(In order to activate students' prior knowledge I start the lesson by asking them "What is a compound word?". When they tell me two small words put together, I use that information to relate to compound sentences.)
I confirm to my scholars that a compound word is two smaller words put together to create a larger word. We'll use that same concept to help us understand compound sentences. A compound sentence is two simple sentences joined by a comma, and a coordinating conjunction like "and," "but," or "or" to create a longer sentence.
For example, we take the simple sentence I write on the board - I like math. In order to make this sentence compound, I need to add another simple sentence, a comma, and a coordinating conjunction - I like math, and I am going to make an "A" on my next math test!
Now, they try! Write a compound sentence using the simple sentence - I like ice cream.
We share whole group when they're done.
Now, we're going to play a Compound Sentence Composition Bee game. We'll divide into 2 teams. The first student on each team will write a simple sentence on the board, the next student will add a comma, a conjunction, and another simple sentence in order to form a compound sentence. (I display the attached resource of The Compound Sentence Formula on the SmartBoard.) If it's correct, the team gets a point. If it's not, the next student will try to correct it in order to earn a point for his/her team. We continue the process until one team reaches 20 points. That will be the winning team! Let's begin!
Now, to close our lesson, please take a few minutes a do a quick write on what you learned today about composing compound sentences. We'll share whole group when you're done.