduction
Say to a small group of children,’I know you thought that I was only playing a game, but I really am the most important, here I am painted in gold. I am the person who speaks and does the action. Here you are, you are not painted in gold, but in orange, and you’re smaller than me. He or she, not so important at all, they are coloured silver and very small. Here we are, still painted in gold, but not as important as I. You meaning a group, are not so important, and they, many of them, are not important at all.
I know you thought it was only a game, but this really has to do with the grammar of our language. I am the most important, I am the first person, and only one, so I am the first person singular. (Show Chart 1)
You are the second person and there is only one of you, so you are the second person singular. (Show Chart 2).
And, he or she, or she and he, they are the third person singular. (Show Chart 3)
For I, you, he or she, we are all singular, first person singular, second person singular and thirds persons singular. Indicate the charts 1, 2 and 3.
Here we come back to I, which is really we, which is really a group, so it’s the first person plural (Show Chart 4).
Now you as a group, you is still the second person but it is the second person plural, because it is you as a group. And they, it is still the third person, but this time it is the third person plural. (Show Chart 5, which shows You plural and they)
Do a loose three period lesson, asking, ‘Can you show me the chart for I, for you, for the second person singular, for the first person plural, if I hold up this chart can you tell me all about it?
Aim:
The child can identify the six pronouns in terms of number and person.
Notes:
This is the most important, impressionistic lesson on the pronoun.The Key here is the I, I as the most important, you become I when you are asked to do the action.
Follow up work:
Give a Reading and Manipulative activity, a little after the work with the charts
Reading and Manipulative activity
Material Description:
Set of cards from the Introductory verb envelope, they are tile cards for singular and plural, the first, second and third person and the seven persons cards.
Method:
Say, ‘Remember we were talking about the I, the you, the he, the she, the we the you and the they, we were talking about different numbers of people and different persons’.
Shuffle the cards and distribute them among the children.
Ask, ‘Who has the card that said the “singular”’, take the card and place it on the table.
Ask, ‘Who has the card that said the “plural”’, place the card to the right of the singular.
Ask, ‘Who has the card that said the “first person”’, place the card to the left and below the singular. Ask, ‘Who has the card that said the “second person”’, take the card and place it below the first person. Ask, ‘Who has the card that said the “third person”’, take the card and place it below the second person.
Then ask, ‘Who has the card that says, ‘the first person singular?’’, the child volunteers (I) and it is placed in it’s appropriate place in the grid. Ask for the second person singular, ask the child to identify read it, and place it, ask for the third person singular and place it. Do the same for the first person plural to the third person plural.
The children can remake the grid themselves, making a game out of it.
When to give the lesson:
Younger children can do the oral work with the impressionistic charts any time after the verb grammar box. Older children can do the grammar box, then the oral introduction and impressionistic charts.
Command Card for the Pronoun
Material Description:
Command Cards for the Pronoun.
Method:
With a small group, inviting younger children to help out with the dramas
Select a narrator, they are the person who has the card to remind the group that, ‘I is the most important’.
I directs the action, giving the other members of the group the different roles. Then I reads the cards, does the action and the others do theres.
The first card should include all the known pronouns.
Continue doing more cards giving different children the chance to play ‘i’.
As the children work they notice that pronouns can be classified like the adjective,
- Personal pronouns stand instead of names,
- Reflective pronouns indicate myself, yourself
- Possessive pronouns indicate ownership, mine and their’s
- Impersonal pronoun it
- Interrogative pronoun, such as whose and which
Notes:
Involving the younger children stimulates their interest in grammar work.
When to give the lesson:
After the name lesson with the pronoun.