by Wanda Sanseri

The first book in a series of two, I Can Run is a beginning Grammar Reader designed so the student will be the co-author and illustrator of the book.

Wanda explains, "Each page has sentence or two made up of early words taught in the WISE Guide.  The student reads the sentence and then draws a picture to show that he understands the meaning.  Next, the student is genlty exposed to a basic grammar concept.  In book one, the teach is given questions to guide the child to find the simple subject and verb.  A line is provided where the student can write these words where directed.  A vertical line bisects it.

One page, for example, has the sentence "We go up the hill by Jill."  The teacher asks, "Who goes?"  The student answers, 'we.'  The teacher says, "Write the subject 'we' before the dividing line."  Next the teacher asks, "What do we do?" The student answers "go."  The teacher says, "Write the verb 'go' after the dividing line."

This exercise gives the child a mental framework to understand the idea of a complete sentence.  Personal pronouns (I, you, he she it, we) are used as the subject throughout the book.  This prepares the student for changing the verb after the third person pronouns (he, she, it).  On the last page the student can read subject/verb combinations with all thirteen verbs covered in the book.  Example: I run. You run. He runs. We run."

This abbreviated form of diagramming with yound children has proven very successful!