Classroom Ideas
Give your child a solid foundation in the way contractions are built-no pun intended! This hands-on manipulation of how words work together will take your learner through discovery and aha! moments as they work out Lego “matches.”
A contraction is a shortened word that represents two words. To “contract” means to “make smaller.” Using Legos to represent the parts of the contraction will help your child see and feel how two small words are combined to make one. Explain to your students that the omitted letters turn into an apostrophe. The apostrophe represents the missing letters.
You could incorporate this lesson as a center station in the classroom or turn it into a friendly game of “Go Fish” as you work to make sets at home. Once your child gets accustomed to the game you could race the clock to see who can make sets the fastest! This DIY is great for your child in 3rd grade or ages 8 to 9.
Materials you’ll need:
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Steps
1. Sort and prepare the LEGO blocks
Sort Legos into matches to prepare them for their words. Connect one large piece with two smaller pieces that fit underneath the long piece perfectly.
2. Sort LEGO blocks by size
Once you have your matches made (3 Legos in all) sort them by size. You will want your contractions to fit comfortably on the Legos, so set aside the longer Legos for longer words. You can also pre-determine how to line up the two words that are being contracted at this time, based on the length of the words.
3. Write words
Use a fine-tip permanent marker to write each word on the side of the matched Legos.
4. Separate into bins
Separate the contractions from the whole words. Place contractions in one bin and remaining words in another bin.
This activity will make reading and writing contractions fun for your students. It’s a very simple DIY that will help your child think more deeply about the “building blocks” that make contractions.
Read: Teacher Uses LEGO Bricks to Explain Math Concepts in Class
