Help students better understand sentence subjects and predicates by turning practice into a silly game. Write several sentences on sentence strips using a different colored marker or crayon for each one. Use a variety of subjects and actions, such as "The dog likes his bone." or "The boy is eating pizza." Create enough sentences for each student to have one. Cut the sentences apart in between the subject and predicate. For example, "The dog likes his bone." would be cut in between "dog" and "likes." Gather students and review sentence structure. Separate the sentence strips into two piles -- subjects and predicates. Tell students they will be creating silly sentences by mixing up subjects and predicates. Provide students with a recording sheet and crayons or markers. Allow each student to pick one piece from each pile and return to his seat. Help students place the strips together and read the silly sentence, such as "The dog is eating pizza." Have students record their silly sentence on their papers using two different colors to distinguish between the subject and predicate parts. Students may then return their sentence pieces to the correct piles and collect two new pieces. Once all students have had several chances to create silly sentences, allow time to share. Place this activity in a center for independent practice.
Knowledge of different sentence types -- declarative, exclamatory and interrogative -- is an important skill for both reading and writing. Get students excited about sentence types and punctuation through an active practice game. Gather students and review the three types of sentences and what punctuation is used for each. Create actions for each type of punctuation. For example, for a period students could be duck down into a ball, for an exclamation mark students could jump into the air and for a question mark students could curve their upper bodies to the right. Say a sentence using appropriate voice and tone. Students will decide which type of punctuation is appropriate and perform the action. For example, when the teacher reads "I am so excited about my party!" students will jump into the air. After several examples, allow students to lead the game by saying their own sentences. Continue the game until each student has had a turn to lead. Gauge understanding of the subject by closely watching student reactions.
Once students feel comfortable with basic parts of speech -- noun, adjective, verb and adverb -- allow them to apply their knowledge with a fun game. Label four paper sacks with the parts of speech. With student help, produce 10 to 20 examples of each type of word. Include as many exciting words as possible. Write the examples on small pieces of paper and place in the appropriate bags. Place students in small groups and instruct each group to retrieve one word from each bag. Set a timer for one to two minutes and allow student groups to create a sentence using all four words. Explain to students that they may use articles, such as "a," "an" and "the" to help the sentences make sense. Encourage students to use correct punctuation and capitalization. When the timer sounds, allow each group to read their sentence to the class. Most sentences will sound very silly. Ask students to return the cards to the correct bags and repeat the activity.
Engage students in classifying nouns by allowing them to find examples in magazines. Photocopy a worksheet divided into sections. If students will be sorting nouns by type -- person, place or thing -- create three labeled sections. If students will be sorting examples into singular or plural nouns, create two labeled sections. Distribute magazines to students and encourage them to cut out pictures depicting nouns. After gluing the picture into the appropriate section, students should also label the noun. For example, if sorting by type of noun, a student could glue and label a tree into the "thing" section, a beach scene into the "place" section and a baby into the "person" section. If sorting by singular or plural, a student could glue and label an apple into the singular section and a group of crayons into the plural section. Encourage students to share their findings with peers. Discuss which nouns were difficult to sort or difficult to find in the magazines.