Classroom Activities: Contractions

These classroom activities are designed to complement the Contractions topic on BrainPOP Jr.

Yes, You Can (and Can’t)
Have every student write two sentences about what they can or cannot do. They might want to write about what they would or would not do. One student might write that they don’t know how to swim, or they would climb Mount Everest. Encourage students to be creative. They should write one sentence with a contraction and one without a contraction. Then put their sentences into a hat or box and draw randomly. Say the sentence out loud and write it on the board. Have student volunteers write or say the sentence with or without a contraction. Then the class can guess who the sentence is about!

Contraction Match-Up

Write different contractions and their long forms on separate sticky notes or index cards. For example, one card might say could not while another might say couldn’t. Put them in a hat and have students draw one or more randomly. Then have students walk around the room and find their partners for their contractions. Then pairs can write sentences using their contractions in a sentence.