Grammar Grabbers! Ready-to-Use Games and Activities for Improving Basic Writing Skills

by Umstatter, Jack

• ISBN13: 9780130425928
• ISBN10: 0130425923
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-08
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

This practical resource gives language arts and English teachers a unique collection of over 200 creative, fun-filled, and ready-to-use activities that make teaching and learning grammar more enjoyable for you and your students. All have been tested with students in grades 4 and up and are effective as individual group, or whole-class activities. You'll find the 203 ready-to-use activities give students the tools they need to use grammar more effectively in their writing and make the writing process more enjoyable.

Author Biography

Jack Umstatter, a master English teacher with over 25 years experience, is a multiple winner of the Teacher of the Year award. He currently teaches English in the Cold Spring Harbor School District in New York and education and literature at Dowling College in Oakdale, New York. He is the author of numerous teacher resources such as Brain Games!, Hooked on English! and Writing skills Curriculum Library, published by The Center.

Table of Contents

Section One PARTS OF SPEECH-WORKING WITH WORDS!
Nouns and Names	3	(3)
Is...Is Not...Is...Is Not...
Is...Is Not...	4	(2)
Four-Letter Nouns and Verbs	6	(1)
Pronouns Are In!	7	(1)
There's Something Very Definite about These Indefinites!	8	(2)
G(ee), This Can Be Fun!	10	(1)
Finding the Verbs Alphabetically	11	(1)
Verbs A-plenty	12	(1)
Calling All Verbs! Calling All Verbs!	13	(1)
Be Alert!	14	(1)
26 Minus X Equals 25	15	(1)
Take Two Minutes	16	(1)
The Last Becomes the First	17	(1)
Gallery of Adverbs	18	(1)
Hey, Conjunction, We Know Your Function!	19	(2)
Breaking Northwestern Apart	21	(1)
End It Correctly!	22	(1)
Top Twenty-Five	23	(1)
Parts of Speech Magic Square	24	(1)
Nursery Rhyme Time	25	(1)
You Do Parts of Speech Right!	26	(1)
Bull's-Eye	27	(1)
Twice Each	28	(1)
Ten and Ten and Ten and Ten and Ten (and Then Five)	29	(1)
Following Directions	30	(1)
More than One	31	(4)
Section Two PHRASES AND CLAUSES---WORD WEAVERS!
Getting the Gist of Grammar	35	(1)
No Fragmented Thoughts Here!	36	(1)
U Can Do It!	37	(1)
The Gettysburg Address	38	(1)
Dissecting the Sentence	39	(1)
Seeing Romeo and Juliet Grammatically	40	(1)
What Exactly Is a Tuffet?	41	(1)
Walking Wearily	42	(1)
Participles and Verbs	43	(1)
Do You Notice This?	44	(1)
There Are No Opposing Appositives Here	45	(2)
Finding Those Sixteen Prepositional Phrases	47	(1)
Don't Let These Phrases Faze You!	48	(1)
Phrases and Scientists	49	(2)
Gerunds	51	(1)
To Be or Not to Be	52	(1)
Lucky Seven	53	(1)
Completing the Idea	54	(1)
Because of the Clause	55	(1)
Phrase and Clause Indicators	56	(1)
Starting and Ending	57	(1)
Phrases and Clauses and More	58	(1)
Win's Nine Lives	59	(1)
Weathering These Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences	60	(1)
Filling in the Blanks	61	(1)
Combating Thirteen	62	(1)
Why?	63	(2)
Singing Along	65	(1)
Two Sentences Tell It All!	66	(3)
Section Three SENTENCES---GRAMMAR'S GALAXY!
The Common Word	69	(1)
Odd One Out	70	(2)
Unscrambling the Sentences	72	(1)
Making Sense	73	(1)
Some Good Advice	74	(1)
Let's Get Some Order Here!	75	(2)
Consecutive Letters	77	(1)
First and Foremost	78	(1)
Step by Step	79	(1)
The Stuff of Sentences	80	(1)
Doing What's Required	81	(2)
Time and Tide Wait for No Man!
So Many a Philosopher Has Said	82	(1)
In the Beginning and At the End	83	(2)
Sophistication Is In	85	(2)
Showing Your Building Skills	87	(1)
Two (or More) into One	88	(2)
Putting the Words in Their Places	90	(1)
I Love to Comb Your Hair, Joe!	91	(1)
Writing a Short, Short Story	92	(1)
Are You Up to the Challenge?	93	(1)
What Type of Sentence Is This?	94	(1)
Doing the Diagramming	95	(1)
Deciphering the Diagramming	96	(1)
Matching the Diagrams	97	(1)
To Splice Is Not So Nice!	98	(1)
The Sentence Poem	99	(4)
Section Four USAGE-A WAY WITH WORDS!
Grammar Vocabulary	103	(1)
Grammar Spanning	104	(1)
Juggling the Irregulars	105	(1)
A Pro with Pronouns	106	(1)
How Irregular!	107	(1)
The Subjects of Science	108	(1)
Broadway Bound	109	(1)
Thinking About the Past	110	(1)
Five Adjectives	111	(1)
Musically Inclined	112	(1)
You Raise a Son, but a Sun Rises	113	(1)
Getting Personal	114	(1)
Something's Wrong Here---Half the Time	115	(1)
Just in Case	116	(1)
Let's Examine Those Cases!	117	(1)
Casing Out the Puzzle	118	(1)
Don't Object to These Thirty Objects!	119	(1)
Is That Object a Sign?	120	(1)
The Farmer Grew My Younger Brother?	121	(1)
When Too Much Is Too Much!	122	(1)
It's All Happening at the Zoo	123	(2)
Making Changes	125	(2)
How Agreeable!	127	(1)
Don't Get None of These Questions Wrong!	128	(1)
Explain Why!	129	(2)
The Old ``Who Versus Whom''! Problem	131	(1)
What on Earth?	132	(5)
Section Five MECHANICS---THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE!
Is That What It Is?	137	(1)
Telephone Spelling	138	(1)
A Capital Offense...Not Getting 37!	139	(1)
Spelling Mnemonics (Part One)	140	(1)
Spelling Mnemonics (Part Two)	141	(1)
Musically Speaking	142	(1)
Unlucky Seven	143	(1)
Getting Technical and Staying Even	144	(1)
The Comma Count Is Thirty-Two	145	(1)
Coming Along with Commas	146	(1)
The Versatile Comma	147	(2)
Is a Semicolon Half a Colon?	149	(1)
Half a Hundred and You're Home!	150	(1)
Punctuating Dialogue	151	(1)
Punctuating Properly and Purposefully (Part One)	152	(1)
Punctuating Properly and Purposefully (Part Two)	153	(1)
Fitting Them in Properly	154	(1)
How Bad Can It Get?	155	(1)
Pity This Poor Printer!	156	(1)
Pretty Bad Punctuation	157	(4)
Section Six Grammar's Helpers---Taking Care of Business!
They Sound the Same But...	161	(1)
The Principal Gave Me Dessert and Quite a Compliment!	162	(1)
Accept a Weak Miner	163	(1)
Homophones Crossword Puzzle	164	(1)
Defining the Confusing	165	(1)
Homophones Word Find	166	(1)
Tooooooooo General	167	(1)
It's the End That Counts	168	(1)
Sweet Sixteen	169	(2)
The Plurals Puzzle	171	(1)
When Y Sounds Like A and I	172	(1)
Let's Go to the Movies!	173	(1)
Divided Describers	174	(1)
Daring? Timid? Optimistic? What Are You?	175	(1)
``Roman'' Around	176	(1)
The Prefixes and Roots Magic Square	177	(1)
It's Greek (and Roman) to Me!	178	(1)
Some Food for Thought	179	(1)
Ignorance Is Not Bliss!!!	180	(1)
Pulling Out the Stops	181	(1)
Completing the Aphorisms	182	(2)
Don't Be Down in the Dumps	184	(1)
ST WI TH TW LE	185	(1)
The Terms of Grammar	186	(3)
Section Seven Grammar Games---And Away We Go!
Englo	189	(1)
The Alphabet Game	190	(1)
Scoring with Sentences	191	(1)
Roll the Dice!	192	(1)
Timing Is Everything!	193	(1)
The Generating Wheel	194	(1)
The Last and the First	195	(1)
I'll Take the Fifth	196	(1)
Grammar Poems	197	(1)
From Athens to Washington	198	(1)
Finding and Spelling	199	(1)
Pronouns and Adjectives Are Great in 88!	200	(1)
Nouns Throughout the Alphabet	201	(1)
Sense Behind the Nonsense	202	(1)
For Starters	203	(1)
Journal Jotting	204	(2)
Hi!	206	(1)
Beware the Ides of March	207	(2)
Finding Forty (or More)	209	(1)
The Sporting Life	210	(1)
This Is Not a Bum Steer	211	(1)
Do You Have an Iron Will?	212	(1)
The Greater Waiter Brought the Crude Food	213	(1)
Has Anyone Spotted Eve?	214	(1)
Where Is Montana?	215	(1)
Characteristically Speaking	216	(1)
Spelling It Out	217	(1)
The Proper Way to Do It	218	(1)
The Name Game	219	(4)
Section Eight FINAL TESTS---KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
Final Test on Nouns and Pronouns	223	(1)
Final Test on the Noun and Its Functions	224	(1)
Final Test on Pronouns	225	(1)
Final Test on Pronoun Problems	226	(1)
Final Test on Main and Helping Verbs	227	(1)
Final Test on Irregular Verbs	228	(1)
Final Test on Verbal Phrases	229	(1)
Final Test on Adjectives	230	(1)
Final Test on Adverbs	231	(1)
Final Test on Parts of Speech	232	(1)
Final Test on Sentences, Fragments, and Run-Ons	233	(1)
Final Test on Prepositions	234	(1)
Final Test on Complements	235	(1)
Final Test on Subordinate Clauses	236	(1)
Final Test on Classifying Sentences by Purpose	237	(1)
Final Test on Agreement	238	(1)
Final Test on Usage	239	(1)
Final Test on Words Often Confused	240	(1)
Final Test on Words in Context	241	(1)
Final Test on Grammar Terms	242	(1)
Final Test on Commas	243	(1)
Final Test on Punctuation	244