Compound sentences

What is the most frequent problem you seen amongst you students writing? Is the problem addressed at all by the teacher? How would you address the problem in your own classroom?

As an early education major, I spend a lot of time reading and writing with my first grade students. My entire practicum is based off reading language arts. The students write extremely creative stories in class but they are filled with errors. Grammatical and spelling errors are to be expected at this young age but on the other hand I think they should receive more instruction on these topics. After reading chapter ten in Calderonello's text I realized one of the biggest issues I see with my students writing is run on sentences. The students are aware that by adding the word "and" continues their thoughts and extends their sentences. But more often than not I see the children use and correctly in a sentence; connecting two nouns but then repeatedly add the word to extend their writing. I read several stories yesterday while working with the students and they all had this problem. Spelling is phonetic and by reading a story you can understand what the child is attempting to say. However I think the children truly need a lesson on sentence structure and the meaning of a compound sentence.
I was not aware of how much this topic bothered me until I began reading this chapter for class.
I realized when reading the text there were so many factors about compound sentences that even I was not aware of. I did not know there was a difference between complex and compound sentences. As a teacher I need to make it my responsibility to become as much as an expert as possible on these topics. If I am not aware of the rules for compound sentences, how will I be able to teach my students. I have not seen the teacher I work with in practicum address this issue of run on sentences. I think the students should at least be aware of a compound sentence and simple ways of avoiding run on sentences. As a teacher I would take the key concepts of what I read in chapter ten and bring it down to the first grade level. I think the author offers great examples and while explaining the essence of a compound sentence I would use these examples in my class. Calderonello explains how to correctly join two subjects and two simple sentences. I would show my children these examples. To modify it for their age I would not refer to the make up of the sentences. For instance he combines two subjects and a subject and a predicate in his examples. Children are not aware of what these words mean, so I would change the way I talk about it. Other than the specific language the text offers great teaching examples I could use and elaborate on for my lesson. Calderonello's text (especially chapter 10) would be my main reference point for ideas and examples on how to teach these first grade students the correct sentence format and structure.

Adverbials

Grammar is always one of the hardest things for children to grasp in their writing. There are so many rules and different parts of speech. Elementary and middle school teachers do not have enough time to spend on grammar lesson as children need. What is one area of grammar you feel you do not know much about? Do you remember learning this content in grade school?

I have trouble understanding several different components of grammar in the English language. I have learned a lot through the grammar lessons students have been giving in class. As i was preparing for my lesson I realized I did not know a whole lot about my topic. My groups topic is adverbials. Before reading chapter seven I could not even define the term. I knew what an adverb was and some examples which included words like quickly, happily, finally, ect. However, I did not know there was such a thing as adverbial phrases or adverb clauses. I did not know the flexibility and wide range of variety adverbs could bring to a piece of writing.
There are several key points I took away from this chapter on adverbials. I learned their basic function is modify certain parts of speech. The thing I find difficult about this, is the fact that adverbs can modify so many different parts of speech including verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. I think the author did a great job breaking down the different types of adverbials and how they are used in a sentence. It was helpful when reading about adverbial phrases and clauses to see the specific examples. In the sentence "Bella ran very quickly" I used to think that just the word quickly was the adverb. I was not aware that there was such a thing as adverbial phrases which would consist of very quickly. Now i understand very describes how quickly and quickly is the adverb. There are so many different ways of writing and using adverbials it was difficult for me to grasp at first. I honestly feel through the reading of this chapter and the planning of our lesson I learned a lot on the topic. I hope my new knowledge of adverbials is able to improve my writing.