Personal tools

Contraction fluency, Word Hunt Tally

From FreeReading

Jump to: navigation, search
Activity Type: Build Fluency
Activity Form: Game
Grade: 1, 2
Group Size: Individual
Length: 15 minutes
Materials: Contraction cards, Image:Contraction Hunt Page.doc, books (trade books or text books), timer
Goal: Given a written contraction, the student can identify the contraction in print (it’s -> it’s).
Items: All contractions learned so far

What to do

  1. Before beginning the game, print Contraction cards. Glue them to sturdy index cards and laminate if possible. Also print the Image:Contraction Hunt Page.doc, and make enough copies for each pair of students to have one sheet.
  2. Today we are all going to be detectives. Raise your hand if you are ready to be a detective! Great!
  3. You are going to work with a partner. Together with your partner you are going to hunt through a book and see how many times you can find your contraction. We are going to use tally marks to keep track of how many times we see our contraction. Raise your hand if you remember how to use tally marks. Give a brief explanation if students are unsure.
  4. Divide students into partners and pass out one Image:Contraction Hunt Page.doc to each set of partners. Each person should now write their name on the top of your page. Good. Now I am going to call up each partner group to pick a contraction from the basket. Pleae read your contraction to me after you pick it. Once you have your contraction, write it in the first box on your page. That is the contraction you will be hunting for.
  5. Also remember, you can’t start until everyone has their contractions! Call up partners to pick letters.
  6. Okay, now that everyone has their contractions, we are ready to begin. When I say start I am going to start my timer for three minutes. You need to take out your science book and begin hunting for your contraction. Remember, you should only have one book out in front of you. Share with your partner. Don’t take your book out until I say start!
  7. Start! Walk around the room and make sure students understand the activity. When the timer goes off, allow partners to share how many times they found their contraction in the book. You can have them put their cards back and repeat the activity again.
  8. Once students have completed the game three times, direct them to the challenge activity at the bottom of the page.
  9. Observe students. For students who struggle, give them help and make a note in an Activity Log.



Related activities