In Other Words ... with Grade 4

Fourth graders are practicing their paraphrasing skills. First we worked together to come up with synonyms and ways to recast a sentence.

ORIGINAL: The automobile that went by very quickly was maroon. It went through a big puddle and splashed us.

NEW Room 118: We were splattered with water when the large purplish car sped down the road into the puddle.

NEW Room 119: A dark red car zoomed through a puddle and got us wet.

ORIGINAL: The educator removed the unruly student from the learning environment because of the sounds he was making 

NEW Room 118: The teacher got rid of the student because he was making weird noises and being obnoxious.

NEW Room 119: The teacher kicked out the disrespectful student because he was distracting the other students.

ORIGINAL: In the metropolis, the recreation area was dilapidated. Youngsters received injuries when they attempted to utilize the equipment.

NEW Room 119: In the city, children were at a broken-down playground and fell down and got hurt.  

Then they worked on an individual assignment, putting the following sentences into their own words:

During my earlier years, I experienced much conflict with my male and female siblings who were born before me. Now that we are more mature, we have overcome some of our differences and have the ability to interact pleasantly.

Here are some of the new sentences the students came up with:

In my past, I argued with my brothers and sisters and over the years, we have learned to not argue. - B.G.W.

A couple years back, I had a lot of fights with my two older siblings. Now we're over and done with. - G.P.

A long time ago I argued very much with my older brother and sister. Since we are older, we put our differences aside. - S.L.

Now that I am older, my older brother and sister that I used to fight with, don't fight with me and I don't fight with them. - P.S.