PAWS for the Clause - A Sentence Activity Based on UNBREAKABLE

This month, I've been discussing the picture book, Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp written by Minoru Tonai and Jolene Gutierrez and illustrated by Chris Sasaki. This week, I'm using one of the illustrations from the book, graciously provided by Jolene, to show how picture books may be used to teach the difference between clauses and phrases. We will be using my acronym for PAWS to analyze the difference between a phrase and a clause:

P= Pause and picture the parts

A= Analyze the parts (Is it a phrase or a clause? Does it have a subject and a verb?)

W= Wonder about the parts (Ask questions. Who is doing what?)

S = Synthesize the whole (What does the whole sentence mean when you put it all together.)

DEFINITIONS

Clause: A clause is a group of words that contains a subject-verb relationship. An Independent Clause can stand alone as a sentence.

Phrase: A phrase is a group of words that go together, but lack a subject-verb relationship. A phrase can never stand alone as a sentence. 

From Unbreakable - Used with permission by co-author Jolene Gutierrez

Now for the acronyms PAWS...

PAUSE 

Students often must be reminded to pause and picture what is happening in the sentence. For longer or more complex sentences, they need to picture each part correctly to interpret the whole.

ANALYZE

The examples that follow are from the illustration above. To determine if an example is a phrase or a clause, ask yourself if it contains both a subject and a verb. Punctuation and capitalization have been omitted because students typically rely on them to determine whether something is a sentence (Independent Clause).

1. pools of sadness

2. we've done nothing wrong

3. we're losing everything

Number 1 is a noun phrase that is part of the independent clause (sentence). Her eyes are pools of sadness.

Number 2 is an independent clause with "we" as the subject and "have" as the verb.

Number 3 is an independent clause with "we" as the subject and "are losing" as the verb phrase. 

Numbers 2 and 3 function as a compound sentence in the story when they are put together with the conjunction "and." For a further exploration of how to create compound sentences, see my post entitled Simple Sentences Aren't So Simple. 

WONDER- Who or what is the subject, and what are they doing? 

Using the sentence "Her eyes are pools of sadness" as an example of a very lovely metaphor. Note that "eyes" is the subject, and "are" is the verb or predicate, while "pools of sadness" is a noun phrase because it acts like a noun.

SYNTHESIZE the whole

Ask students to picture how the author conveys sadness in the metaphor above. The mother's sadness is not the ranting, raving, weeping grief that demands justice; it is the quiet sadness of someone whose sorrow overflows but must be contained. Once students have analyzed the whole sentence, discuss how it fits within the page or paragraph.

Create your own examples

If the story does not provide the type of sentence examples needed for your students, you can encourage them to use the illustration to create their own examples by asking WH questions. See my post about Complex Sentences Made Simple for ideas on how to use WH questions to build complex sentences. 

Phrases represent parts of speech. Sentences and clauses are often made up of phrases. See how the WH questions below could be used to help students generate phrases: 

Who is the subject of the picture

the Min family - noun phrase 

What did they do and how did they do it?

sadly left - verb phrase

What? (direct object)

their home - noun phrase 

Where? 

in California - prepositional phrase

I will dive deeper into clauses and phrases in my April newsletter, with more examples from Unbreakable. Sign up HERE to receive my newsletter. In May, I will discuss teaching abstract terms such as "analyze" and "synthesize." 

Check out my new digital game on Independent Versus Dependent Clauses based on Hank the Tank at the BOOM LEARNING STORE. This one is $1.50, but while you are there, you can check out the numerous freebies.

RELATED POSTS

Happy Book Birthday to UNBREAKABLE

A Story Frames Plot Analysis of UNBREAKABLE

A Story Frames Plot Analysis of UNBREAKABLE

 

In last week's BLOG, I recommended using the picture book Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp to bridge the gap between narrative and non-fiction by exploring its rich back matter.  This week, I'll give a brief summary of the book using Storyboard elements from my book, Story Frames for Teaching Literacy. For more information about Story Frames, go HERE or visit Brookes Publishing.

Read the book to your students before discussing the plot and have them take notes or make quick sketches about what is happening in the story. Even older students enjoy listening to stories, and using sketches is a great way to introduce struggling writers to note-taking. In Chapter 6 of Story Frames, "From Speaking to Writing: Sentences, Paragraphs, and Stories," I share a Quick Draw strategy based upon Ukrainetz's 1998 method for "picture noting." Basically, students listen to a story and draw sketches of what is happening in the plot. For Story Frames, we then use those sketches to fill out a storyboard and discuss plot elements. The storyboard can then be used to retell the story orally or to write a summary. Ukrainetz later adapted her strategy to note-taking for non-fiction. 

Ukrainetz, T. (1998). Stickwriting stories: A quick and easy narrative representation strategy. Language, Speech, and Hearing in Schools, 29, 197-206. 

Ukrainetz, T. A. (2019). Sketch and speak: An expository intervention using note-taking and oral practice for children with language-related learning disabilities. Language, Speech, and Hearing in Schools, 50, 53-70.  

Unbreakable Plot Summary
BEGINNING:
1. Ordinary World - Min and his family live in San Pedro, California, where his father sells fruits and vegetables. Min enjoys collecting rocks as he walks home from school. 
2. Call and Response - FBI agents come to the home and accuse Mr. Tonai of being a spy because he gave money to family members in Japan.
3. Mentors, Guides, and Gifts - In December of 1941, agents return and take Mr. Tonai away. Before he leaves, he gives Min a smooth gray stone "for strength."
4. Crossing - People of Japanese descent are forced to leave their homes. Min, his mother, and siblings are taken to Santa Anita Park.
MIDDLE: 
5. New World - Their new home is a horse stall at the racetrack with straw mattresses.
6. Problems, Prizes, and Plans - Guards patrol the racetrack, and no one is able to leave. 
7. Midpoint Attempt - The family is hopeful when they are told they are being moved to Granada, Colorado, but Camp Amache turns out to be a dry desert. Min makes furniture from scrap wood to lift his mother's spirits. They receive letters from Mr. Tonai, who is imprisoned elsewhere. Min clutches the stone and thinks of his father.
8. Chase and Escape - In March of 1944, Min sees a man outside the barracks and runs to greet him. It's his father who has joined them at Amache. He has been released from prison.
END:
9. Downtime - Mr. Tonai has collected stones from every prison where he was incarcerated. He shows them to Min and talks about the strength and beauty he has found. 
10. Death and Transformation - They use the rock collection to create a beautiful design outside of their barracks. They have transformed something ugly into something beautiful.
11. Climax: The Final Test - In October of 1945, the Tonai family is finally released from the camp. At first, Min worries that they won't be accepted or that they could be incarcerated again. Min lets go of the stone and holds his parents' hands "for strength," knowing that they will make things better. 
12. Final Reward - (In the co-author's note) As an adult, Min founded the Amache Historical Society. In 2015, Emperor Akihito awarded Min with a medal for "promoting friendly relations and mutual understanding between Japan and the United States."

A Different Kind of Hero's Journey

My Story Frames analysis is based on The Hero's Journey, as described by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In Western culture, we are accustomed to Hero stories where an underdog fights against extreme odds to emerge victorious over a bigger, stronger opponent, but that's not how real life works for most of us. Sometimes heroes make their mark by enduring extreme hardship through resourcefulness (making furniture from scraps) and by creating beauty in the midst of adversity (crafting art from stones). They try to create a better world in ways both big and small. That is the story of Min Tonai, and it is inspiring because these are things each of us can do every day - create beauty and hope wherever we find ourselves.

Next week, we will use Unbreakable to explore the difference between phrases and clauses.

RELATED POSTS

Happy Book Birthday to UNBREAKABLE

Sign up HERE to receive my newsletter with FREE activities based on Story Frames and my decodable books. 

Happy Book Birthday to UNBREAKABLE

This month, I'm featuring the picture book Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp, written by Minoru Tonai with Jolene Gutierrez and illustrated by Chris Sasaki. The release date (book birthday) for Unbreakable is April 7. Order it now on Amazon! The story is based on Tonai's real-life experience as a Japanese American youth incarcerated with his family during World War II.

In my book, *Story Frames for Teaching Literacy*, Chapter 7 explores "From Story Writing to Expository Writing: Bridging the Gap With Narrative Nonfiction." The extensive back matter at the end of Unbreakable provides an engaging way to explore nonfiction features with students. These include: a timeline, bibliography, discussion of terms related to "incarceration," a Fact and Fiction section, a note from co-author Jolene Gutierrez about Minoru Tonai, and a note from Chris Sasaki about the illustrator's grandfather, who served in the 442nd Infantry during World War II. This was a special unit composed of second-generation Japanese Americans that was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service. 

These men bravely served their country even as many of their families were unjustly held in incarceration camps back home.

Next week, I will share a Story Frames Plot Analysis of the book and discuss a very different kind of Hero's Journey. Later this month, I will present an activity based on the narrative that explores the difference between phrases and clauses.

Last month, I explored several activities based on Phumirik's book, Happy Songkran Day, which will be celebrated from April 13-15. See last month's blog posts about the book HERE.

RELATED POSTS

A Story Frames plot analysis of Unbreakable

Sign up HERE to receive my newsletter with FREE activities based on Story Frames and my decodable books.