This place is a ZOO. “I love acting, but it’s much more fun taking the kids to the zoo.” -Nicole Kidman, actress Welcome to a safe journey where wildlife meets grammar.

PARTICIPLES –ing verb Imagine a snake curling around his prey: “The diamond- scaled snake attacked his prey.” “Hissing, slithering, and coiling, the diamond- scaled snake attacked his prey.” Participles evoke ACTION.

ZOOKEEPER’S JOB Adopt your animal HERE!Adopt your animal HERE! You and your zookeeper partner need to adopt an animal. # 1: List four verbs that your animal would probably do. Example: snake = hiss, slither, coil, spit #2: Now, add “ing” to the verbs to create participles. Hissing, slithering, coiling, spitting

ADD PHRASES “Hissing their forked red tongues and coiling their cold bodies, the diamond- scaled snake attacked his prey.” ZOOKEEPER’S JOB: #3: Add several participles OR add one or two phrases to help paint a more detailed picture.

APPOSITIVES – second image Expands details in the reader’s imagination. “The raccoon enjoys eating turtle eggs.” “The raccoon, a scavenger, enjoys eating turtle eggs.” #4: Use an appositive to describe your animal.

APPOSITIVES “The raccoon, a midnight scavenger who roams lake shorelines in search of food, enjoys eating turtle eggs.” #5: Write a new sentence that incorporates an appositive with added DETAILS.

ADJECTIVES – out of order When authors want to stack an image with three adjectives, they avoid a three-in-a-row string by using adjectives out of order. Change: “The large, red- eyed, angry bull moose charged the intruder.” “The large bull moose, red-eyed and angry, charged the intruder.”

ADJECTIVES – out of order “The large bull moose, red-eyed and angry, charged the intruder.” #6: Leave one adjective in its original place and shift two others after the noun. EX: The fierce cheetah, tired and hungry, stared at the gazelle, which would soon become her dinner.

THE LAST STEP Now that you have a better understanding of your adopted animal’s traits, you will need to write an informative excerpt about your animal. Six sentences max. The information will be evaluated based on sentence fluency and word choice. Both zookeepers will be presenting their written excerpt in class on Thursday, Feb points.

Resources Noden, Harry R. Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing Images: google.com images FILE: GRAMMAR: This place is a ZOO.