Systematic and Explicit Instruction on Using Coordinating Conjunctions in Complete Sentences

Nov 16, 2023

2 min read

What are Coordinating Conjunctions?

Coordinating conjunctions are words that connect words, phrases, or clauses of equal grammatical importance within a sentence. You can use coordinating conjunctions when you have multiple subjects or verbs in a sentence. You can also use coordinating conjunctions to combine two simple sentences into a compound sentence.

Here are the coordinating conjunctions:

for

and

nor

but

or

yet

so

Here is a video to help your students understand coordinating conjunctions.

Example Sentences

After introducing coordinating conjunctions to your students, you will want to show them examples. When looking at example sentences, point out the capitalized first letter, spacing between words, and ending punctuation. Speaking of ending punctuation. I recommend sticking with periods until you can give a lesson on the other types of ending punctuation.

Coordinating Conjunctions Between Subjects

Coordinating Conjunctions Between Verbs

Coordinating Conjunctions Between Simple Sentences

This should be a quick part of the lesson. You can ask students what they notice but quickly point out the important parts of the sentence. In these sentences, you want students to notice how coordinating conjunctions connect words or phrases. Your students will probably notice that and is the most commonly used coordinating conjunction. Some of the coordinating conjunctions are rarely used.

Coordinating Conjunctions Pictures

You can show these pictures to your students to help them brainstorm coordinating conjunction sentences. There are 10 pictures, so you have enough pictures to work with coordinating conjunctions between subjects, between verbs, and between sentences. Give students about thirty seconds to think about each picture. Then, have them share with a partner. Finally, collect three to five ideas per picture to record in a class anchor chart.

Printable Resources

These ideas will get you started teaching your coordinating conjunctions lessons, but we have printable resources that will make a huge difference. Luckily, my team at For the Love has you covered! You can get all of these resources to make planning and teaching a breeze!

Word List: A list of words for the lesson for when your mind goes blank while brainstorming.

Word Chart: A tool for students to organize words they will use to write sentences. Students record words from brainstorming on their word charts, so when they write sentences, they can focus their attention on the mechanics and syntax of the sentence instead of coming up with new ideas. Word charts are the perfect place to integrate social studies and science lessons into writing.

Example Sentences: A list of example sentences that fit the purpose of the lesson. You can use these to build anchor charts, differentiate instruction or practice for students, or clarify your own understanding of the topic.

Sentence Practice: Students will use the words from their word charts to write complete sentences. The sentence practice pages have more suggestion words as well as reminders about the mechanics of a complete sentence. Students who do not need the support of the handwriting lines can write on a piece of notebook paper, or you can give them the alternate writing paper. It does not have the specific lesson information on it.