Download This place is a ZOO.

This place is a ZOO.
“I love acting, but it’s much
more fun taking the kids to
the zoo.”
-Nicole Kidman, actress
Welcome to a safe journey where
wildlife
meets
grammar.
PARTICIPLES –ing verb
Imagine a snake
curling around his prey:
“The diamondscaled snake attacked
his prey.”
“Hissing, slithering, and
coiling, the diamondscaled snake attacked his
prey.”
Participles evoke ACTION.
ZOOKEEPER’S JOB
Adopt your animal HERE!
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You and your zookeeper partner need to
adopt an animal.
# 1: List four verbs that your animal would
probably do.
Example: snake = hiss, slither, coil, spit
#2: Now, add “ing” to the verbs to create
participles.
Hissing, slithering, coiling, spitting
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ADD PHRASES
“Hissing their forked red tongues and
coiling their cold bodies, the diamondscaled snake attacked his prey.”
ZOOKEEPER’S JOB:
#3: Add several participles OR add one or
two phrases to help paint a more detailed
picture.
APPOSITIVES – second image
Expands details in the
reader’s imagination.
“The raccoon enjoys
eating turtle eggs.”
“The raccoon, a
scavenger, enjoys
eating turtle eggs.”
#4: Use an appositive to
describe your animal.
APPOSITIVES
“The raccoon, a midnight scavenger who
roams lake shorelines in search of food,
enjoys eating turtle eggs.”
#5: Write a new sentence that incorporates an
appositive with added DETAILS.
ADJECTIVES – out of order
When authors want to
stack an image with
three adjectives, they
avoid a three-in-a-row
string by using
adjectives out of order.
Change: “The large, redeyed, angry bull moose
charged the intruder.”
“The large bull moose,
red-eyed and angry,
charged the intruder.”
ADJECTIVES – out of order
“The large bull moose, red-eyed and angry,
charged the intruder.”
#6: Leave one adjective in its original place and
shift two others after the noun.
EX: The fierce cheetah, tired and hungry,
stared at the gazelle, which would soon
become her dinner.
THE LAST STEP
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Now that you have a better understanding of
your adopted animal’s traits, you will need to
write an informative excerpt about your
animal. Six sentences max.
The information will be evaluated based on
sentence fluency and word choice.
Both zookeepers will be presenting their
written excerpt in class on Thursday, Feb. 26
15 points.
Resources
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Noden, Harry R. Using Grammatical
Structures to Teach Writing. 1999.
Images: google.com images
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FILE: GRAMMAR: This place is a ZOO.
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