Parts of Speech Activities for Middle School and Elementary

Parts of Speech Videos, Lessons, and Activities for Middle School

Grammar, grammar, grammar. I write everyday. I have novels waiting for completion. I'll be honest; I can't remember or didn't learn most of these terms. However, I'm able to speak and write clearly. These parts of speech activities are targeted toward middle school and elementary students, but many adults will also find them educational too. Scroll down for our online lesson. Enjoy!

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We use these grammar activities in our daily homeschool classes. We don't focus on grade levels. We all (including mom) learn the same things at the same time. Everyone works at their own pace, so we try to find fun activities that all ages will appreciate. Writing an essay? Try this free grammar checker. 

What are the parts of speech?






Now, play this Parts of Speech Game to test your knowledge.

What is a Subject and Predicate?

Take this quiz about Subjects and Predicates.

Review the Parts of Speech with Tim and Moby. You must be a BrainPOP subscriber for this one.

Did you know Yoda speaks perfect English?

What is a participle? Watch this video to learn about participles and gerunds. More about participles.





VERBALS: What is the difference between an infinitive, gerund, and participle?





Now, play this Past Participle Game to test your knowledge.

Want to be an English Major? Here is a more in depth look on gerunds, participles, and infinitives.

What are coordinate conjunctions? You use them in nearly every sentence.





What is a subordinate conjunction? It isn't as complicated as it sounds!





Be careful, this one tries to trick you, Compound Sentence Game.

Master your Proofreading Skills with this game from Quill.com

Why do you need to diagram sentences?

Diagramming Sentences (for BrainPOP subscribers only).

Online worksheet for review of types of sentences.

All done? Open a Google Document, and write a 5 paragraph story about your favorite animal. As always, tell me what you are going to tell me (first paragraph), tell me (detail each sentence from the first paragraph in the following 3 paragraphs), tell me again (summarize what you have written). While you are writing focus on the parts of speech. Include descriptive adjectives and adverbs, compound sentences, simple sentences, gerunds, infinitives, and participles. Share your paper with your homeschool educator or classroom teacher.


Recommended:

Using Adjectives and Adverbs in Poetry

Parts of Speech Grades 3-4 (Language Arts)

Schoolhouse Rock History Lesson

How to Use Parts of Speech, Grades 6-8

Cinquain Poetry: Fun Adjective and Adverb Video Lessons and Online Activities for Homeschooling

Cinquain Poem Examples for Students

In this online homeschooling lesson, we explore adjectives and adverbs and then use what we've learned to write a Cinquain poem. We found some fun videos and activities to help teach the difference between an adverb and an adjective. Scroll down for examples of Cinquain poetry. Enjoy!

Cinquain Poem Examples for Students.

What does an Adverb do?

An adverb modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverbs answer questions like: How? When? Where?

What does an Adjective do?

An adjective modifies nouns, pronouns, and phrases acting as nouns. Adjectives answer questions like: What kind? How many? Which one?

The adjective and adverb flash card video below is from Maple Leaf Learning. This video is best for preschool and early elementary, though it did help my third and fifth grader remember the difference between an adverb and an adjective.

Now that you are all caught up on adjectives, here is another fun video, which is more appropriate for second to sixth grade.



Here is another video from Grammaropolis. This one is my favorite!




Go old school and learn adverbs and adjectives with this Schoolhouse Rock grammar video.





Now, take what you have learned and use adjectives and adverbs to write a Cinquain. That's just a fancy word for a five line poem. Cinq means five in French.


Arts and Crafts Element

Supplies Needed:

Old Magazines
Construction Paper
Paste or Glue
Marker

Cut out adverbs and adjectives from old magazines.
Draw a line down your paper.
Label one side "Adjectives" and the other side "Adverbs".
Paste the words in the proper column.

Use the words to write a Cinquain poem.


Language Arts Element

How to Write a Cinquain

Line 1:  Use one word to describe the subject.

Line 2:  Choose two words to define the subject.

Line 3:  Pick three words to tell what the subject did.

Line 4:  List four words about how it happened.

Line: 5: Choose one word that restates or summarizes the action in your poem.

Math Element

Did you know there is math in poetry? It is better known as rhythm. If you completed all of the steps above, congratulations! You have written a simple Cinquain. Now, you are ready to plug in some more numbers and write a more complex Cinquain.

Rewrite your poem (or write a new one) using the following method. A true Cinquain is made up of a series of syllables.

Line 1: One word = two syllables.

Line 2: Two words = four syllables.

Line 3: Three words = six syllables.

Line 4: Four words = eight syllables.

Line 5: One Word and/or two syllables.

Once you've crafted the perfect poem, get some handwriting paper. Neatly, write your poem in Cinquain form. Decorate the paper to illustrate the actions and ideas in your poem.

Proudly display your poem for all to see!

Here are our examples of Cinquain poetry:

               Fishes.

      Black and Festive.

They wanted Mosquitoes.

Finally, they ate Mosquitoes.

              Delish!

-Jake

Is fishes a word? Yep.We used creative license to get two syllables in our first word. Jake wanted to write a poem about fish. So, he wrote a poem about various species of fish, or fishes to make the Cinquain work.

                       Kittens.

                 Tiny and Blue.

           Chasing Tiny Critters.

Catches the Fastest, Finest Chicken.

                     Pounces!

- Mayhem

Recommended Reading:

A Is for Angry: An Animal and Adjective Alphabet*

Poetry Patterns and Themes*







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*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Homeschooling Online: Cave Study Lesson

Cave Study Lesson for Homeschooling Grade 3, 4, 5, 6 and up.

Homeschooling Online: Cave Study Lesson.

Elementary Earth Science: Grades 3-6

Cave Study

Explore California Caverns

Optional Group Activity:

Watch The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Netflix) Documentary Movie on the oldest human painted images known to man. This is a full-length, artsy, feature film.

PBS Secrets of the Dead: Caveman Cold Case (53 minutes)

Educational Technology Component

Do an internet search for the following terms. Define in your own words.

Karst

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Speleologist_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Spelunking__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Stalactites___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Stalagmites__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paleontologist________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mathematics Component

Cave Run Multiplication Game

Plot the following terms on the timeline:

Ice Age, Stone Age, Cretaceous, First Neanderthals

65,000,000 B.C. _____1,000,000 B.C. _____250,000 B.C. _____ 30,000 B.C. _____10,000 B.C. _____5000 B.C. _____2500 B.C. _____1000 A.D.  

Making Connections

When did the horse first appear in cave paintings?  What did the earliest ancestor of the horse resemble in size? When did this animal live? Plot it on the timeline.

Language Arts Component

The evolution of language: Proto-writing, Cave Art.  

Ancient History: The Alphabet

Write (Draw) a simple story describing how you acquired breakfast. What did you eat? Was it a feast or were you still hungry after you ate? Use cave painting symbols and make a key so others can interpret your work.

Science Component

List five things that inhabit caves today.

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

Watch this Video:  Bats  (BrainPop Paid Subscribers)

Field Trip Op: Learn about the Endangered Bats in Indiana at Sodalis Park.

Art Component

Cave Painting Craft

Butcher Paper Cave Wall Art

Science Fair

Build a science fair diorama.

Art History Just for Fun Online Games and Movies

Watch The Croods or Ice Age.

Hooda Cave Math Game

Recommended Reading:

Bats by Gail Gibbons *affiliate link

Science Project: Make a Cave Diorama 


Print this! Free Cave Lesson Printable

  
Copyright 2014 by Lora Langston, Kids Creative Chaos.

Jake's Journey Homeschool Science Project: How to Build a Cave Model Diorama from a Cardboard Shoebox

How to Build a Cave Model Diorama from a Cardboard Shoebox and Construction Paper

Here's a Homeschool Science Project on Stalactites and Stalagmites. Make your own cave for a science fair diorama project. Make sure everything is labeled clearly. This was made for a third grade science project for a gifted class, but it is suitable for grades 3-8. Enjoy!

Learning about spelunking and cave exploration by building a cave diorama project.

Great model, eh? How is this not art? Jake had a fabulous time designing and crafting this model of a cave for his Homeschool Science portfolio. He enjoyed researching each term, but refused to write them out in a report form. He labeled each item and taped down a descriptive tag, but did not do a report. He despises the art form of handwriting (we are working on this too).

The cave words were particularly intriguing with speleothems (cave formations) and speleologists (scientist who explore caves) ranking at the top of his interest list. All of the spelunking terms are fun to say!

To make a shoebox model diorama like this one you will need:

• shoe box or cereal box with the face cut off
• construction paper
• scissors
• tape and glue
• action figures

First, cover the inside of your cardboard box with an appropriate color of paper. Then, cut out cave formations (stalactites and stalagmites) leaving a little extra on the base. Fold this extra down like a flap, and glue or tape it to the top or bottom of your diorama. This makes it stay erect and sturdy.

Research the definition of various cave terms. Type these into a word program leaving several spaces between definitions, so they can be cut out for labels. Attach with tape or glue. This information should also be written into a companion report for your project to work toward an 'A' grade.

In Jake's model you can see the Cave Bacon which is a stalactite hanging from the "ceiling" of the cave. It looks like bacon with the side stripes of color. Cave Eggs cover the floor or ground as Stalagmites. These are round formations with circular rings of pattern. Cave Cauliflower and Soda Straws are pictured above, but you need something to research on your own, so get busy!

How can you remember which is which? Easy! Use this simple memory trick.

stalaCtite - look for the "C" for ceiling of the cave.

stalaGmite - look for the "G" for ground of the cave.

Recommended Reading:

Complete Caving Manual: Spelunking*

Don't Behave Like You Live in a Cave *






ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)