Contractions

Activity Type: Introduce

Activity Form: Standard

Grade: 2

Group Size: Small Group

Length: 15 minutes

Materials: Index cards with contractions written on them (in sentences)

Goal: Given contractions, students will read the contractions as one word.

Items: Common contractions

What to do

Write a small list of some of the contractions you plan to discuss on the board. Have your students form circular groups. Today we are going to read contractions as single words. These words come from the stories that we've read.
Watch me read these words. Model reading aloud the contractions, pointing to each one as you say it. Now you read these words with me.
Add more contractions to the list. Here are some other contractions. You read these words. Make sure the class is following you.
Distribute cards among the group. Take one card and pass the rest to the right until all cards are gone. Depending on how many cards there are, some students may end up with more than others. This is fine.
Here are some sentences that have words in them that are contractions. I'll read one out loud. Model the reading of one sentence. Then have the students read them individually.
On the next day, repeat steps one through five. After step five, dictate contractions to the students and have them write them down.
On the last day, repeat steps one through five. After step five, dictate sentences with contractions to the students and have them write them down. Visit individual students each day of the activity (while they are reading the index cards) and monitor their progress. Record any observations in an Activity Log.