To help students learn the functions of words within a sentence, we
Language Arts teachers were often encouraged to teach them how to
diagram. YUCK! I never liked this activity, for I felt it defeated the
purpose of illustrating relationships within a context. Rather, it
encouraged separation and partition. To give my students practice in
identifying parts of speech and noticing the positioning of words in a
sentence, I developed the activity Colorful Parts of Speech.
Directions:
A. Have the students copy several sentences on their paper. I prefer
them to use pencil. You may want to dictate the sentences to them.
B. Assign a particular color to each of the eight parts of speech. I use
the following:
* Nouns= blue
* Verbs= red
* Adverbs= green
* Adjectives= yellow
* Pronouns= purple
* Prepositions= orange
* Interjections= brown
* Conjunctions= black
C. Have the students underline each of the words in the sentence
according to its function. NOTE: You may want to start with only nouns
and verbs, then progressively add more parts of speech as your students
become more proficient.
Your students' papers will certainly be colorful, and the finished
products make a nice display. My fifth and sixth-graders enjoy this
activity because, even though it is a skills practice, they think of it
as an art project. And everyone knows: ART IS FUN!
