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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Teaching Grammar and a Giveaway!

I absolutely love to teach grammar, so, this week, I thought I'd share some of the ways in which I integrate grammar into my writer's workshop and station rotations. Here's what I plan on discussing this week:
On Thursday, I'll have a link-up, where you can link up a blog post about how you teach grammar. That way, you'll be able to share your best practices, too! At the end of this post, I have an awesome grammar game to review and give away to a lucky follower!

I do not teach grammar in isolation. I teach it during my writer's workshop. I am very familiar with all the skills my students need to learn and I make sure to cover a few of them a week. Each time I model write I always stress, among other things, the importance of using specific nouns, action verbs, and descriptive words. I've been doing this since the first days of school. Here is an example of a simple story I wrote with my first graders about what my snowman does at night.

First, I read Snowmen At Night, by Caralyn Buehner. Then, the children and I wrote this story together. Next, they wrote their own stories. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the finished products, but, they came out really cute. After model writing one more story based on a Caralyn Buehner book, the children were asked to write one on their own, without me model writing first. Their story was based on the book Snowmen at Work. Here is a finished first grade story:
She tried her best to use strong verbs and descriptive words. I think she did a great job! On Wednesday, I'll show you the rubric I used to grade these, when I discuss how I assess my students in grammar. These writing activities come from my pack, Snow Much Fun With Caralyn Buehner Books! There is also a fun Parts of Speech Game in this pack!

This is just one way in which I integrate grammar into my curriculum, without teaching it in isolation. Tomorrow, I'll show you some of the fun station games my students play each week to review and practice grammar skills.

Now, onto the giveaway! Learning Resources sent me this fabulous game called Sentence Buildings, which is a parts of speech activity set. Talk about fun!

It includes 9 buildings (noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, article, conjunction, adverb, preposition, and punctuation) and 300 double-sided words cards. Students learn to craft sentences with the color-coded word cards. They can build simple sentences by selecting one of each of the parts of speech they have learned. Then, as they learn more parts of speech, they can add words to see how their sentences change. My students played this game several times and it is definitely a favorite of theirs. They love the buildings and how colorful the pieces are. I love how they are so excited to make and read their sentences to their friends.



These are not my students playing the game, but look at how much fun it looks! There is so much differentiation with this game and so many ways to play it. It's definitely a must have in any primary classroom. Learning Resources is allowing me to give one of these gems away to one of my lucky followers. Could be you! Just use the rafflecopter below to enter. 
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I hope you'll come back tomorrow to read about some of the exciting grammar games my students play each week! See you soon!

50 comments:

  1. I like to touch on grammar during my Chit Chat morning message.
    I also would love to add those sentence builders to my writing center! :)
    :)
    Kelly
    Beg, Borrow, Steal

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  2. Grammar has been the hardest thing for me to figure out how to integrate because there is definitely no time during the day. Plus teaching in isolation wouldn't have the same effect as teaching integrated. I'm looking forward to reading all about your ideas :)

    Ashley
    Primary Teacherhood

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  3. I love your giveaways Lori . . . thanks for the chance to WIN BIG :)

    Kelley Dolling
    Teacher Idea Factory

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  4. You make things so hard NOT to buy! You have so many fabulous units in your store. I'm pretty sure I own almost everything in there! I love your Snow Much Fun activities. This unit looks wonderful!
    Sarah
    Sarah's First Grade Snippets

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  5. Thank you for the opportunity to win this product!

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  6. I'm looking forward to reading all the grammar posts you have planned!

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  7. Thanks for the opportunity.
    Yvonnee

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  8. Thanks for all that you do and share! As a new kindergarten teacher this year, it's a whole different ball game from 3rd. Thanks for all of the ideas and the sharing of others things. How ever is a teacher to keep up?!

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  9. I'll be back to check out the linky party! That game looks like fun.
    Chrissy
    First Grade Found Me

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  10. This looks like a fun game to play! No wonder the kids loved playing it. Learning Resources always comes up with great stuff to keep kids engaged!

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  11. This looks like a great giveaway! Thanks so much for the chance to win such a fun prize!
    Hilary
    Second Grade is Out of This World!

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  12. I struggle with teaching grammar. I do the best I can, but I feel that this is an area where I could improve. Thank you for blogging about it. I look forward to hearing everyone's great ideas!
    Amber
    www.laueslittles.blogspot.com

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  13. What a great giveaway! Thanks for this :)

    Mindful Rambles
    Rae

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  14. I'm now a follower! I am also posting your website on my blog...primaryinIDaho.blogspot.com You are one of my 365 Blogs in my 365 Blog Hop Challenge! Writing is one of my favorite things to teach my 1st graders! I love your style and your 'stuff'! Keep up the great work and the ideas!

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  15. Great blog! How I would love to win this giveaway! Sentence Builders would be perfect for my resource classroom. Thanks for the chance.

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  16. This game looks adorable! Thanks for hosting such a great giveaway Lori!

    œKaryn
    A is for Apple B is for Blog
    Kideducator@comcast.net

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  17. Grammar is not a focus in our basal, but I am a grammar Nazi (lol), so I incorporate grammar into my lessons every chance I get. I think this post is a great way for us to share what we do when it comes to grammar, so thank you so much for doing this!

    faithfulinfirst.blogspot.com

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  18. Super cute activity! I hope I win!! :)
    ~Jen
    Hello Mrs Sykes
    hellomrssykes@gmail.com

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  19. I bought your Snow Much Fun unit and it is wonderful!!! It helps me differentiate with my class. Thanks!

    ~Sara
    Sweetsarabowling@gmail.com

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  20. Great ideas!! Love the give away!! Thanks for sharing your teaching ideas!

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  21. Thanks for the chance at winning.. This looks like lots of fun :-)
    Always looking for something my kiddos would enjoy !!
    Karen
    tommysmom0206@yahoo.com

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  22. These Sentence Builders look awesome!

    Ashley
    arclark2012@gmail.com

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  23. This would be an awesome add to our homeschool!

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  24. I teach in Arizona. We have a state mandated 4 hour teaching block for all our ESL kids. So I have an hour block to teach grammar (as well as 1 hour each for vocabulary/listening/speaking, writing, and reading). I'm really proud of my students this year - they have really gotten the hang of Syntax Surgery and now with Grow a Sentence. They are understanding what a subject is in a sentence and can underline it. And can find the action verb, and starting to find the "to be" verb in sentences too. =)

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  25. Thanks for this giveaway!!! I love your blog!!!

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  26. Thanks for this giveaway!!! I love your blog!!!

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  27. Thanks for the giveaway. I just love your blog and packets.
    cbartram@kitcarsonschool.com

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  28. I love your blog, thanks for the giveaway opportunities!

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  29. I would love to have this for my kids to use. They love neat things!

    kellybrown28021@gmail.com

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  30. This looks great!
    lraines78@gmail.com

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  31. I teach grammar during my morning message! I love Learning Resources! They have the best products!
    Cheryl
    Crayons and Curls

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  32. This looks like an amazing game that could be used during centers! Learning Resources have the coolest things!!

    Amber
    ambs98@nc.rr.com

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  33. What a wonderful giveaway! I haven't talked to you in what feels like YEARS! I miss you and hope you are well! Let's catch up soon!

    Ѽ Alessia
    Mrs. Albanese’s Kindergarten Class

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  34. Yay for grammar! I like teaching grammar because thinking about words and sentences is fun! Spoken like a teacher, but it is fun in its own way. Great giveaway and I'll link up for sure!!!
    Katie

    Teacher to the Core Blog

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  35. Great giveaway! I also love your Snow much fun with Caralyn.


    Suzzanne Horton
    Suzzanne5571@gmail.com

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  36. I hope you have a wonderful week!

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  37. I love the book Snowmen at Night! I think it's great that you teach grammar within writing workshop. That makes it more meaningful.

    Becky
    Compassionate Teacher

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  38. Wonderful giveaway! Thanks for the opportunity. I love your blog!

    Christina :)
    Apples, Books, and Crayons
    applesbooksandcrayons@gmail.com

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  39. Wonderful giveaway! My students would so love this!!

    Andrea
    Reading Toward the Stars

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  40. Love your blog! Thanks for the chance to win this awesome giveaway!!

    Crystal
    zadorafamily@gmail.com

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  41. Love your blog! Thanks for giving us this chance to win!

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  42. Those Sentence Builders look like what my first grader needs!

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  43. Such an awesome giveaway! I would love to enter my first year of teaching with something like that!

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  44. Thanks for the great giveaway! My students would love this!
    kwelnicke@hotmail.com

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  45. Grammar can be such a hard concept for little kiddos... Thanks for all the great ideas on how to make it fun!

    Kristin (kristinbrehm@gmail.com)

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  46. Love your blog! Great giveaway! Think about how many years we teach grammar!

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. I love to read them!

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