Title: Conventions of Standard English 

Grade: ​Sixth Grade 

 
Overall Goal:  
The object for this lesson is to build upon the knowledge already acquired about the standard 
conventions of english. Through using computational thinking pillars including decomposition 
and algorithmic thinking we hope that our students can learn to use this knowledge to enhance 
their literary skills and think about the english language in a new way. 
 
Before the main lesson, there will be a short kahoot game that will help the students become 
familiar with the terms that they will be using throughout the class. After the vocabulary kahoot, 
the students will participate in the activity called “Celebrity Tweets”. This activity will specifically 
target decomposition and algorithmic thinking as well as offer some fun into a dry subject! 
 
After the main assessment, the students will partner up to create their very own MadLib, this will 
focus on the stages of Computational Thinking: Decomposition, Pattern Recognition, Abstraction, 
Algorithms. They will be asked to meet requirements labeled on each slide that they are 
presented. When they are finished with their MadLib, they will fill in the blanks of their partner’s 
creation! 
 
 
Standards  Learning Objective  Assessment 

6.W.6.1a Pronouns – Using a  Objective 1: Students will be able to define  See Rubric 
variety of pronouns, including  what a pronoun is, as well as demonstrate 
subject, object, possessive, and  the appropriate usage of it. Students will be 
reflexive; ensuring pronoun  able to recognize the different types of 
antecedent agreement;  pronouns and interpret the correlating 
recognizing and correcting  agreements.  
vague pronouns (i.e., ones with 
unclear or ambiguous 
antecedents).  

6.W.6.1b Verbs – Students are  Objective 2: Students will be able to define  See Rubric 
expected to build upon and  what a verb is, as well as demonstrate the 
continue applying conventions  appropriate usage of it in different contexts. 
learned previously.  

6.W.6.1c Adjectives and  Objective 3: Students will be able to define  See Rubric 
Adverbs – Students are  and identify adjectives and adverbs, and 
expected to build upon and  use them correctly in sentences of their 
continue applying conventions  own. 
learned previously.  
 6.W.6.1e Usage – Writing  Objective 4: Students will be able to  See Rubric 
simple, compound, complex,  distinguish the differences between simple, 
and compound-complex  compound, compound-complex, and 
sentences; recognizing  complex sentences, as well as practice 
sentence fragments and  creating their own.  
run-ons.  
 
 
 
Key Terms & Definitions:  
● Noun: ​A word used to identify people, places or things. 
● Pronoun: ​A word that stands in for a noun 
● Antecedent:​ A noun to which a pronoun refers 
● Subject:​ The person, place or thing that a phrase is being said about 
● Object:​ Noun or pronoun that receives action of the verb 
● Possessive Pronoun: ​A pronoun indicating possession of something (ex: hers, mine, his, 
theirs) 
● Reflexive Pronoun:​ Used when the object is the same as the subject 
● Verb:​ A word used to describe an action 
● Adjective:​ A word added to a noun to describe it. 
● Adverb:​ A word or phrase that modifies the meaning of a verb, adjective or other adverb. 
● Predicate:​ A part of a sentence explaining something about the subject 
● Compound Sentence:​ A sentence with more than one subject or predicate  
● Complex Sentence:​ A sentence containing a subordinate clause 
● Compound-Complex Sentence:​ A sentence having two or more independent clauses 
and one or more dependent clauses 
● Sentence Fragments:​ groups of words that look like sentences but are not. 
● Run-On Sentences:​ A sentence in which two or more objectives are connected without a 
word or punctuation mark to separate them. 
 
 
Lesson Introduction (Hook, Grabber): kahoot 
Estimated Time: 10 min 
We will first start off with a Kahoot! Game that will be an introduction to the lesson. Each student 
will need to get an iPad or laptop to log onto kahoot.it, they will need to type in the entrance 
code displayed on the screen. The Kahoot! will be filled with important vocabulary terms and 
sentence examples that the students will need to know in order to be familiar with the 
terminology used in the upcoming lecture. The students will have most likely learned a lot of this 
information beforehand, but this will be a good refresher to introduce them to the harder content. 
This Kahoot! Will engage the students up front, and get them more excited about the content 
they are learning. If students have any questions during the kahoot, they may ask them; however, 
there will be an entire lecture going more in depth on the subject.  
 
Kahoot!: ​https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/5d60b270-2815-464c-98ab-c32712e6ba29 
 
 
Lesson Main: Celebrity Tweets 
Estimated time: 15-20 min. 
 
Following the Kahoot, we will start the Celebrity Tweet Lecture Activity. Each student will need a 
white board and an expo marker to participate. This activity will be composed of several “tweets” 
from celebrities that have errors within them. Throughout this activity, the students will be 
practicing their computational thinking. Decomposition and Algorithm specifically. The student 
will practice decomposition by breaking down parts of the sentence and identifying them. They 
will also be using this in reverse by Algorithmic thinking. Each sentence has a structure that takes 
steps to complete.  
 
Student Role:​ The tweet will be displayed on the projector, and the students will be asked to 
modify the tweet or identify specific parts of the tweet. They will do so on their white-board. They 
may work with a partner if they would like, or collaborate quietly with each other. 
 
Teacher Role:​ The teacher will be giving instructions to the students on what to do with the 
tweet. These instructions can include, but are not limited to: “Modify this tweet to make it into a 
complex/compound/compound-complex sentence”, “Identify the verbs/nouns/adverbs/adjectives 
in the tweet”, “Change the structure of this sentence, so there are no run-on sentences or 
fragments.” If the students need help, the teacher will be around to offer slight suggestions or 
hints to move them along. They are also the mediator and will facilitate the instructions and group 
discussions that spawn from the activity.  
 
 
Lesson Ending: MadLib Creation 
Estimated time: 15-20 min.  
This final activity is to make a madlib. The students will have a partner that they will give their 
MadLib to when they are finished. The students will need to create their own original MadLib that 
incorporates their knowledge of Conventions of Standard English. This MadLib activity will target 
all four parts of Computational thinking. Decomposition: breaking down sentences, Algorithm: 
Steps to build up a sentence, Pattern Recognition: pronouns will always serve the same purpose 
in each sentence, as will all other parts of speech, Abstraction: when completing the Mad Lib, you 
will leave out the parts of the sentence that makes it unique and add it back in with a partner. 
 
Student Role:​ The objective is to make a MadLib composed of AT LEAST 2 simple sentences, 2 
compound sentences, 2 complex sentences, and 1 compound complex sentence. The student 
will also need to incorporate AT LEAST 3 of each: adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and verbs, and at 
least 1 pronoun slot. They can choose to either complete this electronically with a website, or on 
paper. After they finish their creation they will be asked to contribute to their partners madlib, so 
they can finish it! 
 
Teacher Role: ​The teacher will be walking around during this activity to provide help for the 
students when they need it. They can help give ideas to struggling students, and make sure the 
students are using their knowledge correctly.  
 
 
Assessment Rubric: 
 
  Excellent (10-9  Good (8-7  Satisfactory (6-4  Poor (3-1 Points) 
Points)  Points)  Points) 

Organization  The MadLib is well  The MadLib is  The MadLib is  The MadLib 
organized with a  organize pretty  not organized  shows no 
clear beginning,  well, but lacks  well and is  beginning, 
middle and end.  clear beginning,  missing parts  middle, and/or 
middle, and end.  such as the  end.  
beginning, 
middle, and/or 
end. 

Use of  The student  The student  The student  The student 
Vocabulary  includes all required  includes almost  includes some,  includes does 
aspects of MadLib  all of the  but not all,  not complete the 
(2 types of  required  vocabulary  required amount 
Sentence, and 3  vocabulary, most  terms, some may  of vocabulary 
types of each part of  are correct.  be used 
speech) and  incorrectly. 
correctly uses all of 
them. 

Effort  It can be seen that  Effort was put  Effort was  Little to no effort 
there was a lot of  into the MadLib,  lacking, and the  is evident. 
effort put into the  little to no  MadLib may not  Incomplete 
MadLib. It is neat  distraction was  be  MadLib. The time 
and organized.   show. There are  completed/meet  given was not 
some   requirements  used wisely.  

Creativity  The MadLib is very  The MadLib is  The MadLib  The MadLib is 
original and shows a  creative, and  pretty creative,  not an original 
lot of thought and  very original.  but is not original  idea and/or is 
creativity put into it.  enough.  not creative. 
 
 
 
Resources / Artifacts: 
● Kahoot!: ​https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/5d60b270-2815-464c-98ab-c32712e6ba29 
 ● Celebrity Tweet PowerPoint: 
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1b0Wd_e1QkYcz7DQmyk_Xs2mDbf1DNKIikghqE
WROuec/edit?usp=sharing  
● MadLib Instruction Sheet: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sSARCfOF6pBTx7HRhulBKuKCC6Hk9aamMRFEG
Q15GoI/edit?usp=sharing  
● MadLib Example: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lkVkV7wnMrpmukFniD5p-ngIZi2SnN5dUi3yBsa-1J
A/edit?usp=sharing  
 
 
Differentiation: 
1. Differentiation for low ability learners 
● Low ability learners will be assigned the same things as every other student in the class. 
However, if they are having trouble understanding vocabulary words, creating new 
sentences from the tweets, or struggling with creating a MadLib, there are ways to 
combat it. The teacher will offer short explanations of each word after each question of 
Kahoot. Although the student may not receive a lot points for answering the question 
correctly, or on time, they will still benefit from learning the word twice and seeing it used 
in context. This is also the same for understanding how to recreate tweets. The teacher is 
always there to provide a different way of explaining something to a student who cannot 
get the hang of it the first time around. Regarding the MadLib the low ability student will 
be asked to create a condensed version of the “story”. 
 
2. Differentiation for Culture 
● In today’s age, it's important to highlight different cultures of our nation. It is important for 
young children to see that there’s examples of a lot of different cultures within Hollywood 
and the celebrity group. Creating questions with an equal amount of cultures represented 
will help the students see that there’s room for everyone in everything.  
  
3. Differentiation for hearing impaired students 
● Most of the activities in this lesson are paired with words. One of the things that may be 
difficult is the short explanations after each question, and instructions going forward 
during the class. In order to help a student with hearing impairment, the teacher can print 
out an instruction worksheet as well as the definitions/descriptions of the vocabulary 
terms. 
 
4. Differentiation for students without Computers or WiFi access 
● If for some reason students foresee that they would not finish their MadLib in class, they 
have the option to write it on paper. Each student will have the option to choose whatever 
method they want to create their story, as long as the teacher approves. 
 
 
Anticipated Difficulties: 
With any sixth grade class there are difficulties capturing and maintaining the attention of the 
students. The goal of this lesson was to have multiple interactive parts so that the students would 
not feel a need to get distracted. Using a game is a very intentional way of keeping the attention 
of adolescents. Although actions were taken to avoid difficulties, there will still be obstacles that 
arise. When sixth graders get distracted during this lesson, the teacher will help them to get back 
on track with friendly reminders.  
 
One difficulty that can be foreseen is trouble with correctly re-wording sentences so they meet 
the requirements, and so that they also make sense in the context of the original tweet.  
 
Another obstacle students may face is with the MadLib. They may have trouble with coming up 
with an original idea, or using the website if they choose to do their MadLib electronically.  
When a student needs help with this, the teacher will be more than willing to help and offer 
alternative directions, or provide some lenience with the MadLib.