How can we make learning about pronouns fun? After all, they’re not the most exciting topic to learn if you’re a first grader. Yet, using pronouns correctly is a basic skill for any young student in a beginning reading and writing program.
So it’s up to us as teachers to use some of that first grade energy and find ways to engage our littles in learning about this important basic literacy component.
Fun Ways To Teach Pronouns
This is probably the first time that your first graders have been introduced to pronouns as a specific part of speech. Here are some ways that you can introduce and teach this topic while keeping it fun and engaging for your students.
Pronoun Scavenger Hunt
This activity will get your students up and out of their seats.
You’ll need nouns and pictures of objects that can replace those nouns. Hide them in different locations around your classroom. Students will need to look for pictures that represent whatever pronoun you say.
For example, if you say “he” the kids can only look for nouns and pronouns that can replace that word. So students would gather pictures of males and nouns that could be used in place of that pronoun. You might consider pictures such as fathers, male cartoon characters, etc. Each different pronoun that you say is considered to be a “round.”
As the students find the different pictures you could have them place them on the board under the corresponding pronoun.
You can extend this activity by putting the students in groups and then giving each group a different pronoun. This way each group will be looking for different pictures.
Leaping for Pronouns
In this fun game, you can take advantage of first-graders’ love of jumping and hopping.
For this game, you’ll need an area on the floor where you can stick cards with different pronouns. You can use mats, a rug or just a section of the floor. Each group of students should have their own separate area or mat.
Write a sentence on the board and underline a noun in the sentence. One player in the group has five seconds to physically jump onto the correct pronoun to replace the underlined noun. Use as many pronouns as you can think of at the correct level for your students. Each player should take turns being the “jumping bean.”
You can have the teams race to see who can accumulate 10 points first!
Pronoun Concentration
Most of us have played the card game “Concentration.” This activity uses the same game concept but you will trade it out with picture cards and pronoun word cards.
You’ll need to prepare picture cards and pronoun cards. Keep the pronouns basic for this activity … he, she, it and they. For each pronoun card, you’ll also need a picture card that can represent it. For example, for the “it” card you could have a picture of a dog or an apple.
It wouldn’t be too much fun with just four pronouns and four pictures. So repeat the pronoun cards to match many picture cards. Ten picture cards would need ten pronoun cards.
Now divide your class into two groups. Place all of the cards face-down on the table, or show them on the screen in this way. Each player should turn over two cards. If the pronoun matches the picture, leave them face up. If not, turn them back down again in the same position.
The students must try to remember where specific cards are so that they can match as many as possible when it’s their turn. The team who gets all of their cards turned over first wins the game.
The beauty of this game is that it not only teaches pronouns in a fun way, but it’s also great for helping short-term memory retention!
Pronoun Resources
Click on the image below to grab a fun freebie!
This pronoun poster set is a great addition to the free poster above. Not only do these posters provide all of the pronouns but you also get a great work bank for students to reference on each poster. These pronoun posters are great for whole class lessons, small group teaching or even to hang in the writing center on near the word wall.
Your students will love practicing pronouns with this hands-on pronoun games and center activities.
And sometimes we just have to practice. These NO PREP pronoun worksheets are a great way to give your students written practice using and identifying pronouns. Great for an informal assessment too. Use these as a center activity, for morning work or even homework.
I hope you and your students enjoy these fun games and activities for learning pronouns. Do you have any other fun ways to teach pronouns? Share in the comments below!
