Standard: 1.L.1h – Use determiners (e.g., articles, demonstratives).
Grade level: Grade 1
Subject: English Language Arts
Domain: Language
Teacher Overview
This standard focuses on teaching students how to use determiners, such as articles and demonstratives, to specify nouns in sentences. Mastering this skill is crucial as it helps students create clear and precise sentences, an essential part of effective communication. Students should have a basic understanding of sentence structure and be familiar with common nouns. This foundational knowledge will help them grasp the concept of determiners more easily.
After mastering the use of determiners, students will be able to construct more complex sentences and will have a stronger grasp of grammar, aiding in their overall language development.
Common Misconception 1
Some students may believe that ‘a’ and ‘an’ can be used interchangeably. This is incorrect because ‘a’ is used before words that start with a consonant sound, while ‘an’ is used before words that start with a vowel sound.
Intervention 1
Provide students with a list of words and ask them to place ‘a’ or ‘an’ before each word correctly. Reinforce the rule by practicing with both written and spoken examples.
Common Misconception 2
Students might confuse the use of ‘this’ and ‘that’ with ‘these’ and ‘those’. ‘This’ and ‘that’ are used for singular items, whereas ‘these’ and ‘those’ are used for plural items.
Intervention 2
Use visual aids and hands-on activities where students have to identify and use ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, and ‘those’ correctly in context. For example, they can point to objects in the classroom and describe them using the appropriate determiner.
Prerequisite Knowledge
Students should understand basic sentence structure and be familiar with common nouns.
Subsequent Knowledge
Students will develop the ability to use more complex sentence structures and incorporate a wider range of grammatical elements.
Instructional Activities
- Read a storybook and identify determiners.
- Create sentences using ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, and ‘those’.
- Play a matching game with pictures and determiners.
- Engage in a classroom scavenger hunt using determiners to describe found items.
- Write a short paragraph about a favorite toy using determiners.
