This was the conversation that took place at my house about a
month ago:
Brooke (my third grader): Emma played with Lily and me at recess today.
Kayla (my fifth grader who likes to correct her younger sister): Lily and I.
Me: No, Kayla. She was actually right. "Lily and me" is the correct way to word that particular sentence.
Kayla: No, it isn't. My teacher always corrects us when we say it that way.
It's always supposed to be "Lily and I".
I won't bore you with the rest of the conversation. Needless to say, however, despite many attempts to try to explain why "Lily and me" was correct grammar usage in that sentence, I wasn't able to convince Kayla that I knew what I was talking about. Like most kids, Kayla thinks her teachers are much more knowledgeable than her mom. :) (By the way, I don't believe Kayla's teacher really taught her that misinformation... it's more likely that Kayla came to the conclusion on her own after hearing her teacher correct multiple classmates that truly should have used "(Name) and I" in a sentence.)
Actually, I can relate to Kayla's overgeneralization of the rule. When I was younger, I always thought that "(Name) and I" was the rule that should be applied to every sentence, too. I specifically remember the exact high school English class where I learned that me should be used instead of I when the pronoun is the object of the verb. For example, in Brooke's sentence above, "Lily and me" are the objects of played. I is a subject pronoun, while me is an object pronoun. Therefore, in this sentence, "Lily and me" is correct.
This is a common grammar error among many upper elementary students. Frankly, I even know many adults who make the same mistake when speaking or writing. Therefore, the conversation inspired me to create this short "I versus Me PowerPoint"!
This PowerPoint is FREE in my store, so go ahead and download it if it's a minilesson that might benefit your students.
I start with some basic sentence slides where students fill in the blank with "I" or "me".
After the brief review, I introduce the structure "(Name) and ____".
The direction instruction slides, look like this:
Finally, the PowerPoint concludes with 8 practice slides like the ones below:
It also includes a PowerPoint companion handout where students can record their answers on the handout as you progress through the PowerPoint.
Most of the amazing clip art shown above is by A Sketchy Guy. The clip art on the green slide is by Educlips.
I hope you like the PowerPoint and it's beneficial for your students.
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks so much for sharing the power point. It's great!!
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