Toolbox

Pop in a Popper

Pop in a Popper is one

effective lesson for teaching
your students how to choose
and use words to give their
writing fluency and flair.

Writers Craft
Writers craft is not so much about
what the writer says but how the
writer says it. Take a look at Maui
Dreams by a sixth grader. Notice
the vivid verbs, rhythmical phrases,
and varied sentences.
Heres a writer who
knows something
about craft!

Maui Dreams
By Jennifer
I watch the morning sun
set the sky on fire
over the mountain.
I bask on the beach,
soaking up the sun.
I splash in the salty surf.
I scan the horizon
for the silhouettes
of breaching whales
and diving dolphins.
Black sand tickles my toes
as I stroll along the beach.
Windsurfers neon sails
skim across the shimmering sea.
I watch the sun
drop below the horizon
leaving the island in darkness.
The alarm clock rings.
Its back to reality.
Fifty below in Saskatchewan.
456

The Reading Teacher, 64(6), pp. 456458

DOI:10.1598/RT.64.6.9

Minilesson
Pop in a Popper introduces the
appositive: a group of words
inserted after a noun to modify that
noun. In simplest terms, writers
pop this group of words into a
sentence to tell more about a noun.
Unlike an adjective, which goes
before a noun in English, a popper
is popped in after the noun.
A popper is embedded in a
sentence, separated from the basic
subject and predicate by commas,
as in Jennifer, my best friend, lives
down the street or It was just an
ordinary street, framed by picket
fences and manicured lawns, but it
was my home. (Sometimes
poppers might be separated from
the rest of the sentence by
dashesan additional punctuation
complicationbut well focus on
commas for now.) Its also
important to remember that the
sentence itself is intact if you pop
out the popper.

Learning Goal
Students will be able to embed
descriptive phrases (poppers) into
sentences, with appropriate
punctuation, to enhance or clarify
nouns.
Writing Traits
Ideas, word choice
Introduction
Link this lesson to students prior
knowledge about elaborating on
nouns using adjectives. Then
display the following sentences,
making sure to highlight the
poppers:
My brother, the worlds biggest
football fan, goes to games with his
face painted in the team colors.
Last winter, which was the
coldest on record, our power went
out for three days.

Harry Potter, about a boy with

magical powers, has become one
of the best-selling series of all time.

You may say something like,

Youre getting so good at putting

describing words before a noun,
such as the green hat or a huge
monster. However, sometimes we
add a group of words after the
noun to describe or clarify it. The
worlds biggest football fan tells
something about my brother and
why he paints his face, and which
was the coldest on record
describes the winter. Youll notice
that each of the sentences is
complete without the extra group
of words, but when we pop those
phrases into the sentences, the
added phrases elaborate on the
nouns and make the sentences
(continued)

2011 International Reading Association

ISSN: 0034-0561 print / 1936-2714 online

Toolbox

Title for Toolbox

Go Here
(must keep short)
Pop in aTo
Popper
(continued)
more meaningful. Thats why we
call these phrases poppers. A
popper is a group of words that
are popped into a sentence to tell
more about a noun.
Instruction
Invite students to turn and talk
about what they know about
poppers. They might notice that the
popper is separated from the rest
of the sentence with commas. They
might observe that the popper may
start with which/who or is/was,
or that phrase may be inferred.
Reinforce that the sentence is
already intact without the popper;
it is popped into the sentence for
elaboration or clarification.
Display some examples from
literature, such as the following,
and invite students to locate the
poppers:
Keith, the boy in the rumpled
shorts and shirt, did not know he
was being watched as he entered
room 215 of the Mountain View
Inn. (from The Mouse and the
Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary,
1965/2000, p. 11)

Avon, a rather small snail, read a

book every day. (from The End of
the Beginning by Avi, 2004, p. 11)
The massive thighs which
emerged from out of the smock
were encased in a pair of
extraordinary breeches, bottlegreen in colour and made of
coarse twill. (from Matilda by
Roald Dahl, 1988, p. 83)

Use an interactive writing

approach to add poppers to the
following sentence:

Marvelous Minilessons for Teaching

Intermediate Writing, Grades 46.)

Literature Cited
Avi. (2004). The end of the beginning:
Being the adventures of a small snail
(and an even smaller ant). Orlando, FL:
Harcourt.
Cleary, B. (2000). The mouse and the motorcycle. New York: Har perTrophy.
(Original work published 1965)
Dahl, R. (1988). Matilda. New York: Viking.

Scrabble is enjoyed by kids of all

ages.

Guided Practice
Display the sentences in the
reproducible (see page 458) and
have students work in pairs to pop
in poppers in four or five sentences
of their choice.
Independent Application
Have students revise a piece of
writing by popping in at least one
popper phrase.
(These ideas are adapted from
Lori Jamison Rogs IRA book

DIGGING DEEPER
Need more great resources to
help you teach writers craft (and
so much more)? Check out these
resources:
 usan Ehmann and Kellyann
S
Gayer, I Can Write Like That! A
Guide to Mentor Texts and Craft
Studies for Writers Workshop,
K6, International Reading
Association
Alison Morawek, Get Cooking
With Words! Creating a Recipe
Using Procedural Writing,
ReadWriteThink.org
Debbie Rickards and Shirl
Hawes, Connecting Reading
and Writing Through Authors
Craft, The Reading Teacher,
December 2006
Lori Jamison Rog, The Magic of
Three: Techniques for the
Writers Craft, ReadWriteThink
.org
Lori Jamison Rog, Marvelous
Minilessons for Teaching
Beginning Writing, K3,
International Reading
Association
Lori Jamison Rog, Marvelous
Minilessons for Teaching
Intermediate Writing, Grades
46, International Reading
Association

Toolbox: Pop in a Popper

457

Toolbox

Title for Toolbox Reproducible

To Go Here (must keep short)
Pop in a Popper

Wayne Gretzky once scored five goals in one game!

The kangaroo is native to Australia.

Mr. Smith repaired our broken water pipe.

J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series.

I got these boots at Southland Mall.

Denver is the home of the Denver Broncos.

My car was damaged in an accident.

The insect crawled along the floor.

Jennifers bedroom is full of clothes and collections.

Marvelous Minilessons for Teaching Intermediate Writing, Grades 46 by Lori Jamison Rog. 2011 International Reading Association.
May be copied for classroom use.

458

The Reading Teacher Vol. 64, No. 6 March 2011

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