Teaching grammar ain’t fun. Sorry, just a little use of irony to get you to keep reading.
Okay, if you’re like most teachers, you probably know you should be teaching more grammar. But what’s the best method? And how can you teach it in a way that students are not so bored with the instruction that it never takes root?
I’ve written several posts on using mentor sentences, direct instruction, imitation sentences, and regular review to help students grasp and apply grammar concepts. You can check those out here:
1.) What Are Mentor Sentences, and Why Are They So Important For Grammar Instruction?
2.) How To Get (and Keep) Your Students’ Attention For a Grammar Lesson
3.) How Do You Teach Grammar in High School?
Those articles are all definitely worth checking out if you are new to teaching grammar at the secondary level. But for today’s post, I want to zero in on one fun way to introduce or review grammar concepts: grammar stations. You can use these after you’ve taught all of these concepts, or at the beginning of the year to informally assess students’ understanding of these concepts (this works well with honors students or upperclassmen).
These aren’t your elementary school centers, folks. These are targeted, purposeful stations that force students to physically manipulate concepts and apply what they’ve learned. It gets them up, moving, and collaborating. And suddenly, grammar isn’t just a boring lecture—it’s an experience.
The Power of Play (Even with Teens)
We know that students learn best by doing, and the research is clear: active learning and movement are no less valuable for older students. In fact, neuroscience shows us that when students are up and moving, blood flow and oxygen to the brain increase, which directly enhances cognitive function, memory, and concentration. This isn’t a fluffy, fun-for-the-sake-of-fun idea; it’s a scientifically-backed strategy.
Grammar stations are a perfect way to put this theory into practice. They break up a long class period into manageable chunks, giving students variety and keeping their brains engaged. It also helps students make a deeper connection to the material. When they physically sort cards, build a sentence, or even just move from one station to the next, they’re creating a stronger pathway for long-term retention.
One of the best part of doing stations is that it frees you up to walk around the room, answer questions, and informally assess your students’ understanding of the concepts you’ve taught. So, let’s get into the nitty-gritty and talk about five stations you can set up in your classroom this week.
Station 1: The Verb Sorting Challenge
This one is a great way to start because it’s so concrete. In this station, students will receive a stack of cards with mentor sentences on them. As a group, they’ll sort the cards into two piles: sentences with action verbs and sentences with linking verbs. You can also add an additional layer of challenge by including some sentences with both action and linking verbs for a 3rd pile.
This simple task forces students to look closely at a word’s function and makes the abstract concept of a verb’s “job” tangible. Plus, by using mentor sentences instead of individual words that will start grasping the idea that a verb is a verb because of its function in a sentence, (i.e. a word is not always a verb).
I’ve used a bunch of sentences from Sherlock Holmes’ mysteries. Even if students have never heard of Sherlock Holmes, they can still totally get the concept.
This is a free download that you can use today! Grab it here.
Station 2: Sentence Building
I am obsessed with this station. It allows for so much creativity. Here’s how it works:
- Provide students with a set of movable cards with different sentence parts on them: subjects, verbs, prepositions, subordinating conjunctions, independent clauses, etc.
- Then, display a challenge on a laptop (or you could use task cards): It might say something like “Move the sentence parts around to make a sentence that includes one independent clause and one subordinate clause. Be sure to punctuate it correctly.”
- Once they move their sentence parts around, they can record that sentence on their handout.
This forces students to understand the rules of sentence structure on a whole new level. It’s not just a rule they’ve memorized; it’s a tool they can use to create their own powerful sentences.
Station 3: Interacting With Adjectives and Adverbs
For some students thinking of modifiers can be incredibly challenging, but a picture can make ideas come more easily and quickly.
For this station, students will look at several hand-held cards that each have a different, intriguing picture. Students will jot down adjectives and adverbs they can associate with each picture, then, if time allows, write the beginning of a story inspired by one of the pictures.
This station is critical to see if students understand the difference between adjectives and adverbs since their writing will be stronger if they use modifiers correctly.
Station 4: Commanding Clauses
This station can reinforce concepts students used in station #2 (sentence building). Give students a stack of printed sentences, each containing different types of clauses. Some can be simple, some compound, some complex.
Their job is to read each sentence and sort them into categories based on what kind of clauses they contain. This is a fantastic way to help students see that all sentence types are important (and ideally they start using more and more types of sentences in their own writing).
Station 5: Story Creation (Fill-In-The-Blanks)
This one is a fun, lighthearted way to end. Provide students with a prewritten stories that have blank spaces throughout where they must ask a partner for a verb, noun, adjective, adverb, etc. I’ve written several of these for high school students, and they are hilarious.
This is a good way to remind students that playing with language can be fun, although they’ll likely still have to review their notes on what an adverb is.
Takeaways
Grammar stations are a great way to reinforce concepts you’ve already taught while showing students how great authors use these grammar concepts in the mentor sentences students get to work with in these stations.
When students get up and move, they remember more.
When students observe what other writers do, they see that grammar matters and has a real application.
Grab These Stations for only $5!
Feeling a little overwhelmed by the prep work? I’ve been there, and that’s why I’ve done all the hard work for you. I’ve put together a done-for-you grammar stations bundle that includes everything you need: ready-to-print cards, challenge prompts, and a full teacher guide.
You can grab the whole thing here for only $5!
