Verbs: What ARE You Doing?

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Verbs tell us what's happening

No matter where or when, verbs are action words. They tell what we are doing, what's happening, or how we are.

Whether you are reading, writing or rhyming,
Jumping, swimming or crawling,
Twittering, Squidooing, or DIGGing,
There is a verb tells what you are doing.

So put your verbs to work, verbs are where the action is...

Verbs at Recess 

What are you doing on the Playground?

Kenneth Merriman Swinging on Tree Limb After Kicking Away Stilts

Kelley, Robert W.
Buy at AllPosters.com



One of my favorite games to play with children to help them learn about verbs is to take them outside and let them play. Then in a playful way I run up to different children and ask them, What are you doing?
featured lens What happened to RECESS?

Do you remember the games you played during recess as a child? Think about all the physical activity that involved and what you learned from those recess games. Did you know that more and more recess is being replaced by testing and homework? While...

What are you doing? A Game of Verbs! 

Verb Game

Swinging

Swinging
Léveillée, Hélène
Buy at AllPosters.com



Alicia may say, I'm swinging!

And I tell her, Swinging is a verb.

I make the rounds of all the children and repeat the game often. Sometimes other children will pick up on the game and pretty soon everyone knows what a verb is.

Singing about Verbs 

The Verb changes with each Verse

Clean and Fresh

Clean and Fresh by Van Dijk
Buy at AllPosters.com



The Mulberry Bush

First Verse:

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.
Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,
So early in the morning.

This is the way we wash our clothes,
Wash our clothes, wash our clothes.
This is the way we wash our clothes,
So early Monday morning.

Ironing is a Verb

Photo Credit: Wash our clothes
on Little Angel Heaven.



This is the way we iron our clothes,
Iron our clothes, iron our clothes.
This is the way we iron our clothes,
So early Tuesday morning.

This is the way we mend our clothes,
Mend our clothes, mend our clothes.
This is the way we mend our clothes,
So early Wednesday morning.

 

Farmer's Wife Sweeping, 1867

Farmer's Wife Sweeping, 1867
Millet
Buy at AllPosters.com



This is the way we sweep the floor,
Sweep the floor, sweep the floor.

This is the way we sweep the floor,
So early Thursday morning.

 

Photo Credit: Scrub the Floor
in the Public Domain



This is the way we scrub the floor,
Scrub the floor, scrub the floor.
This is the way we scrub the floor,
So early Friday morning.

This is the way we bake our bread,
Bake our bread, bake our bread.
This is the way we bake our bread,
So early Saturday morning.

After teaching this song, help children find the verbs. We like to use highlighter tape. Now think up new verses by changing the verbs in the song.

Tell us your favorite Verbs: 

What do you like to do? Anything you do is a verb.

A verb is a word (part of speech) that usually denotes an action (bring, read), an occurrence (decompose, glitter), or a state of being (exist, stand).

-Wikipedia

Please add to the list of favorite verbs:

1

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Write

2 points

2

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Sleep

2 points

3

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Procrastinate

2 points

4

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Read

1 point

5

Vote Up
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Squidoo

1 point

6

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Eat

1 point

7

Vote Up
Vote Down

Bake

1 point

8

Vote Up
Vote Down

Walk

I love to walk with nordic poles.

Poutine more...1 point

9

Vote Up
Vote Down

Sing

1 point

Write an Instant Verb Verse Poem 

Verbs link the rhymes together

Writing is a Verb
Write an Instant Verb Verse Poem
1. First think about something you do.
2. Then brainstorm six verbs that go with that action.
3. Then just fill them in the blanks below to make your instant verb verse.

Action Verbs 

Verbs tell What's Going On

Action VerbsAction Verbs
© Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd              © Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd

1. Color and laminate these pictures and have children make patterns with them on the chalk tray.

2. One child points to the pictures while the rest do the action shown.

3. This activity encourages reading left to right, understanding of verbs, mathematical patterning and physical activity.
Verbs and other Worksheets
Language Worksheets for Speech & Language Therapists & Teachers. Suitable for Early Years and KS1 English. by Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press
Verb Worksheets
Worksheets for teaching basic verbs

Writing Verb Books 

Put some Verbs to Work for You

Writing with Verbs

Photo Credit: Kindergarten Writing with Verbs
on Flickr, Creative Commons.



Children can write their own Verb books.

Ask your child to draw things they like to do and then help him or her to label each page with a verb or a sentence emphasizing the verb. Be sure to cover it with a hard cover and place it in the classroom library for everyone to read.
Ruth Heller Verb Book
Vigorous Verbs, illustrated by 10-year-old

Verb Worksheets 

Working with Verbs

Verbs

Pictures from this site could be turned into cards for teaching about verbs in any language.
English worksheets:
Here you can find worksheets, lesson-plans, flash-cards, exercises and activities for a ESL learners.

Downloadable worksheet about verbs.
Spanish Verbs in the Present Tense and Conjugations
Spanish verbs in the present tense.
Teach Verbs with Christmas Songs:
Create new Christmas songs by identifying verbs and replacing them with new ones.

Students will create silly songs that will be performed to the class.

Read about Verbs 

Evelyn Saenz's book recommendations, reviews, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists

What can you do with the word IT? In the book Add It, Dip It, Fix It: A Book of Verbs you will find a whole alphabet of things to do with IT.

These are some of my favorite picture books for teaching about verbs. They have colorful pictures, few words per page, large illustrations to capture children's attention and large print for easily finding verbs written in the text. Besides all that, they are fun to read.
Add It, Dip It, Fix It: A Book of Verbs

Add It, Dip It, Fix It: A Book of Verbs

by: R. M. Schneider

Amazon Price: (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

To Root to Toot to Parachute: What Is a Verb (Words Are Categorical)

To Root to Toot to Parachute: What Is a Verb (Words Are Categorical)

by: Brian P. Cleary

Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

Kites Sail High (Heller, Ruth, Ruth Heller World of Language.)

Kites Sail High (Heller, Ruth, Ruth Heller World of Language.)

by: Ruth Heller

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

Shake, Rattle and Roll: Doodlezoo: An action-packed verb book

Shake, Rattle and Roll: Doodlezoo: An action-packed verb book

by: Ken & Potter, Keith Fulk

Amazon Price: (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

Dig Dig Digging

Dig Dig Digging

by: Margaret Mayo

Amazon Price: $11.55 (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

Mr. Morton's Verbs 

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Verb Games 

Games for Verb Centers

The Great Verb Game/

Playing games are one of the best ways to keep kids focused on learning. Be sure to teach the kids the rules. I like to play the games with a small group while others are at other centers or looking over our shoulders. When several children know how to play the game fairly well they start teaching the others.
The Great Verb Game (Italian Edition)

The Great Verb Game (Italian Edition)

An enjoyable way to learn conjugations and tenses of regular and irregular verbs. Students pick a card illustrating a verb and throw three dice: 1 with personal pronouns, 1 with tense determinators , 1 indicating declarative, negative and interrogative forms. Based on the throw of the dice, students conjugate the verb and use it in a sentence.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

PHOTOGRAPHIC LEARNING CARDS VERBS

PHOTOGRAPHIC LEARNING CARDS VERBS

Amazon Price: $10.41 (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

Action Verb J-I-N-G-O A Bingo Style Game - Fun for All Ages

Action Verb J-I-N-G-O A Bingo Style Game - Fun for All Ages

Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

Multisensory Games for Learning Verbs 

Musical Motions

Kinesthetic Noun and Verb Game

1. Make a set of cards, half with nouns and half with verbs.
2. Form a circle.
3. Shuffle the cards in the middle.
4. Each child pulls out a card and reads it to himself.
5. If you have a noun, stay seated.
6. If you have a verb, stand and weave around the circle until the music stops.
7. When the music stops. Join hands with the nearest seated person.
8. Take turns reading your sentences.
Musical Motions: A Verb Game
Write the words for verbs like run, jump, howl, stomp, shake, jiggle, sway and bounce in large print on sheets of white copy paper. Place them on chairs or on the floor and turn on the music. When the music stops, instead of sitting, kids are to perform the action written on the card. Another version of this game has children imitating the animal whose name is written on the card. For very early readers, they could simply read the word aloud.

Name the 23 helping verbs 

Can you name the 23 helping verbs? - sporcle
* Enter a verb in the box below
* Correctly named verbs will show up in the table below
* Answers do not have to be guessed in order
* This game was contributed by Sporcle user: Ben
* Helping verbs are verbs that help the main verb in a sentence by extending the meaning of the verb.

You have 4 minutes to guess after you click the button below.

Song of the Helping Verbs  

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Bill The Brickie Teaches Verbs ending in -ing 

Bill was a Brickie who made word walls and taught children words such as these verbs with -ing endings.
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Book of Verbs 

Free Downloadable Book of Verbs

Teacher Book Bag's Excited About Verbs - Teacher Book Bag | CurrClick
Teacher Book Bag's Excited About Verbs - Enclosed in this free eBook are 12 photos of children doing things that will interest your child. Below the photos are u

Verbs, Nouns, and Adjectives 

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Where can you find picture to Illustrate Verbs? 

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Webmasters Make $$$

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Meet the Author of this Lens 

Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog.

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Find out about all the other things I'm doing and the verbs I use to tell what's going on:
featured lens Evelyn Saenz: Lensography of a Teacher

My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning should be integrated and no skills should be taught in isolation. I believe that each topic s...

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My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that lea... (more)

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