Grammar Game for Secondary Students

This game is a hit every time I use it in class. There are few ways to teach grammar and have it really stick. This is one of them. The example here is for active and passive voice, but you can adapt it for parts of speech, sentence structure (have categories for fragments, complete sentences, and run-ons), or correct/incorrect usage of punctuation marks.

1. Divide a whiteboard, chalkboard, or bulletin board into two halves. Label one side “Active” and one side “Passive.”

2.  Pass out one or two sentences to each student. Tell the students that they have three rounds to get all the words in the correct category. (I offer a small treat, prize, or bonus points to the whole class if they can accomplish this.)

3. Have the students come up to the board and place each sentence where they think it belongs.

4. When all the sentences are in place, tell the students how many are incorrect.

5. Allow the students to study the board and discuss which are incorrect. Any student can move any of the sentences from one category to the other, as long as he or she offers an explanation. As they try to sort it out, this is where the learning comes in. It's also a learning experience for me When they are satisfied, tell them how many are incorrect, and give them one more round to work it out.  The hardest part will be for you to keep a poker face!

6. You may have to set a time limit for the rounds or give a few hints, but I find it usually works out well if the students are left to their own devices.  Go over the answers at the end, and discuss any that gave them trouble.

Back to School Icebreaker for Middle and High School

It's that time of year again to begin planning for back to school. Icebreakers for the first day are hard to find for middle and high schoolers, so I always come back to the tried-and-true Bingo game.

The idea of an ice breaker is to get students to interact, start conversations, and find things they have in common with each other. This activity does that better than any other that I've tried.

You will need eight or nine different Bingo cards, the squares filled in with different things your students may have done or hobbies they have, favorites, characteristics, or anything else unique that you think is interesting. I like to use things they might have done over the summer: jobs, vacations, etc. There are many blank Bingo card templates you can download for free. Just do a search for "Bingo template" and you'll find some. Fill in the squares on the first card, then keep mixing them up and adding and subtracting items for the remaining seven or eight cards. I'll be honest, it's a lot of work, but you can re-use them every year.

To play, mix up the cards and pass out one to each student. On "go," they have to find someone who matches the item in the square, and write his or her name on the card.

Students can only use the same person for two squares, then they have to move on to someone else. When someone gets a Bingo (diagonal, horizontal, or vertical row all marked off) they shout out "Bingo!" In a regular game, that would end it, but I like to give out treats for five or six Bingos to encourage the conversations to go on.

If you don't want to make your own cards, I have some in my store that have been successful with multiple classes. You can find them here: 

Idiom Posters and Matching Game

According to the common core standards, students learn idioms in second through fifth grade. I created these two products with those grades in mind, but I used more mature artwork and added some more sophisticated idioms into the mix so that teachers can use them for older, or even adult, ESL students. Idioms are hard to master for ESL students because they don't make literal sense, and are often cultural references. These posters and matching cards will hopefully help a broad range of students, and make learning fun.

Artwork by Image Boutique

Punch Game

Once in a while, I like to do something a little silly to add interest to an otherwise dry lesson plan. This is a game I've used before to spice up grammar lessons and review for final tests. It takes a little time to prep, but you can re-use it for years to come.

On a piece of foam core, hot glue plastic cups in rows, leaving at least a half inch between the rims of each cup.

 When the glue is set, you can put a question, task, or review question in each cup. I like to add a different treat along with each question and a few "free passes."

Cut squares of tissue paper and use a rubber band to secure them to around the top of the cups.

Here is one I made for a church class (Primary). When you call a student up, he or she has to choose a cup and punch through the tissue to get to the question (and treat).

An alternative use it fill it with prizes and let students punch on their birthday or after certain goals are met.

The element of surprise and the carnival feel of this game will be sure to add a little extra fun to your classroom!

Back To School Bingo Ice Breaker

When I have a class where the students don't know each other already, I like to break the ice with this tried-and-true activity. It opens up conversations, helps students find others with similar interests, and helps them learn names.

Use a Bingo card template and write in activities or experiences your students might have engaged in over the summer in each space. You'll want to make several different cards, then photocopy them. I use about eight original cards for a class of 25 - 30.

Give each student a card, and ask them to find fellow students who fit the description in the square. They then write that person's name in the square. I make a rule that they can only use one person for two squares so they have to circulate.

When someone gets a Bingo, give them a small treat. I usually let them play until we've had five or so winners. Afterwards, we have a discussion about what they might have learned about each other.

You can find blank templates online, or if you don't want to make your own cards, I have some available here:

Trading Cards in the Classroom

 
 My students have mentioned that the posters and Power Point I use with visual clues and examples are a great way to help them remember figurative language terms. When I noticed them making flash cards to study, I thought, why not shrink the graphics to flash card size to help out my students? When I made the cards, I sized them to fit inside a trading card protector, and realized that what I had created were trading cards. Of course they can be used as flash cards, but I have found many other uses for trading cards in the classroom.

 Concentration: For younger students, a simple matching game will breed familiarity with the terms and examples. For older students, you could create cards with examples and cards with the terms, and ask students to match the examples with terms. For the cards I made here, I'm going to create cards without the terms at the top, and matching term cards for the game.

Rewards: You could pass out the trading cards as rewards for quiz scores or answering questions in class etc... Even my older students secretly get excited about this.

Reference: If the cards are laminated and put on a ring, they could be permanent fixtures in the classroom as a study/reference tool.

Interactive notebooks: Printed out on paper instead of card stock, these could be glued into a notebook for reference with activities for that particular term.

 The possibilities are endless! If you want to create your own cards, there are numerous templates available for free online. The standard size is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", but if you are going to use them primarily for matching games, it wouldn't hurt to go larger. There is also a fun trading card app from the International Reading Association found here.

If you want these figurative language trading cards, they are found in my store here for only $2.00. They are inexpensive because I had already made the posters (found here) so it was just a matter of shrinking them to size.