Engaging grammar ideas and grammar activities for the middle school classroom are not always easy to find. A teacher has to really sell grammar to middle school students. It is not a popular subject among teens. I compiled a variety of ideas for your classroom. Let’s take a look at engaging grammar ideas for the middle school ELA classroom.

Grammar Practice Websites

No Red Ink- No Red Ink has writing and grammar activities for your students, so they can practice their skills. This website contains diagnostic tests, practice, and quizzes to assess your students’ learning. You can assign the assignments right to them through Google. The free version is limited on activities.

Quill– I like Quill.org best when it comes to assigning grammar activities. First, they have a better selection of free content, and Quill allows you to assign independent practice and whole-class practice. In addition, they have diagnostic tests, and the teacher has the ability to create their own practice activities. Quill links right to your Google Classroom.

Engaging Grammar Ideas

Grammar Competitions-Put the parts of a sentence on pieces of colored construction paper. Mix the cards up, and give each student a card. When you say “go”, have the students try to put themselves in a complete, organized sentence. This grammar activity will have your students moving and thinking.

Celebrity Tweets & Posts- Find popular celebrity tweets or social media posts, and have the students grammatically diagram the sentences.

Here are some engaging grammar ideas and activities I use in my own classroom:

Nouns Colorful Comprehension Review & Color Activity

Adjectives Colorful Comprehension Review & Color Activity

Other Helpful Lessons & Ideas for Your Classroom

The Best Novels for the Middle School Classroom

Genius Hour & Learning in Your Classroom

I hope these resources are helpful for your classroom!

The post Engaging Grammar Ideas for Your Classroom appeared first on English, Oh My!.

How I Implement Bell Work into My Classroom

This year, I have implemented bell work activities for the first time.  I have seen bell ringers on Teachers Pay Teachers, and I implemented bell ringers with my 8th graders last year; however, I will admit it was slightly disorganized.  This year, I have stuck to a schedule with my 8th graders, which I will share in a bit.  First though, I want to tell you about the bell work I have created for my 7th graders and work that they ACTUALLY rave over!

In the last two weeks, I have heard the following comments: “Mrs. Crouch…I love doing the bell work.  It is so much fun!” and, “This is my favorite part of the day.”  I know…you would not think a 7th grader would say this about “work”, but somehow I have hooked them.  I created the bell work with the intentions of keeping my 7th graders busy for the first five minutes, so I can take attendance, collect work, and any other things I have to take care of at the beginning of class.

I don’t know about you, but the first five minutes of class is CRAZY-attendance, collecting work, checking homework, and all of the other entrance items at the beginning of the period.  The students NEED a task during the first five minutes to get them situated, and if they don’t have a task, a classroom becomes quickly chaotic. I used to have my students answer writing prompts, but eventually, the prompts became flat and anti-climatic, being it was same routine every day.  I eventually abandoned the writing prompts; it just was not working.  I was back to square one again.

Each day has designated skills and activities for the students to work on for the first five minutes of class-

*Monday First, the teacher introduces and/or reviews a grammatical term; secondly, it asks the students to write a commonly misspelled word 5 times; introduces a vocabulary word, and asks the students to write a sentence with the vocabulary word included, and write a headline to a short passage.

*Tuesday requires the students to define the grammatical term from Monday, and give examples of the term; answer a question about figurative language; read/answer a riddle, and draw a conclusion on a short passage.  There is also a “Fact of the Day”, as well as a small picture to color if students finish early.

*Wednesday asks the students to identify the grammatical device in sentences, and highlight them; a commonly misspelled is introduced again, as well as another vocabulary word; Last, the students have to write a main idea sentence for a short passage.

*Thursday the students are asked to create their own sentences using the grammatical device; identifying or define a figurative or literary device; edit a short passage, and if there is time, students can read the “fact of the day”, the riddle, and/or color if they have extra time.

*Friday the students are asked to draw pictures of the grammatical term in action, practice commonly misspelled words, using a new vocabulary word in context, and complete a fun and engaging journal activity.

Here are some visuals of my bell work, and I would love to offer the readers of this blog post a FREE week of my November Bell Work!

Bell Ringer Freebies & Websites

The post Engaging Bell Work Activities and Websites appeared first on English, Oh My!.

Hi Everyone!

Happy end of the year for many of you, and happy summer for those who have already started their glorious summer.  I have five more days left (YAY), and I am typing this as I watch 25 sixth graders take their math final!

I am wrapping up the end of the year like many of you; however, you might think I am crazy I have ideas and goals already for next year! Most people are thinking about the beach, vacations and sitting by their pools; nevertheless, my brain NEVER stops.  I am alway thinking of new, modified and better ways to do and implement things in my classroom.  So what goals do I already have for the 2017-2018 school year? You wouldn’t believe it…

A  Janette Snelson recommended Grammar to Get Things Done:

B.  Lisa Braden Carlson recommended Kelly Gallagher’s, Write Like This . Lisa has been using this in her classes for 17 years, and she feels that it is the most practical, effective and painless grammar method! 

  

C.  Jennifer Reid Galmoff suggested Evan Moor’s, Daily Language Review.  She implements this as a Daily 10 minute warm up resource at the middle school level.

D.  Linda Fittro Lanchak and Shauna McNabb both recommend Doug Stark’s, Mechanics Instruction that Sticks.

E.  Stephanie Hughes Ruback has been using Phyllis Hostmeyer’s, Tools Students Need to Be Skillful Writers: Building Better Sentence Patterns, and she has been using this book for 12 years and absolutely LOVES IT!

F.  Need some resourceful online grammar resources?  Lauralee Epplin Moss wrote an amazzzing blog series about grammar and implementing it into the classroom.  You have to check it out!

A Practical Approach to Grammar Blog Series

**Another great online resource recommended by Janice Ruschman O’Brien is NoRedInk.

**Lori Hudeck recommended English Grammar 101-I personally checked this one out and absolutely loved it!

MY SECOND GOAL FOR THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR

(I just thought I would share my idea 🙂

2.  Chalkboard Bulletin Board-I have a small bulletin board in my room which probably is about 3ft x 3ft in size, right by my door.  I really never know what to do with it because it is not large enough to have an entire class worth of projects displayed on it, and sometimes it is just wasted space, though last week, a brilliant idea came to mind.

On my front white board, I always write the quote of the week-a motivational, sometimes curriculum related quotation.  Recently, I purchased this fantastic book on learning how to write in chunky calligraphy with markers and pens. You have to check it out! I already started practicing, and you will love it!

I decided when I go back in Septemeber, I am going to buy chalkboard paint and paint the bulletin board in the paint-

          

The next step is to buy some snazzy chalkboard markers-

I am really hoping that my chalkboard/bulletin board will look like this!

Wish me good luck.  I will take lots of pictures of them once I get the ball rolling!

Kim, English, Oh My!

The post Finishing the School Year…and I Already Have Grammar Goals for Next Year (as well as a few other things)! appeared first on English, Oh My!.