Conjunctions — Year 3 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: English Appendix 2 — Grammar: using conjunctions to express time, place and cause (Year 3)
Overview
Pupils learn to use a range of subordinating and coordinating conjunctions to join clauses and extend their sentences. They explore how different conjunctions change the meaning and structure of a sentence, and practise using them in their own writing to create more varied and complex sentences.
Learning Objectives
- Identify coordinating and subordinating conjunctions in sentences.
- Explain how conjunctions join clauses together.
- Use a range of conjunctions to write multi-clause sentences.
- Understand how the choice of conjunction affects sentence meaning.
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Show two short sentences: 'I was tired. I stayed up late.' Ask: how could we join these? Collect suggestions. Introduce the word 'conjunction'.
Distinguish coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) from subordinating conjunctions. Model how subordinating conjunctions can go in the middle or at the start of a sentence. Show how 'because', 'although', and 'when' create different relationships between clauses.
Pupils complete a set of sentence-joining activities, choosing the most appropriate conjunction. Then discuss: does swapping the conjunction change the meaning? Try 'because' vs 'although' in the same sentence.
Pupils write six sentences about a topic of their choice, each using a different conjunction. Challenge: start two sentences with a subordinating conjunction.
Quick sort: teacher reads a sentence, pupils hold up cards for 'coordinating' or 'subordinating'. Review: what do conjunctions do for the reader?
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils often start sentences with 'Because' and leave it as a fragment — teach that a subordinate clause needs a main clause to complete it.
- Overuse of 'and' to join everything — explicitly teach that 'and' is for adding equal information, not explaining causes or contrasts.
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Ability to write simple sentences with a subject and verb.
- Familiarity with basic connectives ('and', 'but') from KS1.
- Understanding of what a clause is.
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