First Grade, Grammar, Set One

• Compound Words: I made a list of words and we took turns picking a word and drawing a picture equation for that word. Examples: steam + ship = steamship, cross + road = crossroad, sea + sick = seasick

• Learning Games for Kids has games for compound words that K. enjoyed.
• I found a list of prefixes and suffixes, with their meanings on Scholastic's website. Learning Games' games for prefixes and suffixes are too advanced for now.
• We practiced dividing words between the prefix/suffix and base word. There are other ways to do this besides just drawing a line. One idea I had was to write the words on scrap paper and let K. cut the words parts apart.
• One day we play some of the "Syllable" games on Learning Games for Kids.
• Do you have a hymnal? Then you have a great resource of words already divided into syllables! Instead of asking your child to divide words in the correct place, have them circle in red the words that are divided between double consonants, circle in blue words that are divided after a long vowel, etc. Oh, make a photocopy for them to write on -- not in the hymnal!
• The day I introduced the idea of Action Words was a Park Day (nice how God worked that out!). So after the park we sat down and made of a list of all the things she did at the park -- ran, jumped, slid, ate, drank, sat, swung, etc.
• Some ideas for practice identifying Action Words
• write four words (3 nouns, 1 an action verb) have your child circle the Action Word
• write a simple sentence and have them circle the Action Word
• print some pictures from clip art that show someone doing something, have your child write (or dictate) a sentence about the picture and circle the Action Word
• We played a syllable game on Learning Games for Kids. I like that if you divide the word wrong it has you fix it and doesn't just go to the next word. You can also get hints if you want them.
• To review suffixes, prefixes, and compound words we looked at the text of Sammy the Seal. The book has no prefixes, but suffixes and compound words abound.