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Contraction Clap

Follow instructions for the Contraction Hopscotch activity. Have your students clap as they say the contraction.

Bean Bag Decides

Have a student throw a bean bag on the mat. Have them jump to the bean bag alternating between two-footed jumps and one-footed hops (as described in the Contraction Hopscotch activity). Have them pick up the bean bag and say the two words that contract to make the contraction (that the bean bag landed) and […]

Matching Contractions

Create or use the word cards on the following pages that match the words and contractions on the floor mat. Mix up the words and put the words in a pile. Have students match the word cards with the base words and the contractions on the mat. Extension: Cover up all of the contractions on […]

Clipboard Contractions

Clip a worksheet that involves contractions to a clipboard. Have students complete the worksheet using the mat to find the answer to unknown contractions.

Contraction Puzzle

Cover the contractions with paper. Have a student jump to the first set of base words on the mat. Then, have them place notecards over the letters in the base words that are ‘removed’ to create their contraction. Have them place an apostrophe card in the correct place to make the two words into a […]

Squeeze Out the Letters

Tell students, “Contract means to squeeze together. So a contraction is two words squeezed together! The letters that get squeezed out are marked with an apostrophe.” As they jump down the mat, have them say which letters were squeezed out in each contraction.

Spelling Contractions

Have a student jump on the first word (left single block) on the mat with both feet. Have them spell out the word while doing jumping jacks for each letter. Then, have them jump to the right and do the same for the second word. Next, they will jump to the first contraction and spell […]

Contraction Sentences

Have a student stand on the START HERE block. Have them jump to the first two words and read them out loud. Use the words in a sentence. Then, have them jump to the contraction and read it out loud. Have them use the contraction in the same sentence as before, replacing the two words. […]

Game of Connect the Dots

Have two students each get a different colored dry erase marker (Please make sure it is a dry erase marker only). The object of the game is to complete more boxes than their opponent. You move by connecting two dots with a line. When you place the last ‘wall’ of a single square, the box […]

Make Shapes

Have students get a dry erase marker. Give each student a different shape to make by connecting dots with a line. Ask students to make the following shapes: square, triangle, and rectangle. For more advanced students, ask them to make these shapes: Rhombus, kite, star, pentagon, trapezoid, parallelogram, diamond, hexagon, octagon, arrow, heptagon…