Plural or Possessive? A Fun, Interactive Teaching Lesson.

Hello teaching friends,

If you’re anything like me you are getting a bit tired! It’s already the middle of April and my students are getting a little restless. Not in the bad sense, they just need to move a bit more and they are so eager to learn new things.

Luckily, I had the pleasure of trying out a brand new resource from Laura Candler. This resource not only helped me to teach my students whether something was plural or possessive but it did it in such a fun way, the kids LOVED it!

The instructions were very detailed and thorough with many adaptions and alternate ways to teach it. This first thing I did was laminate the teaching charts and task cards.

The next step was using my colored charts under the document camera to explain the difference to the students using some of the examples that Laura provides. We then practiced by matching sentences with pictures.

Once I was sure students were starting to understand, I used the example sentences and students practiced at their desks on the whiteboards by choosing the correct word (plural or possessive) to go on the line.. It was great to provide the correct answer and have students self check. Even the students that got incorrect answers were happy to try again. By the end, everyone was feeling successful.

Afterwards, I gave them an example of using a possessive in a sentence with someone as the owner of something. (All of these lessons and ideas are included in the pack.) I held up a pencil and asked students to write a sentence: That is Ms. Rolston’s pencil. We then practiced writing sentences showing possessives by getting into partners and finding objects to write about. Students were engaged and enjoyed writing sentences about their friends. (This is Kylie’s book. This is Ethan’s eraser. ) I asked a few students to show their sentences under the document camera for the class to see.

Now it was time for CLASS SHOWDOWN! What a fun game! I used the little task cards provided. I read the sentence aloud and students were asked to write whether it was possessive or plural. After they wrote either PL or PS on their whiteboards, they turned them over. I had fun saying SHOWDOWN! Students turned their boards over and raised them over their heads as I called out the correct answer.

I wanted students to practice plural and possessive the next day to see if they retained the lesson from the day before. As Laura suggested, I did a group SHOWDOWN. Not only was this different and fun, it relinquished some of the guidance over to the students. Each student got a turn to be the leader and they conducted a mini showdown at their tables. Answers were written on the back of the card for verification.

I really enjoyed teaching this easy peasy lesson. Kids were engaged and learning was active – just what I needed this week. Thanks Laura Candler for putting together such a fantastic and thorough lesson. If you’d like to pick this lesson up for your class, you can visit Laura’s shop and check it out by clicking here.

Thanks for stopping by this evening!