For many, grammar may not seem like the most interesting or exciting subject. In fact, some teachers may, unfortunately, skip over grammar entirely. I personally enjoy grammar and love teaching grammar to my students. Whether grammar is taught directly, through mentor sentences, or incorporated into writing lessons, it is important to teach to our students.
No matter your approach to teaching grammar, incorporating fun activities into our grammar lessons can make this subject more enjoyable for our students. Here are 7 fun ideas for teaching grammar that will make teaching and reviewing grammar fun.
Fly Swat
This is a game that I have used ever since I began teaching and can work with so many subjects, but you might not have thought about using it with grammar. One way to use fly swat is to write all of the parts of speech on the board (or you may choose 3 or 4 to make it a little easier).
- Divide the class into two teams and have one person from each team to come to the board with a fly swat.
- Then display a sentence using your document camera. Read the sentence. Pause. Then call out a word from the sentence for the students to identify its part of speech.
- The first students to “swat” the correct answer on the board gets a point for his/her team.
- Two more students come to the board and the game continues. Either call out another word from the same sentence, or display a new sentence on your document camera.
Even with all of the technology in our classroom, students still love this game!
Kahoot and Quizziz
Speaking of technology, these two sites are two favorites of my students. They beg to play Kahoot and/or Quizziz all of the time. Each of these sites have a paid subscription, but I choose to use the free. These are great for reviewing grammar. I simply search to find a ready-made game to play with my students, although you can create your own. (I have no affiliation to either platform. I just enjoy using them and highly recommend them.)
Colorful PowerPoint Lessons
Using a PowerPoint lesson to introduce or review grammar skills is a great way to engage your students. PowerPoints usually are colorful and fun which will help get your students attention during a lesson. For example, my Dependent and Independent Clauses PowerPoint lesson is a great way to introduce clauses and complex sentences to students.
Scoot
Scoot is one of my favorite ways to use task cards because it gives students an opportunity to get up out of their desks and move. Even some of my most challenging classes have loved reviewing grammar with scoot.
I simply place one task card on each child’s desk and demonstrate the direction that the class will move when I call, “Scoot!” as I pass out the cards. I give each student an answer page. Students then stand behind their desks and answer the question. Then I call, “Scoot,” and each student moves to the next desk to answer the next question. It is important before you begin to have students notice the number on their task card and write the answer beside the corresponding number on the answer document. Students love this game. The first time you play may be a little challenging, but student soon get the hang of this fun activity.
Parts of Speech Stations
Highlighters
No Prep Grammar Packets
