Understanding the parts of speech is vital for students as they move toward more complex writing skills.  Thankfully, teaching them about the different parts of speech can be a lot of fun.  Through interactive and engaging lessons, your students will quickly pick up on the parts of speech.  Try the ideas below to get started!

How to Teach Parts of Speech

Teach Through Poetry

Use poetry as a way to engage students and give them a trick for remembering the parts of speech.

The Nine Parts of Speech Poem

Three little words you often see,

Are articles – a, an, and the.

 

A noun’s the name of anything;

As:  School, garden, toy, or swing.

 

An adjective tells the kind of noun –

As:  Great, small, pretty, white, or brown.

 

Instead of nouns the pronouns stand –

Her head, his face, your arm, my hand.

 

Verbs tell of something to be done,

To read, write, count, sing, jump, or run.

 

How things are done the adverbs tell,

As: slowly, quickly, badly, or well.

 

Conjunctions join words together,

As men and women, wind or weather.

 

The prepositions stand before

A noun, as at or through the door.

 

The interjections show surprise,

As Wow! How pretty! Oh! How wise!

 

The whole are called nine parts of speech,

Which reading, writing, speaking teach.

Teach With Games

Set up a “Jeopardy” style board.  Four parts of speech can be represented in each round and with a bonus question for the final question.  Some possible answers that students must answer with the correct question include:

• “This adverb describes how the tortoise moved in the story The Tortoise and the Hare”
• “This interjection might be said when you see a spider”
• “This adjective describes the color of our classroom walls.”

Separate students into teams and let them choose team names that make up one or two parts of speech, i.e. – Busy Bees or Inquisitive Owls.

Teach Through Small Group Skits

Challenge students to come up with small group skits that focus primarily on one part of speech.  A skit that is based mostly on interjections could have the actors speaking in excited tones and using interjections to get their points across.  After the groups perform their skits, the other students in class must figure out what part of speech was being emphasized in the play.

Teach By Making Marvelous Menus

Have students create menus that describe the food and the service using most, if not all, of the parts of speech. Fold a blank sheet of copy paper into three sections to create the menu.  Not only is it a great way to teach students about the parts of speech, but it is also a great tie in to author’s purpose and advertising techniques.

What are some of your favorite ways to teach parts of speech? Share them with us below!