Score Big with Verb Volleyball: An Interactive Game for Learning Main and Helping Verbs
Understanding the difference between main verbs and helping verbs is a fundamental skill in English language arts. In this activity, students will engage in a fun and interactive game that will help them identify and differentiate between these two types of verbs. Through this activity, students will strengthen their grammar skills and become more confident in their writing and speaking abilities.
Introduction:
Teaching main and helping verbs can be tricky. But with an interactive game, students can have fun while learning.
Title:
"Verb Volleyball"
Objectives:
- Idntify main and helping verbs
- Understand the role of helping verbs in forming verb phrases
- Differentiate between main and helping verbs
Materials:
- Whiteboard or chalkboard
- Markers or chalk
- Bean bags or soft balls
- List of sentences with main and helping verbs
Procedure:
- Divide the class into two teams.
- Draw a "volleyball court" on the board and mark a "net" in the middle.
- Each team stands on one side of the court.
- The teacher reads a sentence with a main and helping verb.
- The team that identifies the main verb and the helping verb first gets to throw a bean bag over the net.
- If the opposing team catches the bean bag, they get a point. If it falls on the ground, the other team gets a point.
- Switch teams and repeat with a new sentence.
Assessment:
Observe students during the game to check their understanding of main and helping verbs. To assess their individual understanding, give them a worksheet with sentences containing main and helping verbs to identify.
Extension:
Students can create their own sentences with main and helping verbs and play the game with their classmates.
Variations:
Instead of throwing bean bags, students can toss a ball or use a virtual game platform. The teacher can also increase the difficulty by using sentences with multiple helping verbs or irregular verbs.
Reflection:
At the end of the game, students can reflect on what they learned about main and helping verbs and how the game helped them understand the concept better.