Have students read the explanation from the www.chompchomp.com site. Use the worksheet examples to have students work through together in pairs. Select a very short story or hand out simple readers and have each pair go through a story and identify linking and action verbs in each sentence. Instruct students to refer back to the worksheet if they are unsure about whether a verb is a linking verb or an action verb. Alternatively, create groups of four to five students and have them work through a simple story such as Judith Viorst's "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" or Bill Martin's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" This activity is suitable for third through fifth grade students.
Use "The Wide World of Verbs" practice tests or pre-printed sentences for a whole class lesson activity. Have each student read a sentence aloud, identify the verb in the sentence and classify it. If the student answers correctly, move to the next student. If the student answers incorrectly, help the student identify clues such as whether the subject equals the predicate noun or adjective or if the subject performs an action. Alternatively, group students in teams and challenge each team member to work cooperatively to earn team points. Allow students to use the points for free class time or other acceptable reward. This activity is suitable for fourth and fifth grade students.
Allow students to work with interactive games such as "2Bee or Nottoobee," "Grammar Blast" or "Linking Verb or Action Verb." Challenge students to improve their score from one site visit to the next. Alternatively, load these on your smartboard or use the ideas to make interactive games of your own for class use. Use them for the whole class, small group or individual practice. This activity is suitable for second through fifth grade students.
Use a smartboard to work on a story starter for students to practice verb categories. Instruct students to come up with a verb that correctly completes a sentence from the story. For example, "Mary (verb) unhappy because her cat (verb) lost." Because more than one verb could complete the sentence, allow various answers and have the class vote which verb they prefer. Ask the students to categorize the suggested verbs as action or linking verbs. When the class finishes the story, print off a copy and have the students circle the linking verbs and draw a box around action verbs. This activity is suitable for second and third grade students.