You may not think that high school students need as much parts of speech practice as middle school or elementary students, and while you’d be right, I truly believe that they do need some. Each year I was always surprised to find that my freshmen students did not remember any parts of speech. I know that they learned the terms in middle school, but without fail, each year I’d find that my students needed constant refreshers. I developed a few activities to use throughout the year so that students could practice the eight parts of speech consistently. I’d use these activities for fast finishers or as fun classroom culture builders. Below are a few of my favorite ways to practice parts of speech with high school students.
#1: Review with Direct Instruction
The first thing I would always do with my students is provide 10 minutes of direct instruction on the 8 main parts of speech. I’d give my students a handy review sheet and let them fill in the notes as we’d go. That way, students have a reference to look at any time they might need it. This is especially helpful when students are studying more complex grammar concepts and need to quickly remember what a term means.
You can grab a pre-made review sheet as well as a Google Slides presentation and CLOZE worksheet using my full teaching resource here. Just download and teach!
#2: Practice Exercises
There really is no substitution for direct practice. Give students some simple review statements where they have to identify the correct part of speech, pair them up, and let them review. This doesn’t need to take more than 15-20 minutes, but it’s valuable time spent allowing students to refresh the terms.
#3: Color by Code
One of my favorite things for fast finishers to do is to complete color by code exercises. (Again, I was always surprised by how much my upperclassmen loved to color, but then I remember that I also love to color as an adult and it makes total sense.)
You can find both practice exercises and a pre-made color by code worksheet for parts of speech practice with my Parts of Speech Review Activities resource.
#4: Review Games
Review games are a great way to get in some parts of speech practice in a fun way. My favorite tool is Blooket, but you can also use Quizlet or Kahoot to do some fun review.
#5: Mad Libs
Even as an adult, I truly love the game Mad Libs. There is something about the silly, simple fun that makes them such a good time. I liked to use Mad Libs seasonally in my own classroom. Often these would make for a great day before break activity. They can also be used for fast finishers, stations, substitute plans, or you can even have students create their own. I loved having these in my back pocket for any time I had a few extra minutes to kill or if we finished something early and I needed a quick activity.
You can get my seasonal bundle here and have your own year-long set so you’ll always have something on hand when you might need them.
#6: Assess
It’s important to assess your students to make sure they know the parts of speech. It’s not a bad idea to even start with a quiz to see what they know. That way you’ll know if you even need to re-teach.
I have a pre-made quiz resource that’s both print and digital. You just download and assess! There is even a self-checking Google Forms version, so the grading can be done for you.
#7: Task Cards
Task Cards are another way that I like to practice parts of speech in my own classroom. Come up with some easy parts of speech review questions and print them out for your more tactile learners. Have students rotate through them and notate their answers on an answer sheet. This is an easy way to add more kinesthetic elements to basic review.
You can check out my own set of task cards that I’ve used with my students right here.
#8: Decorate with Parts of Speech
Grab a set of free parts of speech posters right here from my shop. They were specifically created for a high school classroom. Just print, laminate, and post!
Get the Bundle!
Get everything you need to teach, practice, and assess parts of speech in an engaging way with my Parts of Speech Mega Bundle.
What are your favorite activities for teaching parts of speech? Sound off in the comments below or follow me on Facebook or Instagram to join the discussion!
Happy teaching!
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