Contractions

Have you ever noticed how sometimes the simplest activities are the best?  A few weeks ago we were studying some of the most common contractions.  We had been using some of our Words Their Way activities to sort and notice patterns in the contractions.

By Friday I could tell the students were ready for something a little fun and low-key.  I grabbed some index cards from my desk, and my bag of elbow macaroni from my cabinet.  {Seriously, elbow macaroni is the best.  We have also used them to learn quotation marks, and commas in a series. They provide a great hands-on experience that the students will remember.}

I had students use their word cards from the week to write the contractions with pencil.  Then they glued a piece of elbow macaroni for the apostrophe.  Last they traced their words with a marker. They really enjoyed the activity.  If I did it again, I would also have students write the two words of the contractions on the other side of the cards.

This would make a great center too!