Grammar Grabbers: Ready-To-Use Games & Activities for Improving Basic Writing Skills [Spiral-bound]

Jack Umstatter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0130325287 | ISBN-13: 978-0130325280

This practical resource gives language arts and English teachers a unique collection of over 200 creative, fun-filled, and ready-to-use activities that make teaching and learning grammar more enjoyable for you and your students. All have been tested with students in grades 4 and up and are effective as individual group, or whole-class activities. You'll find the 203 ready-to-use activities give students the tools they need to use grammar more effectively in their writing and make the writing process more enjoyable.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This practical resource gives language arts and English teachers a unique collection of over 200 creative, fun-filled, and ready-to-use activities that make teaching and learning grammar more enjoyable for you and your students. All have been tested with students in grades 4 and up and are effective as individual group, or whole-class activities.

The activities can be used as introductions, reviews, or homework assignments. They feature a stimulating variety of formats, including crosswords, word finds, concealed quotations, cryptograms, scrambled and hidden words, riddles, magic squares, word generating wheels, jumbles and more, all designed to spark and hold students' interest.

For quick access and easy use, the activities are organized into eight sections focusing on the elements of grammar and printed in a big 8-1/4" x 11" spiral binding that folds flat for photocopying of any page as many times as needed. Here's just an overview of what you'll find in each section:
Parts of Speech— "Working with Words! The 26 "grammar grabbers" in Section 1 focus on the basic vocabulary of grammar and include activities like Pronouns Are In (nouns/names)...Verbs A Plenty (verbs)...Take Two Minutes (nouns/verbs)...and End It Correctly! (prepositions).
Phrases and Clauses— Word Weavers! The 29 activities in Section 2 offer ways to identify the functions of main and subordinate clauses as well as prepositional, appositive and verbal phrases. Sample activities include No Fragmented Thoughts Here! (grammar terms)...To Be or Not To Be (infinitives)...and Starting and Ending (adverbial clauses).
Sentences— Grammar's Galaxy! Section 3 provides 26 activities to help students classify sentences according to structure and purpose while learning to avoid fragments, run-ons and comma splices in activities such as Odd One Out (fragments/run-ons)...Step by Step (components/construction)...and Matching the Diagrams (diagramming sentences).
Usage— A Way With Words! The 27 activities in Section 4 review troublesome usage problems such as double negatives, misplaced modifiers, and incorrect pronouns or verbs. Samples include A Pro with Pronouns (agreement) ... Thinking About the Past (verb tenses) ... and When Too Much Is Too Much (superfluity).
Mechanics— The Tools of the Trade! Section 5 offers 20 activities covering common problems in punctuation with activities like Unlucky Seven (possessives)...The Versatile Comma (commas)...Pity This Poor Printer (punctuation)...and Spelling Mnemonics (spelling).
Grammar's Helpers— Taking Care of Business! 24 activities in Section 6 explore words often confused, suffixes, plurals, idioms and more in activities such as It's the End That Counts (suffixes)...Tooooooooooo General (sentence improvement)...Pulling Out the Stops (idioms/expressions).
Grammar Games— And Away We Go! Students will love the 29 puzzler activities in Section 7, including games like Roll the Dice (parts of speech)...This Is Not a Bum Steer (idioms/expressions)...Where Is Montana? (proper nouns)...and The Name Game (parts of speech).
Final Test— Knowledge Is Power! The 22 "Final tests" in Section 8 test students' knowledge in specific areas of grammar and save hours of teacher preparation. Examples include Final Test on Agreement...Final Test on Sentences, Fragments and Run-ons...and Final Test on Irregular Verbs.

You'll find the 203 ready-to-use activities in Grammar Grabbers! give students the tools they need to use grammar more effectively in their writings and make the writing process more enjoyable. As your students become more proficient and comfortable with grammar, they will become more eager to write!

About the Author

Jack Umstatter, a master English teacher with over 25 years' experience, is a multiple winner of the Teacher of the Year award. He currently teaches English in the Cold Spring Harbor School District in New York and education and literature at Dowling College in Oakdale, New York. He is the author of numerous teacher resources such as Brain Games!, Hooked on English! and Writing skills Curriculum Library, published by The Center.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 328 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (December 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130325287
• ISBN-13: 978-0130325280
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,022,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jr High, February 14, 2008

By 

Cindy Picard (Mesa, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grammar Grabbers!: Ready-to-Use Games & Activities for Improving Basic Writing Skills (J-B Ed: Ready-to-Use Activities) (Paperback)

Great review activities for all age levels. The only drawback is that rules of grammar are not included with activities, so students need their own resource handy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Little more than a book of worksheets..., September 5, 2010

By 

E. Volenec "Certified Reading Specialist" (Schaumburg, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Grammar Grabbers!: Ready-to-Use Games & Activities for Improving Basic Writing Skills (J-B Ed: Ready-to-Use Activities) (Paperback)

As an English teacher, I am very concerned with the best way of teaching kids to write and use grammar properly. Research shows that students need to see how grammar is connected to writing before they will use it properly. Therefore, I do not use worksheets, and this book is really just a book full of worksheets. Over the last few years, I've used this book only in two ways.

1) If I get sick and need a sub, I will have the secretary copy out of this for the sub.

2)If I am explicitly trying to help kids understand the different parts of speech (so I can refer to them in their writing), I will sometimes include sheets from this book in grammar centers. However, I would not buy it for this purpose because I can get free worksheets on the internet.

If you are looking for a solid grammar program that utilizes best practices (teaching grammar through writing), I'd recommend Caught'ya!: Grammar With a Giggle. As a middle school teacher, I use the middle school version, and it takes only fifteen minutes a day. My students love it, and I can talk about it as I review their real writing because it teaches grammar through a story not in separate parts (which is best practice, as I said above, by the way).

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Useful., April 10, 2007

By 

Randee Ensor "literacydiva" (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Grammar Grabbers!: Ready-to-Use Games & Activities for Improving Basic Writing Skills (J-B Ed: Ready-to-Use Activities) (Paperback)

As a teacher of both at-risk students and AP level English, I have found this product very useful in reinforcing basic grammar skills. My students are intrigued by the playful approach of the exercises. Grammar Grabbers is a wonderful alternative to Drill and Kill exercises found in most of the mediocre texts available to school systems. Most teachers do not enjoy teaching grammar because of the negative eye-rolling reactions they get from their students. This text can change the quality of that reaction.