WHY LOUISIANA AIN'T MISSISSIPPI... OR ANY PLACE ELSE!

OBJECTIVES

1. ​Students will practice modifying basic groups of words into interesting sentences that make sense and are more interesting to read.
2. Students will practice adding words to enhance writing without changing the meaning of the original word group or the historical fact.
3. Students will be reviewing Louisiana history while working to improve writing.
4. Here is the link for students to get started Sentence Starters Sheet.

EDUCATION STANDARDS: SOCIAL STUDIES, ELA

• ​Louisiana Social Studies Standards: 8.1, 8.2, 8.12g
• Louisiana ELA Standards:
  Writing: 8.1(a-e), 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9(a-b)
  Language: 8.1, 8.2, 8.3a, 8.4(a-d), 8.6

MEDIA RESOURCES & WEBSITES

• Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi... Or Anyplace Else Video Clip
  • Musicians
    Sentence Expansion 1
• Handout
  
  • Louisiana Sentence Starters

MATERIALS NEEDED

• Internet
• Computers

SUGGESTED TIME

Students should be engaged for an entire class period.

ACTIVITY/LESSON

1. Show students clips and discuss moments from the clips.
2. Students will be given sentence starters based on the history of Louisiana and students will be prompted to include additional words in order to make the sentences more interesting.
3. The addition of new words should not change the meaning or factuality of the sentences.
4. Students may want to research to find information to fortify their sentences.
5. Please remember that the whole stem must be used in the final sentence and in its original form/order.

Starters:

​Louisiana Superdome construction began.Franklin, Louisiana was originally named “Carlin’s Settlement.”Gumbo starts with a roux.There are strong French and Spanish roots.Beads and doubloons are thrown.Crawfish get eaten.Powdered doughnuts are sold.The words, “Elvis has left the building” were first spoken in Louisiana.Louisiana has the frog capital.
The flood of 1927 affected many parishes.We drove over the Atchafalaya Basin.Sno-balls are a cold treat.

Students will then add punctuation to their sentences to cause the sentences to be grammatically correct.

*This activity may be extended to enrich by having groups swap word sets and repeat the activity with a different set of words.