Math Lesson: Appropriate Links and Transitions

Math Lesson: Appropriate Links and Transitions Grade Level: 7

Lesson Summary: Students identify transitional words and phrases in a story, in newspapers, and magazines, and in their own writing. Advanced learners investigate how transitions are used in fiction and nonfiction. Struggling students write directions that rely on transitional words and phrases to convey meaning.

Lesson Objectives:

The students will know…  how to use appropriate links and transitions.

The students will be able to…  use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.  use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify relationships among ideas and concepts.

Learning Styles Targeted:

Visual Auditory Kinesthetic/Tactile

Pre-Assessment: Use this quick assessment to see if students can recognize transitional phrases.

1) Play or sing these lines from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz: It really was not miracle. What happened was just this… The wind began to switch/The house, to pitch/And suddenly the hinges started to unhitch/Just then the Witch/To satisfy an itch/Went flying on her broomstick, thumbing for a hitch.

2) Ask students to identify the transition words and phrases in the song. (what happened was, suddenly, just then)

3) Note students who do not understand that transitions convey sequence, signal shifts, and link ideas.

Whole-Class Instruction

Materials Needed: The first chapter of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz*; newspapers and magazines

Procedure: Presentation 1) Ask students to list words they know with the Latin prefix trans- (transport, transportation, transfer, transaction, transit). Have them deduce what the prefix means (passing over). Then discuss the word transition. Have students deduce that the word means “passage from one state to another.” In writing, a transition helps the reader pass from one sentence, paragraph, or section to another.

2) Explain that there are many ways to make transitions in writing and ask students to suggest them, as you write them on the board along with examples. Prompt them to include the following types of transitions. a. Time and Sequence (after, before, then, suddenly, during, at last) b. Sequence (first, second, next, then, finally) c. Example (for example, also, for instance) d. Comparison (also, in the same way)

Copyright © 2010 Study Island - All rights reserved. e. Contrast (on the other hand, however, unlike, different from) f. Place/Location (below, beyond, in front) g. Cause and Effect (so, therefore, as a result, because of this) h. Conclusion (in summary, finally, in the end)

3) Distribute and read the passage from the first chapter of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz.

4) Have students read it a second time and highlight each of the transition words.

5) Have students identify the transition words they chose. Determine what type of transition each word or phrase represents. Add to the list on the board as necessary.

Guided Practice 6) Divide the class into groups of three. Give them five minutes to generate a list of problems if writing lacks good transitions. (choppy, jumpy, abrupt, unrelated, no conclusion, disorganized, seems as if several chunks of writing are just copied and pasted together).

7) Discuss the problems as a class.

8) Distribute newspapers and magazines and give students ten minutes to find at least five different transitions in an article.

9) Have them report their findings to the class, explaining what the purpose of the transition was.

Independent Practice 10)Have students write an autobiography or a story about an experience. Encourage them to use transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and sections. As part of the editing process, have them underline at least ten transitional words or phrases they use.

Closing Activity 11) Review the types of transitions that students find themselves using most.

Advanced Learner

Materials Needed: Selection of fiction and non-fiction books; notebooks; pens and pencils

Procedure: 1) Have students look for examples of transition words and phrases in a fiction and nonfiction book. Have them compare the different types of transitions they find in each type of writing.

2) Have them present their work to the class.

Struggling Learner

Materials Needed: Notebook; pens and pencils

Procedure: 1) Work with students to have them write directions to a location using transition words. Have them underline the transitions they use to connect ideas, develop sequence, and identify locations.

2) Have them present their direction to the class and explain the importance of transitional words and phrases in following directions.

3) Review and discuss their use of transitional words, and then have them complete the independent practice activity. *see supplemental resources

Copyright © 2010 Study Island - All rights reserved. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction also. Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up. "There's a cyclone coming, Em," he called to his wife. "I'll go look after the stock." Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept. Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her of the danger close at hand. "Quick, Dorothy!" she screamed. "Run for the cellar!" Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor. Then a strange thing happened. The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon. The north and south winds met where the house stood, and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In the middle of a cyclone the air is generally still, but the great pressure of the wind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather. It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle. Toto did not like it. He ran about the room, now here, now there, barking loudly; but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited to see what would happen. Once Toto got too near the open trap door, and fell in; and at first the little girl thought she had lost him. But soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept to the hole, caught Toto by the ear, and dragged him into the room again, afterward closing the trap door so that no more accidents could happen. Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her. In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.