PowerPoints for elementary children can provide simple sentences and encourage interactive learning. As an example, a teacher can project a subject -- a girl named Lainey. The teacher now asks students to provide the action, or predicate: What did Lainey do? If the predicate is provided (e.g., "threw the ball"), children can provide a possible subject: Who threw the ball? Eventually, the lesson will introduce compound subjects, such as "Maggie and Lainey" and compound verbs, such as "ran and played." With PowerPoints, teachers can easily personalize a presentation, changing students' names and events in sample sentences to reflect the current classroom.
Songs provide another way to engage young students. The Teacher's Desk includes a subject-predicate song with the tune of "A Tisket, a Tasket, a Green and Yellow Basket." Engaging songs appeal to multiple learning styles, particularly to auditory learners who may "tune out" to a visual approach.
Online matching games and flash cards allow children to match simple definitions with words. Quintessential Instructional Archive (QUIA) provides both, starting with simple flash cards. Children might click on the word "subject" to see its explanation on the reverse: "main word or words in complete subject." The process becomes more complex when children match words and definitions within a grid or engage in concentration games. In a classroom without computers, handouts or index cards can replace the interactivity of computer games.
After learning basic definitions, children must apply the terms. With online quizzes, children may see an entire sentence (e.g., Lainey ran to the park) and identify either the subject or the verb. Online practice quizzes allow endless retakes, allowing children to master concepts at their own pace before they take a "real" quiz in the classroom.
Online videos may also engage young learners accustomed to watching media. Have Fun Teaching, for instance, provides a language arts movie to teach subjects and predicates. Students can also listen to a song accompanying the video, and teachers can print the lyrics. Such multimedia activities appeal to young children and prepare them for more advanced concepts.