10. Grammar Skills: How to Use Skill Stacking to Spot Gaps and Strengthen Foundations

Grammar Skills: How to Use Skill Stacking to Spot Gaps and Strengthen Foundation.Episode Summary

Have you ever taught a grammar lesson and felt like your students were staring at you as if you were speaking another language? You’re not alone — and it doesn’t mean you’re a bad teacher. It usually means your students are missing an earlier building block.

In this episode of Commas in the Chaos, we’re talking about grammar skills and a strategy I call skill stacking. Instead of seeing grammar as a random list of concepts, skill stacking helps you visualize how each skill connects to the next. Think of it as a staircase: if one step is missing, the next step feels impossible.

I’ll walk you through how to use grammar skill stacking as a diagnostic tool, how to spot gaps in real time, and practical ways to fill those gaps without overhauling your entire plan. By the end, you’ll feel less like you’re banging your head against the whiteboard and more like you know exactly how to support your students.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

• What grammar skill stacking is (and what it isn’t)
• Why students struggle when we teach new concepts on shaky foundations
• How to use skill stacking as a quick diagnostic tool in your classroom
• Real-life examples of breaking down compound sentences, prepositional phrases, and verb tenses
• Teacher-friendly strategies for filling grammar gaps through micro reviews, color coding, and centers

Why Grammar Skills Need Stacking

Here’s the hard truth: most of the time, the problem isn’t the grammar skill you’re teaching today — it’s the one underneath.

Take compound sentences, for example. If students can’t identify the subject and predicate, joining two sentences together feels impossible. Or think about prepositional phrases. If students don’t know their nouns and verbs, that little preposition is just floating in space with nothing to connect to.

Skill stacking is the practice of asking: What’s the missing block? When you find it, you give your students the foundation they need to finally move forward.

Diagnosing Grammar Struggles in Real Time

The good news? Diagnosing doesn’t mean hours of data analysis. You can spot gaps with quick, low-prep strategies:

• Exit slips: One sentence, underline the subject, circle the verb. If they can’t do that, you know where to back up.
• Observation: Watch where they freeze during centers or practice. Do they skip verbs? Struggle with prepositions? That’s your clue.
• Work samples: Look at their mistakes. Are they struggling with the new skill, or tripping over an old one?

These quick checks take minutes but give you insight that can save weeks of reteaching.

Practical Ways to Fill the Gaps

Once you’ve spotted the missing bricks, here’s how to fill them in:

• Layer in micro reviews. Use bell ringers, warm-ups, or morning work to sneak in skills students missed. Two minutes goes a long way.
• Color coding. Give students highlighters and have them mark subjects in one color and predicates in another. Suddenly, the sentence comes alive visually.
• Sentence sorts & partner check-ins. Let students identify fragments, complete sentences, or label parts together. It feels interactive and less intimidating.
• Grammar centers. Centers give students repeated, hands-on practice with skills they need to master.
• Spiral review. Don’t just teach once and move on. Bring skills back into your weekly rhythm so they actually stick.

And here’s the key reminder: reteaching is not wasted time. It’s invested time. A strong...