Sentence Strips Learning Strategy

Below are three different ways to use sentence strips in BrainPOP ELL lessons. They all involve cognitive skills – putting items on a continuum, sequencing events from the movie, and matching sentence halves. Using manipulative is always good because students are actively engaged in the activity. Do them as partner activities, so students are using the target vocabulary and concepts as they share ideas and communicate with each other.

1. Using Sentence Strips to put items on a continuum.
Putting items on a continuum is a higher order thinking skill that allows students to figure out the meanings, nuances, and relationships among new words, while usin them cognitively and creatively. A continuum can be used to distinguish among groups of words or expressions of varying degree or intensity, such as adverbs of frequency, adjectives, time expressions, vocabulary words about measurement, etc. Answers may vary and discussion about the order is good.
2. Using Sentence Strips to sequence the events of the movie.
Make sentence strips from sentences in the movie. After watching the movie, partners work together to sequence the events according to the movie.
3. Using Sentence Strips to match sentence halves.
Procedure:
a. Prepare sentence strips from sentences in the BrainPOP ELL movie. This works especially well with sentences that have two clear halves, such as Cause-Effect, Problem-Solution, or Conditional sentences.
b. Make enough sets of the sentence strips for each pair of students.
c. Cut the sentences into the two halves and separate each set.
d. Give a set to each pair of students. Partners work together to match the halves to make complete sentences.