

In the BrainPOP ELL movie, And Then What? (L3U2L1), Ben visits a fortune teller at a carnival, and asks questions about his future. But who is this mysterious fortune teller? Students connect the dots to find out, while also learning about connecting words, or conjunctions. In this lesson plan, adaptable for grades K-8, students apply their understanding of different types of conjunctions while engaging in the following activities about fortune tellers: a role-play, a cloze activity, paraphrasing sentences, and writing captions for images.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:

  1. Use conjunctions to write, ask, and answer questions with a partner in a role play activity.
  2. Complete a cloze activity with conjunctions as they watch the movie.
  3. Write captions for images using suitable conjunctions.
  4. Paraphrase sentences from the movie.



connect, separate
Coordinating Conjunctions: and, but, or, so, however, just, for, nor, yet.
Correlative Conjunctions: both/and, either/or, neither/nor, whether/or, not only/but also.
Subordinating Conjunctions: before, after, though, although, as though, even though, as if, as long as, as soon as, because, since, so that, in order that, till, until, if, unless, than, rather than, once, when, whenever, where, wherever, while.


For Activity 1, Fortune Teller Role-Play, prepare a set of conjunction cards for each pair of students.
Conjunctions: and / or / but / however / both-and / either-or / because / although / even though / as long as / rather than.

For Activity 2, Movie Cloze, make a copy of the following cloze for each student:

I want to know about my future, _______ I’m a little worried. It’s okay ________ you only tell me good things. I want to know what will happen next year _______ even in ten years. _______ Moby _______ I tried out for the basketball team. We practiced together, _______ we were separated, _______ I was nervous. Will _______ Moby _______ I be on the team? _______ Moby _______ I will be on the team? I’ll _________ be on the team, _____ I’ll _______ be team captain! What else do I want to know? ________ I tried hard on the test today, I don’t think I did well. Moby played computer games _______ it was time for him to go home. _______ Moby left, I was hungry. _________ study, I ate dinner _______ then went to bed. I’ll do well on the test _________ I didn’t study hard? I’ll get a B. _______, Moby will get an A!

For Activity 3, make copies of Conjunctions Strips for each pair of students. To differentiate the activity, prepare a word bank for the images.

Lesson Procedure:

  1. Fortune Teller Role-Play. After watching the movie And Then What? (L3U2L1), have pairs of students role play the parts of Ben and Moby the Fortune Teller from the movie. Distribute a set of conjunction cards (see Preparation) for each pair of students. On the board, brainstorm questions to ask the fortune teller. To differentiate, students can write their own questions. The fortune teller must turn over a card to answer a question and use the conjunction in the answer, as Moby did in the movie.
  2. Movie Cloze Distribute the cloze activity to each student (see Preparation). On a repeated viewing of the movie And Then What? (L3U2L1), have students listen for conjunctions to complete the cloze activity. Remember to turn off the closed captions.
  3. Conjunction Strips. Distribute the Conjunctions Strips to each pair of students. Instruct them to write captions for the images. Point out that they need to add a comma after the first clause in sentences 9 and 10. The sentences below are sample answers. Students’ answers will vary. To differentiate, provide a word bank or captions for students to match to the pictures.
    1. Ben is brushing the horse and Moby is collecting eggs.
    2. Ben and Moby are going to ride the bus, but they have to stand.
    3. Ben will have the salad or the sandwich.
    4. They should buy the fruit rather than the cookies.
    5. Ben and Moby were scared before they saw it was only a rabbit.
    6. Ben couldn’t go outside until he finished cleaning his room.
    7. He’s studying so that he’ll do well on the test.
    8. Ben likes to play basketball with Moby, although Moby always wins.
    9. Even though Ben turned on his alarm clock, he didn’t wake up.
    10. As long as it’s raining, we have to stay inside.
  4. What Did He Say? Have students paraphrase the sentences in the Hear It, Say It feature of And Then What? (L3U2L1), without using the conjunctions.

Extension Activities:

Have students make posters or word walls of the three types of conjunctions and all the examples they can think of.

Have students create conjunction puzzle pieces as illustrated in this lesson's Grammar section of And Then What? (L3U2L1).


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