Subject-Verb Agreement Lesson Plan

Subject-Verb Agreement

ESOL 3^rd grade

Standard: ELA4C1 The student demonstrates understanding and control of the rules of the English language, realizing that usage involves the appropriate application of conventions and grammar in both written and spoken formats.

Objective: The students will learn the correlation between singular/plural subjects and singular/plural verbs to make them agree with one another.

Rationale: It is important for students to understand subject-verb agreement so that they are able to correctly speak and write sentences.

Anticipatory Set: The teacher will show a video on BrainPop about subject-verb agreement called “Its No Good When They Argue.” Once the video is over, the teacher will explain to the students what subject-verb agreement is and have students come up and model what singular and plural means. Then the teacher will tell the students that today we are going to learn about subject-verb agreement.

Teacher Input: The teacher will introduce the rules for having a correct subject verb agreement by displaying the rules on a PowerPoint slide. The teacher will go over each rule with the students to ensure that they understand how to have a balance between the subject and verb. Then the teacher will provide each student with sentence strips that have a sentence written on them and two choices for the answers, one singular and one plural verb. The teacher will explain the rules of the activity by telling the students that they are allowed to work in groups of two or three and determine which verb correctly goes with each sentence. The teacher will be monitoring each group by walking around for assistance.

Active Participation: The teacher will divide the students into groups of approximately two to three students. Then the teacher will provide each group with their own sentence strips with a sentence on them that has the verb missing from the sentence. The students will also receive the answers that have singular and plural nouns on them and the students will have to determine which noun correctly goes with each sentence. The teacher will give the students a two minute “thinking time” where the group will determine the answer. Then the teacher will ask each group to come up to the front of the classroom and reveal their answers to the class. As the groups are giving their answers, the students will show a “thumbs up, or thumbs down” if they agree or disagree with the answers.

Retention Aid: Various students will come up to the front of the class to model what singular and plural means.

Independent Practice: The students will complete a worksheet on subject-verb agreement provided by the teacher.

Closure: As a ticket out the door, the students will write down one of the four rules on a sticky note that they remember on subject-verb agreement.

Assessment: The teacher will check the student’s answers to the subject-verb agreement worksheet.

Materials: Subject-Verb Agreement Rules, Subject-Verb Agreement worksheet, sentence strips with answers, BrainPop video “Its No Good When They Argue,” sticky note, and a PowerPoint slide.

                                                         Name_____________________

                              Date______________________

                                               Subject-Verb Agreement

1. I _____ (are, am) happy.

2. Rice ______ (taste, tastes) good with chicken.

3. They ______ (are, is) wearing a blue shirt.

4. Robert and Pete ______ (plays, play) soccer.

5. Sally ______ (drive, drives) a car to work.

6. Tom ______ (use, uses) a fork to eat.

7. Jenny ______ (am, is) a good student.

8. Cars ______ (take, takes) people from one place to another.

9. She ______ (has, have) a nice smile.

10. Those pencils ________ (need, needs) to be sharpened.

Subject-Verb Agreement Rules

1. If the subject is singular (one), use a singular verb.  (Generally, a singular verb ends in "s" or "es")

2. If the subject is plural, use a plural verb.

3. If the subject is compound joined by "and," always use plural verb.

4. If the subject is compound joined by "or" or "nor," look at the subject closest to the verb and follow rules #1 and #2.

 Examples:

The book or pencils are on the desk.

Neither the children nor Dad knows where the bank is located.

Lab Experience- Final Week

            This week is going to be bittersweet because it is my last week working with these children that I have made such great relationships with. It is always hard leaving when you have spent so much time working with them and getting to know who they are. However, I will cherish all the memories that I have from teaching the various grade levels. Within this last week I am scheduled to teach two lessons, one Tuesday and one Thursday. Tuesday I taught a lesson on pronouns to the fourth grade. I started out the lesson by asking them to define what they thought pronouns were and I had them give an example. I had previously made a chart divided into two sections (singular and plural) and I gave each child a pronoun and instructed them to solve what category their word went in. The children did great with this activity and seemed to have few, if any, problems. I knew that I was ready to move on to “Pronoun Bingo,” where they had to fill up their boards with pronouns and then we were ready to play! They all loved this activity and wanted to keep playing the whole class period. The final activity was an independent activity where I gave the children a worksheet to complete. Overall, this lesson was a huge success. At the end of the lesson, a sense of sadness came upon all of us because the children knew that it would be the last lesson I taught with them. Since I was there a majority of the time in the mornings, I was able to work with the fourth grade class more than any other. I made wonderful connections with each child and I am sad to let them go; however, I know that I was able to plant the seeds of knowledge in them so they will be able to flourish in their upcoming educational journeys.

           Thursday was the last day of the lab experience which brought a wide range of emotions. I am happy that I accomplished one of my personal goals which was to teach older children so that I can become a well balanced teacher. However, it was very sad to see the children’s faces when I told them that it would be my last day here. In particular, this one little boy asked me if I would come back to teach them next year because he loved me teaching him. Hearing a little boy tell me something as sweet as that just melted my heart and at that moment I knew I had made it as an aspiring teacher. Those are the moments that I will cherish forever and the reason why I want to become a teacher. I did teach my final lesson today over subject-verb agreement to the third grade group. Overall, it was a big success and I feel like the children really understood the concept once the lesson was finished. I started with a BrainPop video and then went into an activity that allowed the children to work in groups. The groups were given sentence strips with sentences on them and they had to choose the verb made the sentence correct. Lastly, I had the children work independently on a worksheet so that I could assess their knowledge in this subject matter. I cannot believe how fast this experience went. There have been some low points, but their have also been wonderful moments that have made this experience worth while. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to work with ESOL and be able to expand my abilities as a teacher outside of what I am comfortable with.