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Contraction Action
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| Dear Visitors,
Many of you have
asked for activities for contractions. I've looked at the California English
Language Arts standards and have come to the conclusion that I'd better
honor your requests. I'll need feedback on the new things I'm adding
(carl1404@msn.com).
Are the directions clear, etc.? Do you have other suggestions or ideas for
format? I will include worksheets, word cards for sorting, cloze activities,
cut and paste matching, and context clues in an effort to address different
grade levels and skills. Many of my university students have been talking
about the focus on differentiated instruction, so that's what I'm going to
try to do.
I plan to use a
little cowgirl with a lasso to represent bringing two words together to
create one new one. I've also written several songs and a little reading
book to go with the study of
contractions and the apostrophe.
Enjoy!
Cherry Carl
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Contraction
Action
(Tune: The Hokey Pokey)
Cherry Carl
You pop some
letters out!
To put apostrophes
in!
You pop some
letters out!
That's the way you
must begin.
To do contraction
action is as easy as can be!
Come on and dance
with me! Oh Yeah!
Note: Knowing
where to put the apostrophe in contractions has always been a problem for
many students. In my experience, young writers seems to have difficulty
understanding this process and the apostrophe just lands anywhere within the
word! Hopefully, this little ditty will help children internalize the rule.
I visualize doing a circle or line dance with this song to reinforce the
concept of replacing omitted letters with the apostrophe when making
contractions. Another way to use this song as a line dance would be to
provide large letter and apostrophe cards to a group of students. Call out a
contraction, and students with the appropriate letter cards spell the two
words that match that contraction. During the song, the correct letter(s)
should "pop" out of line and the apostrophe should join the line-up in that
letter's place. The two words then slide together to create the contraction.
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(1 of 8)
Contraction
Action Set #1
(I'm, it's, can't, didn't,
don't, he's, she's and wasn't)
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(1 of 8)
Contraction
Action Set #2
(won't, isn't, doesn't hasn't,
hadn't haven't, I've, I'll )
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(1 of 7)
Contraction Action
Set #3
(he'd, she'd, you're,
I'd, they're, we've, they've, we're)
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(1 of 11)
Contraction Action Cards for Sorts
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(20 page reader)
What Would You Like?
(An Apostrophe Book)
This colorful book provides twenty pages of
practice reading simple sentences with apostrophes. For a follow up
activity, have your students find all of the contractions and record them
and/or write out the two words that make up the contractions. They may
also write and illustrate their own little books about their favorite
foods and the favorites of their classmates, using as many contractions as
they can. (Option: Assign a different contraction to each student for a
class book about apostrophes.)
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(Reproducible
copy of graphic)
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"Pop" Goes the Letter!
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Contraction Action Song
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Strategies for Strugglers
Hold "contraction races" between two students
or teams. Call out two words and see who can call out the correct
contraction first. Play it in reverse.
It's in the News: Give students a sheet of
newspaper and a highlighter. Assign them the task of finding all
contractions and/or word combos that could have been contractions.
Provide a pocket chart and sorting words.
Allow children to time themselves for accuracy and speed in matching the
contraction with the two correct words.
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Click on the following site to link to other excellent sites for teachers:
http://www.sitesforteachers.com/perl/rankem.pcgi?id=ccarl
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