Why should we teach prepositions? Prepositions are part of our everyday conversation. They are a big part of what we use when we give directions. Think about some of the early directions that we give our own children. ” Put on your shoes”, “Get in the tub”. Each of these simple one step directions has a preposition in it.
Think about school and the directions that we give our students, “Put your name on the top of the paper”, ” Get to the front of the line”.
Many of the speech and language evaluations, educational evaluations and developmental testing have questions that require that the child has an understanding of the prepositions. They are part of what is also called ‘basic concepts’.
How do we teach them?
- Search the room with prepositions: You can do this as a game. Take a stuffed animal or other item and hide it in the room. Give the student clues using prepositions ( It is in front of the room. It is under something.) Then the child can do the same to you.
- Draw a picture: Give directions to the child on what to draw giving prepositions as part of the directions. ( Draw a circle in the middle of the page. Put a triangle under the circle.)
- What is wrong: Have the children leave the room or set up prior to them being in the room or put their head on the desk and close their eyes. Move things around the room putting things in noticeably incorrect positions. Have the children tell you in a sentence what is in the wrong place. ( The books are under the desk. The coats are in the recycle bin. )
I however, wanted to give my students some instruction and practice that they could do independently. Learning in context assists the students in both understanding the concept and also in their memory of the concept. The below Boom Decks tell a story, have the students search for an item and then asks the student in a multiple choice question “Where is the animal?”. It is then reinforced. As these are beginning prepositions everything is narrated for the student.
Here are some great BOOM DECKS that work on some beginning prepositions:
CLICK THE UNDERLINE WORDS TO BRING YOU TO THE TPT PRODUCT.
- A Walk in the Woods : Kelly is walking in the magical woods and uses a flashlight to discover the hidden animals. The students drag the flashlight across the page to find the animals and then help Kelly discover them by answering a multiple choice question ( visuals and audios are supports) and then the preposition is reinforced.
- A Day on the Farm: Maggie is wanting to have you spend the day on the farm. The animals are playing hide and seek. Use Maggie’s magical watering can to reveal the animals. Then the student’s answer the multiple choice questions to give the prepositions. The preposition is reinforced.
- A Pirate Adventure: Captain Seadog has lost his treasure help him find the gold coins. The student drags the flashlight across the page to find the gold coins and then they tell Captain Seadog where to find the coins by answering a multiple choice question and then the preposition is reinforced.
