CC3 finite complement with different subject

You will need:
Oval, large hexagon, multiple rectangles

Pictures (with name tags) or photos of known people showing emotions or actions

Toys/small figures

Action cards

Thought bubble.

App settings: Turn on tense arrows / use custom rectangle.

Intervention steps:

1. Tell the child you have photos of some people who are feeling different things. Ask the child to suggest how different people are feeling. Write a simple sentence, e.g. “Sam is happy, Paul is sad, Emma is angry” inside separate rectangles. (Code these with oval – diamond – cloud only if the child questions why you are putting them inside the rectangle.)

2. Introduce the oval and large hexagon. Write ‘I’ in the oval and ‘think’ on the blue line/arrow in the hexagon. Place one of the rectangles in the hexagon and ask the child to say the whole sentence with you.

Repeat with the other rectangles. Stress that the child doesn’t know for sure yet but this sentence tells you what they are thinking/guessing. To support the concept of ‘think’ use a thought bubble with a question mark or ‘cog whirring’ symbol/gesture.

3. Ask the child to say the first sentence again, i.e. “I think Sam is happy.”  Show him the photo/picture labelled Sam. If he is correct, say: “You thought right – Sam is happy.'” If he is incorrect, say: “You thought wrong – Sam is angry. Now you definitely know how Sam is feeling.”

Rub out the blue word think and replace it with ‘know’  – change the rectangles to match the images. Repeat with multiple examples.

4. Now take turns to act out some emotions. Change the person in the rectangle to ‘you’ . Practise switching between “I know you… / I think you…” sentences,

e.g. “I think you are scared. I know you are scared.”

To support the concept of ‘know’ use a thought bubble with a tick and a thumbs up sign/symbol.

5. Continue miming but this time act out activities of daily living both with toys and each other, e.g. brushing teeth. Practise switching between I think/I know  and swapping the person/pronouns at in each rectangle to match, e.g. “I think Ted is brushing his teeth. I know you are brushing your teeth. I think you are washing the car. I know Fido is chasing a cat.”

Practise creating written think/know sentences if appropriate here

6. Practise with a range of other verbs that work in the same way:

I see Ted is brushing his teeth.

Dad says Fido is chasing a cat.

Mum hopes you are washing the car.

7. Now show that there is another way of saying exactly the same thing just by putting a ‘that’ in front of the rectangle. Write or stick a ‘that’ onto the front of some rectangles, e.g. “I know that Sam is angry. I think that Tom is peeling banana.”

Practise creating sentences with and without ‘that’.

8. Introduce the verbs imagine/believe. Explain the subtle differences in meaning. Use the same support symbol/ gesture as for ‘think’. Work through the steps 1-5 above making sentences with / without ‘that’, e.g. “I believe that Sam is angry. I imagine that you are tired. Sam believes that his Mum is happy. Mum imagines Sam is doing his homework.”

Contrast these with ‘know’ as before.

9. Introduce the verb ‘wonder’ . Explain that it works like ‘think’ but instead of adding a ‘that’ we must add an if or whether onto the rectangle.  Use the same support symbol/ gesture as for ‘think’.

Repeat steps 1-5 making sentences with if/whether and changing people in the oval/rectangles.

Ask questions about what the person in the oval wonders. Ensure the child responds using the full rectangle including the if/whether word.

You could extend this to other verbs that work in the same way, making short narratives together, e.g. “Fred sees Shaggy is shivering. Fred wonders if Shaggy is cold so Fred asks if Shaggy is cold. Shaggy says ‘Yes’. Now Fred knows that Shaggy is cold.”