Freedom Homeschooling lists free homeschool language arts curriculum for all grades. Grammar, reading, spelling, handwriting, and more!
Here are some great grammar games, ideas, and activities that will help early/middle elementary aged kids enjoy grammar just a bit.
Wondering how to sequence grammar instruction? You'll want this list that scaffolds grammar lessons so that one skill builds upon the next.
If your child needs practice with grammar, there’s no need to buy a workbook. Here are several places that offer free grammar worksheets.
Fun and engaging grammar games for your secondary ELA classroom! These grammar games will get your students collaborating, moving, and discussing those critical sentence structure and grammar skills! Bring fun to grammar instruction!
Basic types of intonation are rising, falling and mid-level. These sentences will perfectly illustrate what intonation is appropriate for questions, enumeration etc. - ESL worksheets
I was desperate for a better way to teach grammar. On my end, I was overwhelmed with how much I needed to teach: how to get it all done and how to do so logically. For my students, I was concerned about their engagement (not tuning out or getting bored) AND how to ensure that they "got it". These worries are particularly valid if you KNOW your students have knowledge gaps, are going to need a LOT of practice, or aren't doing well with transferring knowledge into their writing. Solution: The Grammar House Cup (game) The idea for the GHC came partially from the "Grammar Olympics", a competition that I witnessed in another high school while student teaching. I decided to go with the Harry Potter theme instead and built my own game board system that differed from the Olympics' structure. The BENEFITS of the GHC game are: Clear organization of a single topic or unit (in the game board format) A "frame" or theme for the whole year Logical sequence of topics/units Increased student buy-in Increased student use of study tools and teacher-provided resources More students going "above and beyond" the minimum because they're motivated to earn points for their houses. The Basic Game Premise We have 4 houses of students (just like in Hogwarts). Students earn points for their house throughout the year, and whichever house has the most points at the end of the fourth quarter (end of the year) wins. Students earn points by completing tasks in the game board (see below). Sometimes the points are connected to an assessment (such as passing a quiz on the first try), and some point opportunities are directly within a student's control (such as doing more practice than is assigned). The biggest prize/motivator is bragging rights. We have an actual trophy, and the winning house/homeroom gets their homeroom name and year added to the trophy (AND gets to keep the trophy in their homeroom the following year). I have also given donuts or food to the winning house. Fortunately, we've been doing the GHC for enough years now that incoming 7th graders are looking forward to it, so that adds to the motivation as well. The Secret of the Game ...is that my game board is actually a very traditional learning sequence in disguise (see image below). For EACH grammar topic... Students watch a flipped video lesson (of me teaching) and fill in their guided notes. (See a DEMO VIDEO on commas here. This is a longer video, and most are shorter than this.) Students independently attempt a practice page after the guided notes. CHOICE practice: Before the quiz, students can get teacher help, do independent practice on IXL (a program we have), or do a "creative project". In-class quiz (after which they either get points for passing OR are required to do "quiz corrections" and show improved mastery). We move on to the next topic of the quarter. (There are 3-4 topics per quarter.) Closer to the test, students complete a practice test as homework (to review), and we go over the practice test answers in class. Students take the quarter test over the 3-4 topics, after which they get points or do corrections (just like they did for quizzes). MEANWHILE, during the game board, students have been picking up points for various reasons, such as... Doing more practice than assigned Doing a "creative project" to show application of learning Completing the game board EARLY (working ahead and not procrastinating). We call this reward "catching the golden snitch". (Scroll down to see the GAME BOARD later in this post!) Points & Grades It's important to note that a house's points are NOT directly connected to grades. ...However, students who earn more points DO tend to perform better on quizzes and tests, because they were earning points by LEARNING. So while GHC "points" and grades are correlated, the points have more to do with effort and participation. Putting Students into Houses I conveniently have a total of 4 class periods (2 each of seventh and eighth grades), and likewise we just HAPPEN to have four homerooms in the middle school. Therefore, I just assigned each homeroom one of the Hogwarts houses. (Obviously, my homeroom is Gryffindor. My social studies teacher in the room next door to mine is a huge ally of the GHC game and agreed to be Slytherin.) I know a sorting hat might have been more fun, but the positive of doing it by homeroom is that it promotes homeroom unity and enthusiasm; it also motivates the homeroom teachers to care about and support the GHC. Launching the Game Teacher setup on my part includes: Prepping this quarter's game board (and all of its respective lesson videos, guided notes, practice sheets, etc.). I organize it all in Google Drive and share a folder to students. Copies of this quarter's grammar notes. (I put ALL the guided notes, practice pages, and practice test into ONE packet for the quarter. If they lose it, they have to print their own replacement from what I shared with them in Drive.) When we begin in the first quarter, there is usually a diagnostic test (see above), and I have to do a lot of explaining of how the game works. However, students learn by doing as we go through the motions of the first topic, and then they learn the routine. What a Game Board Looks Like Here's the most updated view of what my game boards are going to look like this year. (The biggest change is that I'm digitizing more, with a heavily hyperlinked Google Docs game board instead of a paper one.) Let's break this down: Notice that the game board has... A "scoreboard" at left to collect points Deadlines built into the game board A sequence (trail) of action steps At the end of each quarter, I verify each student's points, collect all the totals, and update the scoreboard for each house. This Year's Improvements/Updates As I mentioned earlier, I plan to use the digital game board instead of a paper one, and I also plan to use these free Grammar Stations before each topic's quiz. I'm hoping the stations will help ME pinpoint student struggles in a small group format AND give students more practice time with all the resources I've made available to them. I will also be experimenting more with self-grading quizzes when possible (using Google Forms). I will try to update this blog post later in the year. What topics we teach There is SOME intentional overlap in 7th and 8th grade topics (especially when we are reviewing at the beginning of 8th grade), BUT there are some topics that only 8th graders get (such as verbals, verb moods, and active/passive voice, which are CCSS for 8th grade and not 7th). See my complete/current list of grammar topics here. Can I have all of your lessons, Sara? Yes! You can get all of my grammar topics (or just some of them) in my TpT store. The bundle includes game boards, all lessons/quizzes/tests, the diagnostic test, stations, premade Quizlet sets, and more! RELATED BLOG POSTS: How to Play Grammar Quidditch Turn Your Unit into a Game Board 12 Tips for Teaching Grammar like a Pro 10 Ways to Help Teen Writers Revise You might also like... Game Board Unit template Grammar bell-ringers: volume 1 and volume 2 Student Grammar Video Project "Why Grammar?" Nonfiction Reading Mini-Unit "Word Crimes" music video lesson/activity Grammar Poetry Do you have questions or ideas? Tell me in the comments!
If your child needs practice with grammar, there’s no need to buy a workbook. Here are several places that offer free grammar worksheets.
Quantifiers! What are they? We use quantifiers (A Lot Of, A Few, A Little, A Bit...) when we want to give someone information about the number of something:
Hey, Mom, are your beginning readers frustrated when it comes to writing and punctuating simple sentences? I know mine have been. For years I searched high and low for a grammar program that would help my children write well from the very beginning of literacy. Then I discovered ... Read More...
Are you looking for ELA extension activities? Here are 25 ideas for classroom activities for teaching literature.
This year we are using Brave Writer for our language arts as part of our 1st and 2nd grade curriculum picks. If you're new to using the Brave Writer Darts, you probably have a ton of questions like what they are and how to use them. And I'm sure you are wondering if Brave Writer
While teaching the parts of speech is oftentimes a lesson that one would find in the elementary classroom, high school students also need to know their parts of speech. Learn about how to teach the parts of speech with these simple steps.
Grammar does matter, and Joseph Piercy argues cogently that understanding and using grammatical rules is not pedantic, but essential if we want to make ourselves understood. Presented with a very light touch, a scattering of anecdotes, and quotes from literature, his 25 rules and essential tools are lucidly explained with examples and summaries. The book ends with a quiz, a glossary and a selection of 'A Grammarian Walks into a Bar' jokes.
The G.U.M Drops (Grammar Usage and Mechanics) workbook series is meant to be used every day along with your language arts curriculum to help you practice editing. Each book gives you 18 weeks of lessons, which is about one semester.You'll get to edit passages from classic literature that have been made easier for your grade level. Before you edit, you'll have worksheets to help you practice the grammar rules. These worksheets might have you complete sentences or do other exercises.This workbook is for grades 1-2, and it has 90 worksheets that cover the basics of grammar, like parts of speech and punctuation. You'll also learn other things that are appropriate for your grade, like rhyming, compound words, alphabetizing, and synonyms. The passages you'll be editing are based on books like Black Beauty, Heidi, The Prince and the Pauper, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Romeo and Juliet, and The Swiss Family Robinson, among others.The book is 113 pages long and can be photocopied for classroom use. There is an answer key in the back of the book that has student pages next to the answers in red ink.
Looking for free grammar games to make teaching fun? This list of games for teaching parts of speech, punctuation, and writing will provide fun all year!
grammar book
37 fun language arts games and activities to teach kids in kingergarten through middle school the fundamentals of language and literature!
Looking for engaging grammar lessons? Engagement involves active learning, social interaction, connections, and student interest. Start here!
Grammar is something that most of us never learned well at school. And it's something that many of us would benefit from knowing. However, it's still easy to homeschool grammar! Learn with your children with easy but thorough resources.
Literature Circles in the elementary classroom. How to do literature circles with 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students.
Grammar and Writing are daunting subjects for many homeschoolers to teach. Most of us want a guide, an expert, someone to help us. I’m definitely a fan of literature-based homeschooling, but …
