Playing a game, such as the Subject and Verb game, gives students the opportunity to enjoy learning about subjects and verbs. The Subject and Verb Game uses teacher-created subjects and verbs and allows students to build their own sentences. To play, write an assortment of sentence subjects, such as animal or object names, and action verbs on individual index cards. Then place all of the subjects in a bag labeled "subject" and the verbs in a bag labeled "verb." Have students draw a card from each bag to form their own simple sentences. For younger students ensure that the subjects and verbs all agree and make the game more challenging for older students by including singular and plural subjects with corresponding verbs, having them draw from the bag until they can build a grammatically correct sentence.
Teaching about verbs and subjects by having students go on a hunt or search is another way to engage students. A Subject and Verb hunt allows students to practice their skills at differentiating between the subjects and verbs in written sentences. Provide each student with old newspapers or magazines and have them highlight the subject and verb in several sentences, each in a different color, such as yellow for subjects and blue for verbs. For a different variation, let students cut out examples of subjects and verbs and glue them to a sheet of paper.
Having students perform a memory activity is another way to improve your students' subject and verb skills. Create a set of memory cards, listing an assortment of subjects and verbs individually on index cards or paper squares. Turn all of the papers face down and have students take turn flipping over two squares at a time. If a student discovers a subject and verb that agree, such as "The cat" and "runs," he keeps the card, before letting the next student turn two cards over. If the child uncovers two subjects, two verbs or a subject and verb that do not agree, like "The boy" and "play," he must turn the cards over and let the next child have a turn. The child with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.
Have students race against the clock to match up agreeing subjects and verbs in an agreement speed drill. Speed drills will improve a student's ability to recognize verbs and subjects automatically. Before starting the drill, create a worksheet for students to complete, with several activities where they must match subjects in one column to verbs in another. For example, the words "a flower" and "two flowers" might be listed under each other in the subject column and "grow" and "grows" in the verb column. Students must draw a line connecting the correct subject and verb in a set amount of time. The student to correctly match the most subjects and verbs or the student who completes the entire activity most quickly is the game's winner.