Seventh graders can be introduced to prepositions and prepositional phrases by receiving a definition such as: "Prepositions describe the relationship between one word and another. Prepositional phrases require an object to complete them; this is usually a noun or a pronoun." Students should also be given a list of the most commonly used prepositions. Students can have fun practicing the various spatial prepositions by having them stand in, on, beside and under their desks. They will also enjoy drawing silly pictures or cartoons to illustrate these prepositions.
Students will become more familiar with the list of prepositions the more they work with them. Point out to the students that some of the prepositions deal with time such as "before, after, earlier and later," while others deal with spatial relationships such as "in, on, around and through." Provide the students with a comprehensive list of prepositions in alphabetical order and ask them to group them. You may give the headings of the groups to the students or more capable students could be asked to group the ones that are similar and to create the headings for each grouping.
Students will enjoy exercises that require them to expand short sentences by adding prepositions and prepositional phrases, especially when they are encouraged to make the sentences humorous through excessive length and silliness. For example, the short sentence "The boy rode the horse" could become, "Before the boy rode the horse with the long yellow teeth, he went around the horse and under the horse." Students particularly enjoy completing these sentences when working together in small groups and then comparing their expanded sentences to those of other groups, examining similarities and differences.
For a final activity that will help the teacher determine how well the students are able to recognize prepositions and prepositional phrases, the students can be given a paragraph or short passage from one of the novels or texts they are studying. Students are asked to underline or highlight all the prepositions and prepositional phrases. This can be followed up by assigning a piece of creative writing, perhaps a description of their favorite places or a description of a movie or television program. Students are asked to include at least 10 prepositions or prepositional phrases in their writing. Points are awarded for the prepositions they include.