Contractions
Background Information & Activities

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Remind your children that a contraction is a word formed by combining two or more words and leaving out sounds or letters. Review that an apostrophe is a punctuation mark used in contractions to identify where the missing letters or sounds are. This movie covers many different contractions, but there are several that are not addressed directly. After screening the movie and completing the features, we encourage you and your children to explore more contractions together. We also highly recommend watching the movie multiple times, while showing the closed captioning. Annie uses many contractions as she speaks and it will be helpful for children to read along and look for contractions throughout the movie. To access the closed captions, click on the CC icon at the bottom right side of the movie page.

Write a sentence together using do not, as in "I do not like peas." Review with your children that in order to form a contraction, they first join the words do and not. Then they take out the o and replace it with an apostrophe to form don't, as in "I don't like peas." The apostrophe in a contraction always goes where the missing letters or sounds are. Continue the same way to form other contractions that use the word not, such as doesn't, haven't, hadn't, couldn't, isn't, and shouldn't. You may also want to reverse the process by showing them a sentence with a contraction and asking them to break it down. Then write a sentence together using will not, as in "I will not eat peas." Remind your children that the contraction for will not is irregular: "I won't eat peas." Some children may notice that "willn't" does not sound correct. Encourage them to say a contraction out loud before spelling it.

There are many contractions used with pronouns. To form contractions with the words am and are, join the pronoun and the word together and take out the a or a-r.

I + am = I'm

you + are = you're

they + are = they're

we + are = we're

To form contractions with is, join the pronoun and the word together and take out the i.

she + is = she's

he + is = he's

it + is = it's

To form contractions with the words has, have, and had, join the pronoun and the word together, and take out h-a. Brainstorm different sentences and contractions that follow this rule, including the following:

we + have = we've

I + have = I've

he + had = he'd

she + had = she'd

would + have = would've

could + have = could've

she + has = she's

he + has = he's

It may be helpful to point out that the contractions above cannot be used in the present tense. For example, we would not use a contraction in the sentence “She has three dollars.” Therefore, these contractions must always be followed by a verb in the past tense, as in “He’d followed the dog home after school.” Challenge your children to come up with more contractions that use has, have, and had or look through books and magazines together to find different examples.

Some children may notice that she's can be a contraction for she has or she is, or that he'd can be a contraction for he had or he would. While the contractions might look the same, they have different meanings. You may wish to give an example, such as "She's gone to the zoo." What does the contraction mean? Encourage children to "break down" (or expand) the contraction and say it out loud. It does not make sense to say "She is gone to the zoo."

Explain to your children that people use contractions in informal speech quite often. Encourage them to listen carefully and spell the contractions in their head or write them down when they notice them. Discuss the use of contractions in writing. How does it change the tone or feel of a piece of writing? Contractions imbue writing with an informal, casual mood. As a result, contractions should not be used in formal letters or speeches.

There are many contractions to learn, but the easiest way to remember them is to read! Surround your children with books and magazines and encourage them to read actively. This means taking notes, asking questions while reading, and writing down new words, including unfamiliar contractions. Arm them with the skills needed to be lifelong active readers and writers.

Contractions Teacher Activities – Click Here!

Contractions Family Activities – Click Here!

Contractions Teacher Activities

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Yes, You Can (and Can't)

Have every student write two sentences about what they can or cannot do. They might want to write about what they would or would not do. One student might write that they don't know how to swim, or they would climb Mount Everest. Encourage students to be creative. They should write one sentence with a contraction and one without a contraction. Then put their sentences into a hat or box and draw randomly. Say the sentence out loud and write it on the board. Have student volunteers write or say the sentence with or without a contraction. Then the class can guess who the sentence is about!

Contraction Match-Up

Write different contractions and their long forms on separate sticky notes or index cards. For example, one card might say could not while another might say couldn't. Put them in a hat and have students draw one or more randomly. Then have students walk around the room and find their partners for their contractions. Then pairs can write sentences using their contractions in a sentence.

Contractions Family Activities

© 1999-2009 BrainPOP. All rights reserved.

Contraction Jar

Challenge your child and, if possible, the whole family, to not use a single contraction in speech. It's a lot harder than it sounds! Provide an empty jar or bowl for every player. Every time anyone says a contraction, place a counter in his or her jar. You may want to use dried beans, raisins, beads, or paper clips. Count up the contents of the jars at the end of the day. You may wish to employ skip-counting strategies or create a tally chart or bar graph together as a math connection. Who is the winner?

Contraction Hunt

Write a list of different contractions, such as should've, isn't, wouldn't, won't, and he's. You may also want to add the expanded versions of the contractions to the list as well. Then challenge your child to find every word on the list in different books and magazines. Have him or her write down where the word was found (don’t forget title and author) and the actual sentence it appears in. As a fun activity, you and your child can take all the sentences and make your own silly story by piecing them together.