Melgar 1

Thematic Unit: Dogs

WRITING LESSON

TEK: Students understand the function of and use the conventions of academic language when speaking
and writing. Students continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected
to: understand and use the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing, and speaking:
prepositions and prepositional phrases.

Materials: Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, note cards, chair, desk, misc. props.

Objective: After learning about prepositions, students will write a short paragraph about an
animal of their choice using at least five prepositions.

Anticipatory Set:

I will have the students gather in a circle around a desk, chair, and a basket with additional props.
The students will participate in a charades activity where I will hand out notecards with a
preposition on one side of it. Students will volunteer to step in the middle of the circle and act
out their preposition. The other students will try to guess what preposition they are acting out.
The student that correctly guesses the word will then use the word in a sentence. For example,
“The squirrel went around the tree.”

For further encouragement, those who volunteer will get an additional bonus point on the
homework assignment over prepositions.

“Boys and girls, today we are going to learn about prepositions. To begin, we will play a
charades activity. The notecards that I passed out have a word on them. Using these props
in the middle of our circle, you will try your best to act out the word on your notecard and
your classmates will try to guess the word. If you answer the word correctly, you will
then use it in a sentence. For example, if my word was ‘around’ and I went around the
desk, a sentence someone can use is, ‘The squirrel went around the tree.’”

Input and Modeling:

I will read the story to the class. Here are some questions I intend to ask while reading it:

 Do any of you have a dog? Have they ever buried something? If so, what was it?
 How come Harry's family did not recognize him?
 What do you think the author means when they said “from a white dog with black spots
to a black dog with white spots?”
 Why did Harry unbury the scrubbing brush?
 By looking at the image, do you think Harry still feels the same about having to take
baths?
 Melgar 2

After asking the questions, I will do a quick Think-Pair-Share activity. I will have the students
reflect for a moment on these questions:

1. This story is about a dog that leaves home and gets very dirty. Think of ways that a dog
could get dirty. Then share your list with a partner.
2. At the end of the story, the children in the family give Harry a bath. Share with your
partner things that you would use to give a dog a bath.

I will instruct them to turn to a partner and discuss their responses to these questions.

“Thank you for sharing boys and girls. At the beginning of the lesson, we practiced a few
prepositions. In the story Harry the Dirty Dog, the author uses a few preposition words in
her storyline. Here are a few I made note of: in, through, into, up, under. These are
called prepositions.

When do you remember seeing or using prepositions?

A preposition connects a noun or a pronoun to the rest of the sentence. Prepositions are
words that introduce information to the reader. This information can include where
something takes place, such as 'at' the mall, when or why something takes place, such as
'before' lunch, or general descriptive information, such as the girl 'with' the pink
backpack.

It’s important to learn about prepositions because they are words that describe a
relationship between other words in a sentence.”

I will show them this anchor chart, and explain what a preposition is and explain a great way to
remember if a word is a preposition or not.

“Notice how there is a definition to prepositions on the chart. It states, ‘A preposition connects a
noun or a pronoun to the rest of the sentence.’ By looking at the chart we see the question
 Melgar 3

‘Where can the fly go?’ Think about where a fly can go; I want everyone to go up one by one
and show me where the fly can go. For example, I will take the fly and move it on preposition
Pete’s hand. Now lets all try.”

“Boys and girls, I’m going to put up one more anchor chart for a few more examples of
prepositions.”

I’m going to play quick bingo game to reinforce prepositions.

“Boys and girls, I’m going to pass out these bingo cards. I will name prepositions and if
you have the word on your bingo card you may mark it off. When you have five in a row,
call out “prepositions!”
 Melgar 4

Guided Practice:

I’ll give students a couple of sentences and have them read them without prepositions. Students
are expected to place a preposition in the blank that flows with the sentence. Students will be
given a word bank.

The sentences:
 Harry went ______ table.
 Harry saw a railroad ________ the bridge.
 Harry ran _____ the house.

The preposition: over, into, under, around, beside, beneath.

Independent Practice:

The students are assigned to write a short paragraph about an animal of their choice using at least
five prepositions.

Closure:

“Boys and girls, without looking at our anchor charts, who can tell me what a preposition
is? I’m looking for a few of you to share a sentence using a preposition. You may even
choose a sentence from your paragraph about your animal.

Remember to look out for prepositions when we read other stories and even when you
write your own short stories. I’m going to leave up our anchor charts so that you can use
it if you are unsure about a word.

If the students finish their paragraphs, they can read them to the class.

Early Finishers:

Students can design their own anchor chart using the animal they wrote about in their paragraph.