Prepositions are little words that indicate direction, place and time. In addition, they are in almost every sentence. Knowing what a preposition is and how to use it can help students write with less grammatical errors. Also, it will help them write prepositional phrases: an important writing tool. Here are some essential and fun resources for teaching children prepositions.
Tactile
Essentially, prepositions talk about location. Thus, what better way to teach about prepositions then to use a tactile approach. It can be as simple as having children take their pencils and saying phrases like, the pencil is over my head or the pencil is under the desk.
Songs
Songs are a great way for teaching prepositions. There is The 36 Prepositions Song by Tim Pacific. The song simply sings the thirty-six main prepositions. Make this fun by having kids get up and act out each preposition. You can order Pacific’s CD or download the album for $12.98 on songsforteaching.com. Another great songs is the School House Rock Grammar Rock for prepositions
Books
For elementary students, books are great entertaining resources for teaching about prepositions. Some good ones include Under, Over, by the Clover: What Is a Preposition By Brian P Cleary. This book tells the meaning of a preposition and gives many examples. In addition, the book is in rhyme and uses cartoon like illustrations to show the prepositions. Another good one is Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse by Lindsey Barrett George. This book compares the lives of two mice and is a good tool for teaching prepositions, among other concepts. These books are good for younger elementary students. Find both of these books on amazon.com.
Lesson
Try this lesson entitled “Preposition House” by Colleen Moak. The lesson plan involves students visualizing the prepositions by drawing a house. Then students are given a “simple preposition such as on” and asked to “draw something on their picture of the house.” Later, students will be asked to write sentences that describe the picture. I did a similar lesson with a first grade ESL group and it was fun and successful. See the detailed lesson plan at educationworld.com.
Games
I love using online games to help kids learn about anything. A good game for letting kids practice with prepositions is the anteater game on Oxford University Press. A sentence comes up with a fill in the blank line. Then little ants with leaves march across the screen. You are supposed to move the anteater to “eat” the leaf with the correct preposition on it.
Another fun game is the basketball game on MES games. Kids choose the correct preposition for the sentence. Then they shoot the basketball. If the ball goes in the hoop, they chose the correct preposition. If the answer is wrong, the ball bounces off the rim.
After students understand prepositions, it is time to move onto prepositional phrases.
Sources:
Under, Over, by the Clover: What Is a Preposition By Brian P Cleary
Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse by Lindsey Barrett George.
The 36 Prepositions Song by Tim Pacific.
Oup.com
amazon.com
educationworld.com
songsforteaching.com
youtube.com
marks-english-school.com
