“Their, There, or They’re?”

Conventions

I. Getting Started/Warm-Up Activity:

*Good afternoon! Get into your seats quickly so that we can get started. Could I have three volunteers to write the following sentences on the board?

1. There goes my grandmother.

2. I saw three goats this morning, and there hair was orange!

3. They’re were no paper towels left in the kitchen.

*Ask students:

-Is there anything wrong with the sentences that your classmates just put on the board? (Allow some time for guesses, comments, and answers)

*We’re going to find out in just a minute. So, if you have an idea, or you know how to fix them, then write them down and we’ll come back to them in just a minute.

(5min. getting started)

II. Review (from previous day)

*Yesterday, we began discussing how important it is to catch grammar mistakes when editing papers, and we talked about periods, commas, capitalization etc. Are there any questions that you have pertaining to what we learned yesterday?

(3 min. questions/review)

III. Introduction (for today’s lesson)

*Today we are going to talk about the differences between “There,” “Their,” and “They’re.” The purpose in teaching you the different uses between “their, there, and they’re,” is to not only help you in your writing, but to help you distinguish when and where each usage is fitting. That way, you can improve your own writing as well as help your peers when you edit their papers. These three words are examples of homophones. Homophones are words that sound the same, but have different spellings and meanings. Lets take a look at sentence #1 on the board. How many of you think there is nothing wrong with the first sentence? How many think there is? Okay, here we go. (2 min.)

IV. Points/Objectives of lesson (NCSCS-6.02-The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage by using comma spelling rules, applying comma spelling patterns, and developing and mastering an individual list of words that are commonly misspelled. NSELA-4: Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.)

*Help students understand the difference between there, their, and they’re.

*Allow students to recognize sentences that use these words both incorrectly and correctly so that they will be more affective writers.

V. Materials:

*Chalk Board

* “Their,” “There,” and “They’re hold ups for clarification as to which one is being discussed at the time.

VI. Guided Practice (teacher/student)

*The word “their,” is a possessive pronoun. That means, that it always describes a noun. What is a noun? (person ,place ,thing) Therefore, “their” can only be used in place of a noun. For example, “Their dog is loose.” Or “Their car won’t start.” “Their” is taking the place of a name like Tim or Tina. You can take “their” out and put “Tim’s dog is loose,” and it still makes sense. So, look back at all three sentences on the board. Can one of those sentences use “their” properly? (Yes, sentence #2, because “their” would be talking about the goat which is a noun.) Is everyone following? Are there any questions?

*Okay, next lets look at sentence #2. We know that “there” isn’t correct because we just said that it should be “their.” So, when do we use “there?” “There” is an adverb meaning “that location.” Therefore, we use “there” to refer to a location. For example “There are two blue cars.” The “there” points to a location. In which of these three sentences on the board should “there” be used? (“There” is used in sentence 1 and 3). “There goes my grandmother,” points to a location, as well as “there were no paper towels left in the kitchen.” The “there” in sentence 1 could be saying “there- as in- on the road” and in sentence 3, “there- as in –in the kitchen.” Okay, any questions about this “there?”

* Last is “They’re.” “They’re is a contraction. This means that if you took the apostrophe out of “they’re,” it would make-“they are.” Therefore, “they’re” cannot be used anywhere that “they are” can’t be used. Were there any examples on the board where this “they’re” can be used? (no) Okay, so lets make an example where “they’re” can be used. Here’s a sentence- “They’re driving west.” is this correct? (Absolutely!) What about “They’re not here, they’re gone.” (Definitely) Great! If there are questions, now is the time to ask. (15 min.)

VII. Independent Practice (student)

*To wrap up, please take out a sheet of paper, and write 6 sentences using “there,” “their,” and “they’re” twice-correctly. (10 min.)

VIII. Closure/Expectations (for tomorrow’s class)

*For tomorrow, begin thinking of ways to improve your papers and review “there,” “their,” and “they’re” in order to identify them in proofreading your papers.

***Additional sources to help with this lesson in the future:

-A Commonsense Guide to Grammar by Larry Beason and Mark Lester.