Hi everyone! Today, I wanted to share some ideas about teaching compound sentences in your primary classroom.

Ideas for Not Teaching a Boring Compound Sentence Lesson

Introduction of Fanboys

First off, students need to know those fanboys before diving into the realm of compound sentences. A simple way to do this with a hands-on twist is to have them make some fans with those bad boys. Students simply fold the paper seven times to make eight sections. Then they can write the coordinating conjunctions on the fan, squeeze the bottom together, and then fan away.

 Fanboys Fans for teaching compound sentences

 Activity Ideas for Compound Sentences

Idea #1 Silly Sentences

Write some simple sentences and the fanboys on some sentence stripes. Students connect the two simple sentences with one of the fanboys. Then they use pasta and lentils to add the punctuation. Finally, they add that capital letter at the beginning with a wikki stick or other letter manipulative of choice. Alternatively, you can have some sentences with capitals and others without it, and they piece those together.

Silly Sentence Idea for Teaching Compound Sentences

Idea #2 Create & Share Giggly Sentences

Each student creates their own simple sentence. I recommend encouraging silliness. Then they partner with someone else to form a compound sentence with their two simple sentences. They can record their newly formed sentences on a paper. After a few minutes, they rotate to pair up with another student and make another sentence. You can rotate as many times as you like.

Giggly Sentence Idea

Idea #3 Work with Compound Sentences in Multiple Ways

Students can identify if a sentence is simple or compound, rewrite two simple sentences into a compound sentence, add more details to a compound sentence, and rearrange compound sentences into other sentence formats.

Various Ways to Work with Compound Sentences

Click here for these task cards in a bundle or check out the digital ones here.

Idea #4 Butterfly Grammar Craft

Add simple sentences on each wing of a butterfly. Then the comma and conjunction can be added on the body of the butterfly to join the two simple sentences into one. I added a touch to this craft idea by making the butterflies body in the shape of a comma, but you can use any butterfly template or make your own easily for this craft. All I did was cut these out of some colored card stock. You could also use colored papered too.

Would you just prefer to have a template for the this butterfly craft template? You can find this in my Compound Sentence Bundle here. The craft is also linked in the bundle separately too.

Comma Butterfly for Teaching Compound Sentences

Click here for the Compound Sentence Bundle

I hope you enjoyed these ideas about compound sentences. Check out some of my other grammar posts, and make sure to subscribe to email for more ideas here. I promise I do not spam, and you can always unsubscribe at any time.

Compound Sentences 1B

Thanks so much for stopping by the Candy Class!  I hope you are enjoying my grammar posts and scooping up many ideas to jazz up your lessons.

Jolene Mathew

On a Mission to Improve Literacy

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14 Responses

  1. Love the compound butterfly idea with each connecting word so they can see it better and also making silly sentences was fun for them.

    1. Jolene Mathew says:

      I am glad to hear that! Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    2. Kim McCann says:

      Where did you find the template? I love the idea!

      1. Hi,

        The butterfly craft was something I came up in an effort to share ideas that would be simple for teachers to replicate on their own without having to buy something. The template was something I drew up, and I figured others could draw it up and copy for their classroom too. However, I know teachers are always looking to save time or may lack the drawing skills. Since I have been asked several times for this template through various outlets, I decided to draw one up digitally for others to easily print. I just posted it here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grammar-Craft-for-Compound-Sentences-with-Conjunctions-5280348

        Thanks!
        Jolene

  2. Elizabeth says:

    do you have the pattern for the butterfly?

    1. Jolene Mathew says:

      Hi,

      The butterfly craft was something I came up in an effort to share ideas that would be simple for teachers to replicate on their own without having to buy something. The template was something I drew up, and I figured others could draw it up and copy for their classroom too. However, I know teachers are always looking to save time or may lack the drawing skills. Since I have been asked several times for this template through various outlets, I decided to draw one up digitally for others to easily print. I just posted it here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grammar-Craft-for-Compound-Sentences-with-Conjunctions-5280348

  3. Anonymous says:

    Lovely ideas thank you fr sharing ?‍♀️

  4. Anonymous says:

    i love the ideas,thank you for sharing

  5. Anonymous says:

    Thank you for sharing your ideas. They will be a great tool when helping my grandsons with their homework.

  6. Anonymous says:

    I simply loved it! Awesome!

  7. Awesome ideas

  8. Thanks for sharing the butterfly ideas for compound. it will surely a big help for my demo tomorrow. Keep it up,

  9. Kim McCann says:

    How can I get the template for the butterfly?

  10. Anonymous says:

    Awesome. I love the ideas