How to Teach Grammar in Grade School

A book of basic vocabulary

Grammar is the study of one language's sentence structure and syntax. As such, it's also essential in developing speech comprehension and effective written communication for children studying English in grade school. Elementary level teachers can employ interesting chalkboard grammar exercises in the classroom. Such activities can engage students, and help them to understand the following basics of grammar, including sentence structure, parts of speech, connecting thoughts and expressing emotion.

Instructions

1. Develop a list on the board outlining sentence structure. In order for a sentence to be complete, it requires a subject, or a noun, and a predicate, or a verb element. Examples could be: Tina rides a bike. Bob cooks lasagna. "Tina" and "Bob" are subjects in their respective sentences, while "rides a bike" and "cooks lasagna" are predicates.

2. Explain nouns as parts of speech. Demonstrate to your class that a noun can be a person, a place or a thing. Write sentences on the board, and have students determine where the noun exists. Proper nouns require capital letters (Alabama, George Washington, New Year's Day). Pronouns are also important elements of grammar. Pronouns replace nouns (he, she, it, they). For example, model sentences for discussion could be: "She rides a bike" ("she" replaces "Tina" from the previous example), or "he cooks lasagna." Here, "he" replaces Bob.

3. Explain verbs as parts of speech. Write model sentences on board, and have students determine the verb. Verbs are the action words in a sentence. There are different types of verbs, including present, past and helping verbs. "I play soccer every week." Here, "play" is a present form of the verb to play. "She played soccer yesterday." "Played" is a past tense of to play. "They will play soccer tomorrow." In this case, "will" is the helping, or auxiliary, form of the verb, "to play".

4. Ask students to brainstorm ways to express emotions. Interjections are grammar elements that demonstrate feeling. Examples would be: Ouch! Stop! Hooray! Wow! Such interjections demonstrate emotions like pain, anger, excitement and surprise. Often, when written, exclamation points communicate an intense feeling.

5. Write a list of conjunctions on the board, and ask students to connect two or more thoughts using constituents of the list. Conjunctions are if, and, or, but, nor, for and so. You can ask students to join two sentences using interjections. For example: Stop, or I'll tell the teacher you are bothering me. We like to play soccer, and we love to enjoy recess. Jenny is not a musician, nor is she a painter.

Tips & Warnings

• It's always helpful to distribute organized handouts, which outline what you write on the board.

• Do not move on to new subject areas until students demonstrate they understand the current topic.

References

• Instructor Web: Language Arts: Grammar
• RHL School: English Grammar and Usage
• NCTE: Grammar: Lessons