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Friday, April 20, 2012

Pronoun Practice to the Moon and Back


Our Roy Orbison pronoun practice was great fun, but I could tell at the end my son was still a little foggy on how pronouns are used. This activity is meant to clear up the confusion.

It uses my son’s interest in space to excite him about learning pronouns!

First, we read the Grammar Tales book The Planet Without Pronouns by Justin McCory Martin. This book was EXACTLY what I needed to explain just how helpful and useful pronouns are.


The main character, Stanley, notices when talking to the residents of planet Krimular that they don’t use pronouns! He gives his buddy Zik a lesson explaining, “Pronouns are small words such as I, you, me, her, or him. … They are used in place of nouns to make sentences simpler. Think of them as ‘shortcut’ words.” Ah, yes, shortcut words, why hadn’t I thought to explain them that way? This was something my son could relate to!

When my son finished reading (He’s a level K reader so I helped him with some of the more challenging words), I gave him some folded practice cards and a “to the moon and back” scorecard.


His job was to pick a card, read the front, and either replace the highlighted word(s) or add the pronoun if it was absent.


Once he’d done this, he opened the flap on the card and if he got it right, he could move the rocket ship one line closer to the moon. When he got to the moon, he rotated the rocket ship around, kept practicing, and headed back to Earth
.

He loved this activity and wanted to continue practicing with the leftover cards once his space journey had ended. Success!


Directions to Make it Yourself
Download my PDF of the pronoun practice cards and “to the moon and back” scorecard. The pages in the file are ordered so you need to print page 1, flip it over and print page 2, and so on. Once printed on heavyweight cardstock, cut the cards, fold on the dotted line, and use a Exacto craft blade to cut the "V". Tuck the folded flap under the point on the V for each card.

To make the scorecard, cut out the rocket ship and tab. Use an Exacto craft blade to cut out the rectangle for your rocket ship slider. Then poke holes in the rocket ship and tab with a brad. Put the tab behind the “to the moon and back” scorecard lining up the whole you punched inside the open slit you cut out.


Put the brad in the rocket ship, place on top of the scorecard and thread it through the tab that’s behind the scorecard. Spread the brad apart tightly. Now you’re ready to blast off!

11 comments:

  1. I love this idea! Recording success on a rocket is great! The book sounds wonderful.

    Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.

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  2. Grammar Tales sound like an interesting series of books!

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    1. I bought another book from the series and am cooking up a fun activity to go along with it soon! Look for that either next week or the following week.

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  3. You guys do the coolest things!! Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow =-)
    Beth

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  4. LOVE!! Always LOVE everything you do! I featured you at Thrifty Thursday this week! Thanks for linking up!

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  5. You have the best lesson plans! This looks like such a great book and fun way to practice.

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  6. You are more than creative! Just thought you should know that. :) If you ever wanna hang out and exchange ideas, you're welcome to stop by my messy house for an ice tea or a mocha frap. :)

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    1. Aw, Brenners, thanks for the invite. I think you've discovered my secret. Perhaps this blog should have a tagline "Ideas powered by coffee." :)

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  7. Do you still have this up? I love it but it wont let me download it?

    rphunt07@yahoo.com

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    1. The download is still on Google Drive, via the link above. Sometimes Google Drive is tempremental. Try again later and if you're still having trouble, let me know.

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    2. Ok....I tried several more times and the page will not load. is there anyway to email me the file? So sorry!

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