Monday, February 10, 2014

Animals, Athletes, and Verbs OH MY!

Today we learned about verbs using Popplet!  I wanted to find a way to grab their attention, so I started with a rap video about verbs.  This got them up and moving.  Then we brainstormed a list of verbs that we heard in the rap.

I then asked each student to pick their favorite athlete or animal.  This captured the attention of a lot of my students (many are sports fans and love animals).  The next task was to list 10 verbs (actions) associated with that person or animal.  They picked five of their favorites out of the 10 they listed.

Students then searched for pictures of their athlete or animal doing the actions that they listed.  They inserted those pictures within their Popplet, wrote a sentence, and identified the verb.  My room was silent and when I looked and walked around EVERYONE in my room was engaged and working!

Such a simple lesson, but I found a way to make verbs REAL for my students.  They were taking something they liked or were passionate about and tying it in with Language Arts!  I walked away from that lesson knowing that my students have a good grasp on the concept that was taught!

I was also able to teach mini writing lessons as they showed me their Popplets.  I was able to cover proper nouns, capitalization, punctuation, apostrophes, possessive pronouns/nouns, and grammar usage in general!  So much learning took place today when they created a Verb Popplet about their favorite athlete or animal!

Check out some of their Popplets and blog posts!

Mrs. Manning's Class Blogs

2 comments:

  1. Jenn, this is a phenomenal idea! I love how you used a tired old lesson and made it come to life! I will be borrowing this one for my fifth graders! I am sure we will be able to use this with so many other grammar parts that can be so abstract, like adverbs! I love LOVE LOVE this! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Thanks Michelle! I am glad you can take what I shared and find a way to use it within your classroom! I can't wait to collaborate with you on Tuesday!

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