Sentence combining is a strategy found on pg. 102 of TWR 2.0 in which the teacher provides students with two or more simple sentences that they then need to combine into one complex sentence. See the example below:
Directions: Combine the provided sentences into one sentence.
Franklin Roosevelt was president during the Great Depression.
Roosevelt helped pass The New Deal.
New Deal programs helped provide jobs to many unemployed Americans.
Combined Sentence: During the Great Depression, president Roosevelt helped pass the New Deal, which created programs that helped provide jobs to many unemployed Americans.
This type of targeted practice connecting multiple ideas within one sentence helps build understandings of syntax (the way words are put together in a sentence) and grammar. Using course content during this practice also helps reinforce students' understanding of important course topics and concepts.
Sentence combining is easy to teach alongside sentence expansion. It makes a good do-now or warm-up activity, especially if you want to reinforce information students were supposed to have learned the day before. It can also be used before a reading to help build some background knowledge if your simple sentences provide basic information that students will need to know to understand whatever they are learning next.
Directions: Combine the provided sentences into one sentence.
Romeo is the son of Lord Montague.
Romeo and Juliet decide to get married.
Juliet is the daughter of Lord Capulet.
The Capulet and Montague families are sworn enemies.
Combined Sentence: Even though their families are sworn enemies, Romeo, the son of Lord Montague, and Juliet, the daughter of Lord Capulet, decide to get married.
Directions: Combine the provided sentences into one sentence.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that happen between ages 1 and 17.
Adverse childhood experiences include abuse, neglect, or household challenges.
People who experience adverse childhood experiences are at higher risk for many health conditions as adults.
Combined Sentence: People who experience adverse childhood experiences (traumatic events like abuse, neglect, or household challenges) between the ages of 1 and 17 are at a higher risk for many health conditions as adults.