Writing Complex Sentences

Description

Teach your middle school students to write complex sentences with this slideshow presentation and task card set. Introduce or review independent and dependent clauses, subordinating conjunctions, and complex sentence structure. Students will practice combining clauses by adding an appropriate conjunction and punctuation.

Product Features

♦ Choose autumn or spring-themed example sentences

♦ Print task cards in full color or low-ink format

♦ Answer key provides possible complex sentence combinations

♦ PDF file format is easy to use on any computer

What’s Included?

♦ 16-slide Presentation to introduce or review terms

♦ Mini Anchor Chart for students’ interactive notebook

♦ 20 task cards with clauses for students to combine

♦ Task Card Record Sheet for student answers

♦ Answer Key with sample sentences

Teacher Prep

First preview the slideshow presentation. You can project this file on your whiteboard or assign it for students to view in Google Classroom.

Print copies of the Complex Sentences mini anchor chart (one copy for every two students) on white or colored paper. Cut apart with a paper slicer.

Print copies of the answer recording sheet (one per student).

You may print the answer key with possible complex sentence combinations to share with students. Please be aware that several different sentences are possible for most of these task cards. The answer key works well to provide an aid for students who need ideas or help getting started. They are not the only possible correct answers, though.

Decide whether you will print color or low-ink task cards. You can print on card stock, plain white paper, or colored paper. Cut the task cards apart and laminate if desired.

Ideas for teaching this Complex Sentences lesson

Place a mini anchor chart in students’ interactive notebooks and encourage them to use it with the task cards.

Each card gives two clauses that students must combine using a subordinating conjunction to write a complex sentence. If you notice students using the same pattern over and over, ask them to try a different conjunction or change the order of clauses.

To build critical thinking skills and creativity, have students compare their sentences with a partner (because multiple correct sentences are possible for most clause pairs) or challenge them to create as many different sentences as they can with a given task card.

THIS ITEM IS A DIGITAL (PDF) FILE DOWNLOAD. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE A PHYSICAL PRODUCT.