Verbals lessons can involve more than worksheets. Add grammar sorts, online activities, mentor sentences for gerunds, participles, and infinitives.

This Language Arts Interactive Notebook is filled with over 30 pages of hands-on grammar activities for grades 4-8. Activities including everything from diagramming to figurative language.

Daily Grammar is a FREE curriculum that is thorough and easy to use and a comprehensive complete curriculum for older elementary and middle grade students.

Jenga game cards are easily my favorite way to teach and reinforce basic math fact, phonics, or grammar practice.

Teach the eight parts of speech with creativity and engagement. The eight parts of speech should be fun grammar activities.

Daily grammar practice is a tool that helps students practice and master grammar standards. Learn more about grammar spiral review in the classroom.

Here are some great grammar games, ideas, and activities that will help early/middle elementary aged kids enjoy grammar just a bit.

A figurative language anchor chart is a great resource to use to teach young students about the different types of figurative language.

Analyzing writing curriculums, planning writing workshop and teaching writing lessons can be overwhelming. You might think, how am I going to fit everything in and produce successful writers? Where do I start? What skills do they need? This post will share the 7 BASIC WRITING LESSONS that every teacher should teach! With this basic knowledge, students will be able to perform other writing assignments more effectively. The following skills are not only effective in upper elementary, they are often needed at the middle school level for review or the primary level for differentiation. So yes, every teacher should teach them! If you start with these 7 fundamental skills, it will set the expectations for your writing lessons and assignments throughout the year! Frequently Asked Questions What are the basic skills and what order should I teach them? Sentence Structure 1. Complete Sentences Lesson for complete sentences 2. Fragments Lesson for fragments 3. Run-ons Lesson for run-ons Paragraph Writing 4. Topic Sentences Lesson for topic sentences 5. Relevant Details Lesson for relevant details 6. Transition Words Lesson for transition words 7. Closing Sentences Lesson for closing sentences How much time should I dedicate to teaching these fundamental skills? I recommend one day for each skill. If you spend a whole writing block for each skill, students will benefit from the practice. How do I teach each skill? First: Start with an anchor chart explaining the skill. (See each lesson link above for effective anchor charts.) Second: Provide examples. Students can share examples too! Next: Students should take notes. I love using Interactive Writing Notebooks to take notes. Research supports the use of interactive notebooks through studies on multiple intelligences, the brain and note taking. Here are a few videos to Set Up Interactive Writing Notebooks. Click photo for the Upper Elementary Version. A Primary Version is also available. Then: Identify the skill. Provide practice sheets and task cards for students to practice identifying the skill in sentences and paragraphs. Last: Apply the skill. Students should have the opportunity to write their own sentence or paragraph to apply the particular skill. What if I can't fit the lesson in one writing block? If you can't extend the days to complete them, there are other ways to get the whole lesson in. You can put practice sheets or task cards in a center, or you can have students apply the skill for homework or morning work the next day. What if my students, some of my students, or absent students can't do interactive notebooks? Make a small anchor chart to put in their notebooks with the same information! If you don't have a printable poster, take a picture of the anchor chart you used in class and print them off! I hope you found this post helpful and your students become successful writers this year! Connect With Me! TPT Store Facebook Pinterest My Blog

A grammar curriculum should be diverse and include a variety of tools to meet students where they are in their understanding of language.

Making grammar fun is within your reach. You can connect language to students' lives. Try these fun grammar activities.

Kids will have fun looking for nouns all around them in this Grammar Activity for Kids. Simply print the Noun Hunt printable and head out for fun learning.

As a primary teacher, it can be very difficult fitting in grammar instruction into your day. I also have a little secret you might not know about me. I used to loathe teaching grammar. Can any of you relate? It's so difficult to even WANT to teach grammar when we have so many other things we could be doing with our day. Plus, many of us are expected to "spiral" it in with the many other subjects we are expected to teach throughout the day. Although all school districts, programs, and teachers are different, I have found something that students love doing, and that is applying new information into something called an interactive notebook!! And so I created these for grammar...and the students loved them!

Freedom Homeschooling lists free homeschool language arts curriculum for all grades. Grammar, reading, spelling, handwriting, and more!

This 9-week poetry study guide will take you through nine poems written by Helen Beatrix Potter. Each week (or longer) your student will study one poem.

Devoting part of the day to holding books, looking at books and reading books is important. Carve out time each day, or several times per week, where students

This post will give you more than 360 pages of 1st grade common core language arts worksheets with answer keys and posters to help your students learn!

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!

Daily grammar practice is a tool that helps students practice and master grammar standards. Learn more about grammar spiral review in the classroom.

What if there were a super fun way for your students to practice their grammar skills? An activity that would have them up and moving, even outside, weather permitting… I’m talking about grammar scavenger hunts!

Learning to read is such a fun and special time: it's a valuable skill, and sparking an early love of reading can make it become a lifelong passion. In order

It's been awhile since I got out our tricky plurals cards to practice irregular plurals. I thought I'd find a new way to practice irregular plural nouns - you know, those words that in their plural form don't have an s or es on the end. What better way than a card game? Before we got playful, we read Brain P. Cleary's Feet and Puppies, Thieves and Guppies: What are Irregular Plurals? Wacky illustrations combine with a whimsical rhyming explanation of the wacky inconsistencies of the English language. Then I handed him a shuffled a deck of 32 cards. Download a free 4-page PDF of the irregular plural noun cards here. To keep them from being see-through, glue patterned scrapbook paper to the back and cut out. Five cards were dealt to each of us. The rest of the cards were laid face down and scrambled around in a messy pile. The game is played like "Go Fish." Players take turns asking their opponent(s) if they have the singular or plural form of the cards in their hand, until they have a match. If the opponent provides the card, the player gets to ask again, until they are told "I don't have that card" and must draw a card from the pile in the middle. When a player runs out of cards, the game is over. Whoever has the most matches is the winner.

Wondering how to sequence grammar instruction? You'll want this list that scaffolds grammar lessons so that one skill builds upon the next.

Teaching the meanings of prefixes and suffixes is undoubtedly a skill that needs to be scaffolded over multiple grade levels. When I taught second grade, my main goal was to teach students how a prefix or a suffix affected the meaning of a word. We started with five basic prefixes and six basic suffixes. (Check out this affix blog post at my personal blog if you want to view my anchor chart, or read about my favorite way to introduce prefixes and suffixes to younger students.) Then, with each passing grade level, a few more prefixes and suffixes are added to the list. When I work with 4th and 5th grade students, I like to use concept circles to provide an opportunity for students to analyze affixed words in a more challenging way. (If you're interested in using these with your own upper elementary students, don't miss the free student worksheet version near the end of this blog post!) This activity involves four steps: Students read the four words written inside the concept circle, and determine which one does not belong. Students draw a line through the misfit word. Students determine the meaning of the affix used in the other three words. They write the meaning in the innermost circle. Students think of another word that uses the featured affix. They replace the word they crossed out in Step #1 with their new word. In the outside rim, students write the meaning of each word. Here are a few photos of some concept circles I have done with students: Click on the image below to download this packet of concept circles for FREE! It contains the three large concept circles picture above, 5 students worksheets like the one pictured below, and blank versions so you can create your own concept circles! Also, if you're looking for additional resources for teaching about prefixes and/or suffixes, feel free to check out some of the bundles in my TpT store! (Just click on an image to check one out!) Thanks for stopping by today! FREE Newsletter! Blog TpT Store Instagram Facebook Pinterest My YouTube Video

Diagramming sentences can be daunting, but the skill can be extremely helpful in the future. Here's a step by step guide on diagramming

Aloha friends! Summer is flying by for me. I cannot believe it is already July!! I had a list a mile long of things I needed to do and I have barely made a dent. However, I have been enjoying myself a great deal, swimming, working out, catching up with friends and binge watching lots of Netflix!! One thing that I can cross off my list is finishing up my Grammar Centers for the Reading Wonders series. Actually all of my Wonders products are complete now!!! Each of these units covers the grammar skills that are covered in the Wonders units. They are great for Daily 5 word work rotations or small group activities. Each unit comes with activities that cover a skill and a practice sheet for reinforcement. Much more engaging than a workbook! Each also has a color and black and white version to make printing easier and more affordable. I also have Morning Work for each unit. These include practice for grammar, spelling and vocabulary for each unit. The skills begin simple and spiral through the year. My kids did so well with this format this year! Finally, I have Spelling Lists for each of the units that include printable lists for On-Level, Above Level and Approaching, vocabulary words and definitions, high-frequency words and sentences for spelling dictation. Spelling Unit 1 is free in my TpT shop to give you an idea of what's included in the other packs. It does not include everything that I added to the other units. I guess I should add that to my list ;) Hope your summer is progressing well and that these resources will come in handy down the line.

37 fun language arts games and activities to teach kids in kingergarten through middle school the fundamentals of language and literature!

Do you teach grammar and language effectively? Do you want to? We have a magical grammar and langauge formula that we want you to try for FREE!

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!

39 super fun sentence structure worksheets and activities and sentence building games to get kids excited about language arts!

Second Grade Language Arts First Semester 18 Weeks Workbook Free Printable 18 weeks of planned lessons for second graders! This one was taking a little longer than expected so I thought breaking it…

A language arts freshmen curriculum outline, free for you to download & edit. Meet standards & engage high school students.

If your child needs practice with grammar, there’s no need to buy a workbook. Here are several places that offer free grammar worksheets.

5th-grade homeschool curriculum resources with reviews. Choose the ones that are a perfect fit for your student. Daily schedule included.

My son has been known to forget end punctuation. Hence, the run-on sentence occurs. To give him a little grammar lesson on why run-ons a...

We've been learning about the parts of speech in the most fun ways. A parts of speech printable and flip book, writing our own mad libs, and more.

**These worksheets are included in my complete Persuasive Writing Worksheet Pack** Persuasive Writing Handouts - No Prep Printables This persuasive writing pack includes a range of worksheets and activities to support the teaching of persuasive writing. Worksheets include: Persuasive writing template. Persuasive writing sentence starters. Persuasive writing topics. Persuasive writing checklist. This resource includes a digital (Google Slides) version. See the end page of the resource for the details and the link to access the digital version. ________________________________________ For more persuasive writing resources, click the links below: Persuasive Writing - Marking Assessment Rubrics Persuasive Writing Worksheets - Persuasive Tools Persuasive Writing Worksheets - Include Expert Opinions Persuasive Writing Posters - Earth Tones Classroom Décor Persuasive Text Posters - Classroom Decor Persuasive Writing PowerPoint - Guided Teaching Persuasive Writing Prompts - Lightning Writing Persuasive Writing Posters - Classroom Decor Persuasive Texts - Writing Samples with Comprehension Questions ________________________________________ For more writing resources, click the links below: Compound Words - Worksheet Pack Understanding Nouns Worksheets - No Prep Printables Add The Adjective To The Sentences - Worksheet Pack Nouns, Pronouns & Capital Letters - Grammar Worksheets with Answers Add Punctuation to the Sentences - 10 Worksheets Reading and Grammar Pack, Google Slides - Distance Learning Parts of Speech Grammar Workbook Homographs PowerPoint - Interactive, full lesson Parts of Speech - Fill The Blanks Worksheets Verbs PowerPoint - Interactive ________________________________________ Follow Me Click the green star at the top of my page to be the first to receive updates about new products and discounts. ________________________________________ Feedback Please help me to improve my products by leaving valuable feedback. Simply click the 'Provide Feedback' button on your purchases page and leave a rating and a comment. You will also gain credits to use for further purchases. ________________________________________ Copyright Information This product is not for commercial use, individual use only. If you plan to share this product with others, please purchase extra licenses at the 50% discounted rate. The fonts used in my resources are from: Babbling Abby and Kimberly Geswein Fonts The clip art used in my resources is from: Krista Wallden Creative Clips and Whimsy Clips ________________________________________ writing | persuasive | expository | convince | persuasive tools | classroom | bundle | English | literacy | literature | warm up | reflection | text | reading | extension | alliteration | emotive language | groups of three | inclusive language | draft | rubric | no prep | printable | homework | teacher | booklet | learning tool | elementary school | primary school | homeschooling | homeschool