A Snowball Fight....in So Cal? In the Spring??

Today we had a snowball fight in my classroom.  Well...sort of.  I know what you're thinking.  Snowballs now?  What is she talking about?  Well, if I had titled this post "Independent and Dependent Clauses in Mrs. Moorman's Room", you wouldn't have opened this post.  Am I right?  Thought so.  So now that you are here, you might as well read about what we have been doing...and I promise there will be a snowball fight in here somewhere ;)

This week, we have been talking about independent and dependent clauses.  We have learned about them before, so it isn't new.  However this week we get an entire week of them.  With The TEST looming, it is good timing.  The week started with a morning message filled with the clauses (and appositives...I thought I could throw those in as well).  The kids found and combined them, just as they will be asked to do on The TEST.  Here is a copy of the morning message for you.

After creating a review anchor chart (this is the actual one I made with the students, which would explain the sloppiness), we opened up the workbooks to identify the different clauses.  Talk about B.O.R.I.N.G.  Instead, the kids created a foldable.

On the outside of the flaps, the students wrote the two different clauses found in the complex sentences.  Inside, they identified the clauses and wrote the reasons *why* they were such.  Much more effective and rigorous...and a bit more exciting for the kids.  These took a few days to complete, but the kids really did show their understanding of the different clauses this way (instead of just filling in a worksheet)

Then, today, we had our snowball fight.  While reading our non-fiction book about the causes of the American Revolution, I had the students find some complex sentences that contained both an independent and a dependent clause.  They wrote each part on a separate piece of paper.  I asked them to find two sentences, so they had a total of 4 pieces of paper. 





Here is where the fun came in.  Once the kids had their sentences written, they all gathered on the rug.  You see, we are learning about the causes of the American Revolution.  We *just* talked about the Boston Massacre and how it basically began with a snowball fight.  So I had the students wad up their pieces of paper into snowballs and we all tossed them into the air.  It was our own little snowball "fight"  (anyone see the connection here????)  The kids LOVED this.  They wanted to do it again so badly, that I let them pick up the papers and toss them again.  This helped to further mix them up, so it was fine.

The kids then picked up 4 pieces of paper from the ground and went back to their seats.  When they opened them up, the kids had to decide if they were holding an independent or dependent clause and why they thought that.  Then, the students had the task of making it into a complex sentence by adding on their own dependent or independent clause to the clause they picked up.  Here is the sheet they used to help them organize their thoughts.

This part was actually really eye-opening for me.  I had just assumed that the students would be able to identify the clauses in our reading.  But they had a lot of trouble.  Anytime there was a comma, the kids assumed it was a dependent clause.  I am going to have to go back and reteach transitions, fragments, etc...

So there you have it.  A week's worth of independent and dependent clause activities.

How can you take these activities and adapt them to use in your room?