Systematic and Explicit Instruction on Using Prepositions in Complete Sentences

What is a preposition?

A preposition is a word that tells you where something is or when something happens in a sentence. We usually use prepositions after the verb in a sentence. However, complex sentences can put prepositions before the noun and verb. There are special rules for how to put a preposition at the beginning of a sentence that we will not cover in this lesson. There are also other types of prepositions that students will learn about later in the program.

Here is a video to help your students understand prepositions that tell when and where.

Example Sentences

After introducing prepositions 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.

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 the prepositions and what information they are connecting. You may want to ask students if the sentence is telling you where or when something is happening.

Preposition Pictures

You can show these five pictures to your students to help them brainstorm prepositions. 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. Students will most likely share prepositional phrases instead of single prepositions, and that is fine for this stage of writing.

Printable Resources

These ideas will get you started teaching your preposition 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.

You can get the lesson on prepositions at Teachers Pay Teachers.

How to Teach Writing Complete Sentences