My mother was a teacher. So, every day was filled with learning experiences for my siblings and me as we grew up. One subject she particularly concentrated on was the English language. Besides teaching us how to accurately spell, enunciate when we speak, and create properly-structured sentences, my mother made sure we learned the basic parts of speech. One technique she used to teach us what nouns, proper nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and the rest are, didn’t feel like learning at all to us. To my siblings and me, it was a game that produced giggles, belly laughs and just plain fun. Read this interesting article and find out how to easily teach your kids the basic parts of speech using silly fill-in stories!
A Bonus to Using Silly Fill-In Stories to Teach Your Kids
Looking back, I can see now how valuable these silly stories were. Sure, they taught us about the parts of speech. But, more importantly, a bonus that came from my mother using them, was, the quality time we spent together. We were being taught, but we had so much fun, we didn’t even realize it.
A Mini Refresher Course
If your English skills are a little rusty, here’s a mini refresher course on what the basic parts of speech are:
1. Nouns are common persons, places or things. Examples of nouns are star, truck and mother.
2. Proper nouns are specific persons, places or things. Examples of proper nouns are Mr. Smith, Irish Setter and Earth. Unlike nouns, proper nouns are always capitalized.
3. Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Examples of adjectives are weary, funny and good.
4. Verbs are action words. Examples of verbs are run, talk and bite.
5. Adverbs tell us how, when, where and to what extent something is done. These parts of speech usually end in -ly, but not always. Examples of adverbs are quickly, often and easily.
How to Easily Teach Your Kids the Basic Parts of Speech Using Silly Fill-In Stories
Mother started out writing a few fill-in stories and asking us for the words. After we caught on to the process, my brothers and I took turns with her being the story writer.
Now, to start your first silly fill-in story, use a piece of paper and a pencil. Write out an outline of a simple story. Your story should be rather short, about 100 to 150 words long. As you write, leave out certain words here and there. Place a line where the words belong. Underneath the line, write in what part of speech the word needs to be.
Here’s an example of the beginning of a silly fill-in story:
One (adjective) day, (proper noun) was walking down a (adjective) street. The sun was (adjective) that day, and it made -the same proper noun- (verb). So, s/he (adverb) went into a (noun) store to buy a/n (adjective) (noun). S/he placed the -same noun- on his/her (noun). It made him/her feel (adjective) and (adjective).
Once your story is done, have the members of your audience take turns supplying words. But, don’t tell your audience what your fill-in story is about. That’s part of the silly fun. All you’ll tell each person is what part of speech you need. You’ll say that you need a noun or an adjective or an adverb, et cetera. Fill in the blanks with the words until your story is complete. Finally, read your story out loud. Teach your kids the basic parts of speech using silly fill-in stories, and it’s guaranteed to result in loads of laughs!
