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What they are:
What they are:
Fragments are incomplete sentences that are missing a verb clause and/or subject and/or do not contain a complete idea. Sentence fragments are often identified as "errors" in student writing, but they also represent an opportunity to teach sentence boundaries and structure to students.
Fragment Repair
Fragment Repair
How it works: Teachers provide students with a fragment and ask the students to "repair" it by turning it into a complete sentence. Make sure only proper nouns (names) are capitalized and that no punctuation is included. For example:
protested against the war ---> Students protested against the war.
use photosynthesis to --> Plants use photosynthesis to obtain energy from carbon dioxide and water.
Why to use it: By repairing fragments students develop an awareness of their own writing and begin to notice and repair fragments in their own work
When to use it: You can use this strategy to
review previous content
to check understanding of a reading, image, video, or other text
On a quiz or content test instead of more traditional short answer questions
How to teach it: Using an anchor chart of all the necessary components of a sentence, use a picture with a clear subject and action to introduce a fragment that the class will repair as a group (see below)
What information is missing from this sentence fragment?
attended the Kansas City Chiefs game
As you work to complete the fragment, identify what part of the sentence is missing (in this case the subject), and complete the sentence as a class:
Taylor Swift attended the Kansas City Chiefs game.
You can then repeat this process with other sentence fragments about the picture:
seems to confirm that she is, in fact, dating Travis Kelce --> Taylor Swift sitting next to Travis Kelce's mom seems to confirm that she is, in fact, dating Travis Kelce.
Fragments vs. Sentences
Fragments vs. Sentences
How it works + How to teach it: Once students have practiced repairing fragments, teachers provide students with a list like the one below. Make sure only proper nouns (names) are capitalized and that no punctuation is included.
___ congruent angles are
___ squares and trapezoids both
___ quadrilaterals have four sides
students then identify these items as a fragment (F) or a sentence (S) in the blank spaces, repair the fragments, and rewrite the sentences with correct punctuation and capitalization. As always model a few solutions for the whole class before releasing students to partner or individual work.
For best results: ***MAKE SURE TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH SPACE TO REPAIR THE FRAGMENTS AND REWRITE THE SENTENCES WITH CORRECT CAPITALIZATION AND PUNCTUATION. ***
Why to use it: This activity reinforces students' understanding of what makes something a complete sentence. Practice identifying fragments vs. sentences should help students identify and repair fragments in their own writing.
When to use it: After students have had practice repairing fragments, teachers can use this strategy to:
review previous content
check understanding of a reading, image, video, or other text
EXAMPLES:
Identifying and repairing fragments within a paragraph.
Identifying and repairing fragments within a paragraph.
How it works: In this activity, the teacher gives out a paragraph that has been modified to include sentence fragments. Students then read the passage, making sure to underline the fragments and turn them into complete sentences in the spaces below. This example is from an article from Achieve 3000
Fossils, such as those found in Utah, help scientists piece together Earth's prehistoric past. But Earth is around 4.6 billion years old, older than the first life on Earth. So scientists also use a method called radioactive dating (or radiometric dating) to date the evidence they collect. Is a way of measuring how much radioactive material is inside an object. Since this changes over time for certain elements, it's a way of knowing how much time has passed since the material formed.
Students would then repair the fragment they identified to say "Radioactive dating" is a way of measuring how much radioactive material is inside an object.
Why to use it: This strategy helps students practice their awareness of sentence boundaries and sentence structures and helps them develop the reading skills of using context clues to infer the meaning of pronouns or other implied information in a text.
When to use it: You can use this strategy to
review previous content
to check understanding of a reading, image, video, or other text
How to teach it: As with any other new strategy, you will have to model this task for students and show them potential answers. Make sure the directs explicitly ask them to repair any sentences If they have practice with isolated fragment repair activities, the task should be pretty straightforward.
For best results: Make sure that you have clear directions that ask students to identify and repair fragments in the reading.
Unscrambling Sentences
Unscrambling Sentences
How it works: In this activity, the teacher provides students with the words of a sentence in a scrambled order. Then students unscramble the words and add correct capitalization and punctuation. Here are some examples
divided twenty-one equals by seven three. --> Twenty-one divided by seven equals three. OR Twenty-one divided by three equals seven. (the two answers in this example also bring attention to a fundamental property of division)
strike went workers for farm pay conditions on and better working--> Farm workers went on strike for better pay and working conditions.
Why to use it: This strategy helps students improve their awareness of how words work within a sentence in a game-like way. It also allows you to check for basic understanding of vocabulary and relationships between two concepts or ideas that youy have already taught, for example:
animals that herbivores are plants eat --> Herbivores are animals that eat plants. (not plants that eat animals)
When to use it: You can use this strategy to
review previous content
to check understanding of a reading, image, video, or other text
How to teach it: Start with simple sentences that have a clear correct order. You can make the scrambled sentence a caption for a picture, like the one to the right. If students are struggling, you can bold the first word of the sentence. Then you can move to more complex sentences, including questions:
hurdles Lamar Jackson defender Green Bay as
score did a after touchdown he move this
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