Grade 2 Word Study - Contractions

Most of the Montessori Research & Development Word Study material I'm saving for 3rd Grade, but we did do Classification (S), Compound Word Chains (A), and Apostrophes for Contractions (O) this year in 2nd Grade.

Then, while working on the planning for our End of Year Party, I realized that "s'mores" is a contraction! The two separate words are "some" and "more," and -- as follows the rule for the apostrophe in a contraction -- the apostrophe marks where the letters were cut out. In this case, "ome."

The best method for teaching contractions, in my opinion, is to go through a three step process.

Step 1 - Play Dough
To first show what contract means using playdough, roll the playdough out so that it starts to become a snake (but not too long), and then -- whomp! -- smash it in at the ends so that it gets short and fat.

Step 2 - Sentence Strips
Next, write a phrase on a slip of paper. Sentence strips are great if you want to write big enough for the whole class to see. Hand the child a pair of scissors. Have them literally cut out the letters that you'll be removing when you shorten the phrase into a contracted word. Show them that the apostrophe will go where the scissors cut. (It helps to already have some little bits of sentence strip with apostrophes written on them, ready to go.)

In the example below, you could cut out the "v" to turn "over" into "o'er."

Step 3 - Word Study
Now that you have presented the concept, the final step is lots and lots of independent practice. This is where boxes O1 through O10 come in. As with any Montessori material, there's an answer key provided so that children can check their own work. If they got it all correct they can move on to the next box. If they got something wrong, they can ask someone for help.

In this material, there are two sets of slips of paper. They both get laid down on a mat in their appropriate colomns. The full phrase goes on one side; the corresponding contraction goes on the other.

I LOVE the Montessori R&D Word Study and am glad I have ALL of it (A through X), but it is a big expense if you are just homeschooling one child. You could easily make this material yourself; you just need 140 slips of paper and 10 little boxes to store the sets in. I also really like these cotton mats. To inspire you, here are eight sets that Montessori R&D put together:

O1
I am - I'm
you are - you're
he is - he's
she is - she's
it is - it's
we are - we're
they are - they're


O2
I have - I've
you have - you've
it is - it's
she is - she's
we have - we've
they have - they've
he is - he's


O3
I shall - I'll
you will - you'll
he will - he'll
she will - she'll
we shall - we'll
they will - they'll


O4
I had - I'd
you had - you'd
he had - he'd
she had - she'd
we had - we'd
they had - they'd


O5
are not - aren't
is not - isn't
was not - wasn't
were not - weren't
will not - won't


O6
have not - haven't
has not - hasn't
do not - don't
had not - hadn't
does not - doesn't
did not - didn't


O7
cannot - can't
could not - couldn't
should not - shouldn't
would not - wouldn't
shall not - shan't
of the clock - o'clock


O8
might not - mightn't
must not - mustn't
that is - that's
there is - there's
who is - who's
let us - let's

Step 4 - Assessment
You always know children really understand something when they come to you to show you grammar mistakes they found in published work! There's a very aggravating typographical error (related to contractions) in this book:

Don't Push the Button!
by Bill Cotter

Can your child find it? (It's "must not" incorrectly contracted as "musn't".)

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