Let me begin with some truth talk. In my first year teaching, I did not incorporate grammar into my school day. Don’t worry I know the students are fine, they have already graduated and survived.
I didn’t integrate grammar into my day BECAUSE I DIDN’T HAVE TIME. Teachers have so much on their plates; you know that! And effective grammar instruction can at times get thrown to the waste-side. I’m going to share how I incorporate grammar and language into my day with only minutes a day.
Monday: Introduce Grammar Standard
I select ONE specific grammar standard to introduce to the students at a time. Just one. I know it may seem like some of them really can go together and favor one another, but students can become overwhelmed when taking in too many new things at once. Imagine all the new material they learn in just one day. Thankfully the common core grammar standards only consist of twentyish standards so that you will get through all of them in a year.
Tuesday: Spiral Review Grammar Morning Work
The easiest way to incorporate language into your day is morning work or a bell ringer. A daily language review is something that students can do while you are taking attendance or checking in homework. It was important to me that my students had a TRUE SPIRAL review, and I couldn’t find one, so I made one.
A TRUE SPIRAL review is a daily language review that introduces only one new standard at a time, and it continues to build throughout the year. For example, in week one, students are introduced to synonyms and antonyms. They will only work on that one standard. Students are still learning synonyms and antonyms in week two, but they are also introduced to vague pronouns.
The process continues to build for the students, and they are eventually introduced to all of the grammar and language standards. I believe this is an extremely effective way to incorporate grammar into the middle school classroom because it is short snippets that constantly review. You can check out the 6th Grade Daily Language Review I made here.
Wednesday: Grammar Activities
Wednesday is my favorite grammar day! Whatever new language standard we addressed on Monday, we play a review game on Wednesday. My students have really started to get into the swing of things and they love Wednesdays now. Wednesdays allow me to incorporate grammar in a fun, not so rigid way.
Thursday: Spiral Review Grammar Morning Work
To add extra clarification, my students are doing this 6th Grade Daily Language Review daily (just in case the name didn’t imply the daily part). We don’t just utilize it on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but every day Monday-Thursday. It is only five grammar-related questions a day, and it literally takes five minutes.
Friday: Grammar Assessments
Finally, on Friday, my middle schoolers take a quick grammar quiz. The quiz is HEAVILY based on the grammar Daily Language Review. The quizzes take about 10 minutes, and the students actually get better at them as the year goes on because they follow the same format week after week.
That’s it, that’s how to incorporate grammar into each and every day of the school year! There are so many unique ways to teach grammar, find something that fits you, and the flow of your classroom.
Grammar Freebie
If you are a sixth grade grammar teacher I have a freebie for you! Sorry 5, 7, and 8, I promise I’m working on yours too! I created a “cheat sheet” for the 6th grade grammar standards. You can find that freebie here! Want some more information? I wrote an entire blog post explaining that freebie. Click here to find that blog post.
I hope you found this explanation of how to incoporate grammar into your classroom helpful!
Remember, I’m rooting for you friend!
-Alisha, Mrs.A.Riley
[…] I teach grammar in isolation daily. I introduce a topic, we play games, do a daily language review. You can read all about how I fit grammar into my day here. […]