In this book students...
- read sentences using words from Wise List A-E
- diagram the action verb in each sentence
- draw an illustration for each sentence (e.g. "He hops up the stairs to the top.")
Beginning Grammar Readers by Wanda Sanseri are designed so that the student will be the co-author and illustrator of the book.
The first book is called I Can Run! Each page has a sentence or two made up of early words taught in WISE Guide. The student reads the sentence and then draws a picture to show that he understands the meaning. Next the student is gently exposed to a basic grammar concept. In book one, the teacher is given questions to guide the child to find the simple subject and verb. A line is provided where the student can write these words where directed. A vertical line bisects it.
One page, for example, has the sentence, "We go up the hill by Jill." The teacher asks, "Who goes?" The student answers, "we." The teacher says, "Write the subject 'we' before the dividing line." Next the teacher asks, "What do we do?" The student answers "go." The teachers says, "Write the verb, go, after the dividing line."
This exercise gives the child a mental framework to understand the idea of a complete sentence. Personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we) are used as the subject throughout the book. This prepares the student for changing the verb after the third person pronouns (he, she, it). On the last page the student can read subject verb combinations with all thirteen verbs covered in the book. Example: I run. You run. He runs. We run.
One of the teachers who taught Wanda years ago successfully did this abbreviated form of diagramming with her first grade classes. Wanda was amazed by the idea of teaching at such a young age something that she had found helpful in high school. She tried it with young children with the same success.
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