Lesson 6: "Is" and "Are" in Questions - Teacher Answer Key & Explanatory Guide

Core Pedagogical Objectives

Interrogative Syntax: Teach Subject-Auxiliary Inversion (moving Is/Are to sentence-initial position).
Question Mark Mastery: Contrast the terminal period (.) in statements with the question mark (?) in questions.
Number Consistency: Ensure singular subjects take Is and plural subjects take Are in questions.

Instructional Focus & Strategies

Rising Intonation: Practice reading questions aloud with pitch rise at the end.
Punctuation Modeling: Demonstrate drawing the question mark curve down to a dot on the baseline.
Transformation Game: Teacher says a statement ("The bell is ringing."); students chant the question ("Is the bell ringing?").

#	Exemplary Target Question	Grammatical & Syntactic Focus	Teacher Evaluation Notes
1	Is the boy here?	Singular question (Is + the boy)	Check capital 'I' in Is and question mark (?) at end.
2	Are the boys here?	Plural question (Are + the boys)	Verify plural verb Are matches plural noun boys.
3	Is the girl happy?	Singular question (Is + the girl)	Check neat handwriting on ruled line; question mark must be distinct.
4	Are the girls happy?	Plural question (Are + the girls)	Confirm capital 'A' in Are; verify final mark (?).
5	Is the apple ripe?	Transformation: The apple is... → Is the apple...	Watch for misplaced periods; must replace (.) with (?).
6	Are the apples ripe?	Transformation: The apples are... → Are the apples...	Ensure subject-verb agreement is maintained in inversion.
7	Is the book new?	Transformation: The book is... → Is the book...	Singular subject selects Is; check lowercase 't' in the.
8	Are the books new?	Transformation: The books are... → Are the books...	Plural subject selects Are; end with question mark (?).

Syntactic Rule of Inversion & Vocal Intonation

Rule of Inversion:
• Statement: The girl (Subject) + is (Verb) + happy.
• Question: Is (Verb) + the girl (Subject) + happy?

Spoken Oral Reading Intonation:
• Yes/No questions naturally rise in pitch at the end: "Is the boy here? ↗"
• Statements fall in pitch at the terminal period: "The boy is here. ↘"

Common Pitfalls & Teacher Remediation

Terminal Period Error: Putting a period (.) instead of a question mark (?). Prompt: "Are you telling or asking? An asking sentence needs (?)!"
Inversion Blindness: Writing *The boy is here?* instead of Is the boy here?. Teach students to leapfrog the verb to the front.
Capitalization Slip: Forgetting to lowercase the original first word (e.g. writing *Is The boy here?*).

Scoring Rubric (10 Points Total)

Terminal Question Mark (?) Accuracy 4 pts (0.5 pt × 8)

Subject-Verb Agreement (Is / Are) 3 pts

Initial Capitalization & Word Order 2 pts

Handwriting & Ruled Line Neatness 1 pt