Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

In the BrainPOP ELL movie If I Had Three Wishes… (L3U5L5), Moby’s dog digs up a magic lamp. Will Ben and Moby get three wishes and will they use their wishes wisely? Tune in to find out and to review conditional tenses. In this lesson plan, adaptable for grades 3-8, students use conditional language as they respond to prompts, match and sort conditional clauses, and apply academic language to appropriate situations.  

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:

  1. Describe situations that match designated academic vocabulary words.
  2. Sort and match conditional sentences.
  3. Identify conditional sentences in the movie.

Materials:

Vocabulary:

Clause, condition, result, if, unless, past participle
Admit, concentrate, consider, distract, divide, remain, warn

Preparation:

For Activity 1, Match the Situations, label and hang seven pieces of chart paper, each with one of the following words: admit, concentrate, consider, distract, divide, remain, warn. Write each of the “Situation Examples” on a separate sticky note.

Situation Examples
You are deciding between buying a game or a book for a friend’s birthday present.
You need to cut a cake into twelve pieces.
You tell your mother that you broke a glass. Everyone at a party has a slice of pizza, but there is one slice left over.
The noise in the house is bothering you. You can’t study.
You’re thinking very hard about a problem.
The owner of a cute dog tells you that you shouldn’t play with him because he might bite.

For Activity 2, Make a Wish, print an image of a magic lamp. There are many examples online.

For Activity 3, Sort the Conditionals, make copies and cut out a set of the following 13 sentence strips for each pair of students.

1st Conditional
If we rub it, do you think we’ll get three wishes?
If we get three wishes, we can divide them between the two of us.
We won’t know unless we try.

2nd Conditional
If nothing happened for me, why would it work for you?
Because if the magic lamp were real, it would mean that we would only get three wishes.
If you had wheels on your feet, you wouldn’t have to walk!
If we had a magic flying carpet, we could fly all around the world!
If I wished for superpowers, I would wish to be super strong and super fast.
It would be very useful if you had that superpower right now!

3rd Conditional
If I had known that, I wouldn’t have yelled at him to stop.
If I had known it was real, I would have warned you not to waste your wish.
I wouldn’t have wasted my wish either, if I had known!

For Activity 4, Match the Conditionals, make copies and cut out a set of the sentence strips for each pair of students. Make sure to separate the condition and result clauses.

Match the Conditionals

If you are late to school, the teacher will be angry
If I got lost, I would look at a map.
If you had told me, I would have known.
If we had studied more, we would have gotten better grades.
If I had a million dollars, I would buy a lot of presents.
If I don’t come to school tomorrow, will you bring me the homework?
If you need me, call my cell phone.
If I hadn’t done the homework, I wouldn’t have understood.
If my head hurt, then I would take a pill.
If my head hurts, then I will take a pill.

Prepare any of the suggested children’s books, poems, or songs suggested in the Extension Activities section of this lesson plan.

Lesson Procedure:

  1. Match the Situations. Display seven large chart papers around the room. Label each with one of these seven vocabulary words: admit, concentrate, consider, distract, divide, remain, warn. Divide students into small groups and provide each group with one of the sticky note Situation Examples.

    Have groups read and discuss their situation, write it on a sticky note and attach it to the appropriate vocabulary chart paper. Review the seven situations with the whole class, and have one student from each group highlight or circle the words on each sticky note that they used as clues. Now have groups think of their own situations that match the seven verbs and write them on sticky notes. Alternatively, they may draw pictures for their examples.

    After the students have written new sticky note situations, distribute them among the groups, to attach to the appropriate chart paper. If students need help thinking of new situations, write some prompts on the board.
  2. Make a Wish. Do the following activity before watching the movie If I Had Three Wishes… (L3U5L5), to activate prior knowledge. You can also do the actvitiy after the movie, as a review. Using images of a magic lamp (See Preparation), have pairs act out a dialogue. Instruct students to take turns rubbing the lamp and making wishes. To encourage students to use the conditional in their dialogues, provide the following prompts on the board, or come up with your own:
    What would you wish for if you had a magic lamp?
    If you could have anything, what would you wish for?
    If I wished for superpowers, I would wish to ___________________.
    If I had a magic lamp, I would wish for/that ___________________.
    I wish ______________________.
  3. Sort the Conditionals. After a repeated viewing of the movie If I Had Three Wishes… (L3U5L5), distribute the 13 conditional sentence strips (See Preparation). Have pairs sort the sentences into first, second, and third conditional.
  4. Match the Conditionals. Distribute the Match the Conditionals sentence strips (see Preparation). This sentence strip matching activity can be done in various ways:
    • Have partners sort the clauses into conditions and results, and then match them.
    • Have pairs of students work with only the conditions (or only the results), and complete the sentences on their own.
    • To differentiate for a greater challenge, have pairs create and write their own conditional statements.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
Vocabulary Practice. Encourage students to practice using the new vocabulary from Unit 5 in the following activities: Sort the words into Abstract and Concrete Words. Use the lists for an Open Word Sort. Use vocabulary in a Story Impression activity. Make a chart of Word Families. Refer students to the Word Lists for the collected Unit 5 Vocabulary.
Fairy Tale Warnings. Prepare a list or pictures of fairy tales that students will know. Invite students to think of warnings or advice for the characters, using conditional statements. For example: Little Red Riding Hood: If you see a wolf, you should run! Suggested Fairy Tales: The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Frog Prince, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Beauty and the Beast, The Pied Piper of Hamlin, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin.
What If. The Shel Silverstein poem “Whatif” is a fun way to practice conditionals. Ask the students to identify the conditionals, and to think of results for each condition.
Practice Conditionals with Books. Books by Steve Jenkins (see list below) are perfect for practicing conditional sentences. Never Smile at a Monkey What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?  What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You? Students can practice any form of conditional, depending on the question or task you ask of them.
Practice Conditionals with Songs. Refer back to the lessons plans in this unit, to find songs that use the conditional. You can play a bit from various songs and have students complete the conditional phrases.

RELATED
BrainPOP ELL Movies
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If We Lived There (L3U5L2)
Ancient Egypt (L3U5L3)
I Hope We Win (L3U5L4)