Where are the grammar lessons?

• Explicit grammar knowledge is an important component of meeting college- and career-ready Language Arts standards as well as state ELD standards. Our curriculum designers used the language standards strand of Language Arts, as well as the state ELD standards, to create a scope and sequence for identifying the grammar that should be addressed through Language Maker Routines. For example, in Grade 3: Module 1: Unit 1: The Joys and Challenges of Reading, students discuss the meaning of abstract, as well as what an abstract noun might be. They look at examples in The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. In particular, they examine the sentence:  “‘Malcolm used to say, ‘If you’re not willing to die for it, put the word freedom out of your vocabulary’, Dad said.’” Students ask, “Can you figure out why Vaunda Micheaux Nelson used the abstract noun freedom?” They discover that abstract nouns help to convey important ideas rather than concrete objects, ideas that may carry diverse personal beliefs and experiences. In this Grade 3 case, it is useful to use the term abstract noun for two reasons: first, this is a term explicitly identified in Grade 3 college- and career-ready standards (L.3.1c). Second, abstract noun is the straightforward term for this part of speech—other terms or nicknames would require teachers and students to talk around the point. Use the curriculum as a guide and focus explicit grammar instruction on specific concepts or terms called out in the lessons themselves.
• At the same time, keep in mind that for multilingual learners, and in fact for all students, it is more important that they can skillfully use syntax rather than that they can use specific technical grammar terms. We recommend that you use grammar terminology judiciously, primarily as a “quick reference” for talking about the meaning and purpose of a chunk, sentence, or paragraph (e.g., Rather than having students struggle with naming parts of speech, such as the gerund Being, focus the conversation on what a language feature means and why the author used the feature). For example, when analyzing complex language in The Hope Chest for Grade 4: Module 4”, Responding to Inequality: Ratifying the 19th Amendment, students might talk about the meaning and purpose of the chunk Being out of place in the sentence “Being out of place was unpleasant; it made your stomach hurt.” Students can use the Goal 3 Conversation Cue to ask one another: “Can you figure out why Karen Schwabach wrote Being out of place at the beginning of this sentence?” This approach supports students to understand the purpose of the language feature, which is often grammatically parsed as a gerund phrase, but is more accessible and straightforward to students if labeled as ‘verb + -ing.’ A sense-making approach to language is often more useful than emphasizing sentence parsing and grammar jargon. For example, “Can you figure out why Karen Schwabach wrote the gerund phrase at the beginning of this sentence?” may create a barrier for students to decipher the purpose of the language.