Fun activities to teach the telling part of a sentence to first graders

🎯 Learning Objectives

• 💡 Students will accurately identify the 'telling part' (predicate) of a simple sentence.
• 🗣️ Students will explain that the 'telling part' describes what the 'naming part' (subject) does or is.
• ✍️ Students will construct simple sentences, ensuring they include a clear and descriptive 'telling part'.

🛠️ Materials Needed

• 📜 Sentence strips (pre-written with various simple sentences)
• 🏷️ Index cards or construction paper for word cards
• 🖍️ Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
• 📝 Large chart paper or a whiteboard
• 🖼️ Picture cards depicting various actions or scenarios
• 📄 Worksheets for individual practice

⏰ Warm-up (5 minutes)

• 🔄 Briefly review what a sentence is and that it tells a complete thought.
• 👋 Introduce or review the concept of the 'naming part' (who or what the sentence is about).
• 🤸 Play 'Sentence Stretch': The teacher says a 'naming part' (e.g., "The cat..."), and students quickly shout out different 'telling parts' (e.g., "...ran fast!", "...is sleepy!").

🧠 Main Instruction: Engaging Activities

• ✂️ Activity 1: Sentence Surgeons

  • 🔗 Prepare sentence strips with the 'naming part' and 'telling part' clearly separated (e.g., "The dog" | "barked loudly").
  • 🧐 Students work in pairs or small groups to match the correct 'telling part' to its 'naming part'.
  • 🗣️ Discuss how the 'telling part' always describes what the 'naming part' is doing or being.

• 🎬 Activity 2: Action Charades

  • 🧍 Prepare cards with simple actions (e.g., "jump," "sing," "sleep," "eat").
  • 📣 One student picks an action card and acts it out silently.
  • 💬 The rest of the class guesses the action and then forms a complete sentence about the student, emphasizing the 'telling part' (e.g., "She is jumping high!").

• 🧱 Activity 3: Build-A-Sentence Blocks

  • 🌈 Use color-coded index cards or physical blocks: one color for 'naming parts' (e.g., blue) and another for 'telling parts' (e.g., red).
  • ➡️ Provide a variety of naming and telling part cards.
  • 🏗️ Students combine one blue card with one red card to form grammatically correct and meaningful sentences. Encourage them to read their creations aloud.

• 📸 Activity 4: Picture Prompts

  • 🖼️ Display various picture cards showing people or animals engaged in different activities.
  • 💬 For each picture, guide students to first identify the 'naming part' and then describe what that 'naming part' is doing.
  • ✍️ Have students write or orally state a sentence for each picture, clearly identifying the 'telling part'.

✅ Assessment

• 📝 Sentence Underline: Provide a worksheet with various sentences. Students underline only the 'telling part' in each sentence.
• 🎨 Draw the Telling Part: Give students a 'naming part' (e.g., "The brave knight..."). They draw what the knight is doing and then write the 'telling part' that matches their drawing.
• 🗣️ Oral Sentence Creation: Ask individual students to create a simple sentence and then orally state which words make up the 'telling part'.