Contractions (and common possessives) are a part of the Common Core standards.  We have been hitting them hard, minus the possessives part.  We will get there next!!

It is interesting to watch my kids with contractions.  We worked and worked and worked. Most get the idea, but forget the apostrophe.  It is like he is a forgettable little thing. Here are a few of the activities we did:

Singing like Crazies:

We watched the Between the Lions song:

Sang our own song that a colleague shared with me.
Sorted It Out
Sorted the contractions on the Promethean board (I can’t share this, I think it would be a no no according to my district) where we sorted the words by ending and noticed how they were created.
We also did an old fashioned cut and paste sort.  I just shared the freebie on my Facebook page!  Make sure to check it out here!
Human Contractions
We played human contractions where students were each given a card with a letter until a word was spelled.  They had to show a space between the two words (it is for example) because it is TWO different words.  Then one child was given the bossy apostrophe card and had to tell which letters it was kicking out to create one word (the contraction). That was a wild, but very well liked activity.   The kids were given white boards to follow along so all were engaged in making the contractions.
Games
We also played my oldie but goodie Contraction Action games in partners.
It has 4 different partner games and is FREE in my TpT store!
**As a side note written by a crabby pregnant lady with no filter (reader beware): Don’t rate down freebies.  It is in poor taste. The seller is offering it out of his or her good will.  If there is an error, please contact the seller.  Most (myself included) are grateful when errors are spotted- our eyes cross after looking at these for so long).  And really…it is FREE.   I don’t tell the nice lady at Publix letting me sample her yummy Simple Apron meals that it wasn’t that great.  Nope, I shove it in my big ol’ mouth and calculate how I can can get another teeny-tiny plate without her noticing.  Rant over.**
Folded Some Foldables
We worked on a foldable project. 
Kids had to brainstorm 4 contractions, write the two words that create the contraction and then use the contraction in a sentence.
Here is the outside: 
Kids were given a checklist to help make sure the project met the expectations.  I made the checklists small and fit four to a page. This really helped out kids.  I will have to make sure to do this more often.
If you would like a copy of the check list, click here.  I kept it in Word format so it can be edited as needed. 🙂
I already have this book and I am going to whip it out to help make the connection between contractions and apostrophes.

I don’t have this book, but think it looks CUTE!  It is on my wishlist….

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