Contractions
Rules, rules, rules! On top of the rules your child has for school, for home, or for playing at a friend’s house, she is also learning rules that apply to reading and writing. It’s a lot to remember! One particularly tricky rule has to do with contractions. It’s easy for kids to get them confused with compound words because they both involve combining two words. With compound words, we take two words and smoosh them together to make a new word. However, with contractions, we take two words and smoosh them together and then replace some letters with an apostrophe.
Unlike compound words, the two words that make up a contraction have the same meaning as the contraction.
Your child probably uses contractions all the time when she speaks. The hard part is knowing how to write a contraction and understanding that do not has the same meaning as don’t.
First things first: Get a sense of what your child already knows. Turn the page and tell your child to Jump Right In!
Here’s what you’ll need for this lesson:
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note cards
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paper
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books
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markers and crayons
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glue
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mini elbow macaroni
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pennies
Feel free to read the questions aloud.
Jump Right In!
Choose the correct contraction.
1. is not
A. she’s
B. won’t
C. isn’t
D. is’nt
2. she is
A. she’ll
B. she’s
C. shes
D. he’ll
3. you are
A. you’re
B. yo’ure
C. you’ll
D. your
4. he would
A. she’d
B. he’d
C. they’d
D. he’s
5. they will
A. they’ll
B. they’re
C. they’d
D. he’ll
Read the sentences. Find the words that form the underlined contraction.
6. He wasn’t in class.
A. was
B. was not
C. is not
D. will be
7. They’re my friends.
A. you are
B. they is
C. there are
D. they are
Write the two words that form each contraction.
Excellent Job! 
Checking In
Answers for this page:
Did your child get the correct answers? If so, you could ask, “How did you know where the apostrophe was supposed to go?” You can also ask your child to use the contraction in a sentence to make sure he knows what the contraction means.
Did your child get any of the answers wrong? Take a look at the answers that were chosen. Were they close in spelling? Did she choose the wrong placement of the apostrophe? Make sure your child gives you an explanation so you know what went wrong. For questions 6 and 7, your child might have chosen an answer choice that also makes sense in the sentence. Remind your child to look for an answer choice that not only makes sense, but also represents the contraction.
Watch Out!
Many contractions sound like other words. Often, first graders will read or write will instead of we’ll, your instead of you’re, and were instead of we’re. Make sure to point out the different spellings and the apostrophe to get your child to notice the difference between these words. Sometimes your child might decide not to read a word as a contraction and instead say two words, such as I am for I’m. Although the two words have the same meaning as the contraction, your child should try to become familiar with reading the contraction correctly. Explain that contractions are a shortened version of the two words.
What to Know…
Your child might regularly use contractions during conversation, but reading and writing contractions may seem like a brand-new concept to her.
Review this skill with your child this way:
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A contraction is a word formed by combining two words. Contractions are formed when some of the sounds in the words are replaced by an apostrophe (’).
Often, making a contraction means replacing a vowel in the second word with an apostrophe. Review the following steps with your child to turn is not into a contraction.
is not
Step 1: Take out the vowel in the second word.
is not
Step 2: Replace the vowel with an apostrophe.
is n’t
Step 3: Smoosh all the letters together.
Try the steps together with the following word pairs: are not, was not, do not, I am. Remind her how the apostrophe takes the place of the letter or letters you take out.
Sometimes making a contraction is difficult because it’s hard to know which letters to replace with an apostrophe. Review these tricky contractions in groups. For example, review the you’ll, he’ll, she’ll, and it’ll together because they all follow the same pattern of replacing the letters w and i with an apostrophe.
Your child can practice working with contractions using these activities. You’ll probably want to read these activities aloud to your child.
On Your Way to an “A” Activities
Type: Arts and Crafts
Materials needed: paper, markers or crayons, glue, mini elbow macaroni
Number of players: independent
Create a contraction poster using elbow macaroni. Use markers to write the contractions on your poster, but glue down a piece of elbow macaroni in place of the apostrophe. Hang your contraction poster somewhere special.
Type: Reading/Writing
Materials needed: a book
Number of players: 2
Choose one of your favorite books. Try reading the book to someone in your family, but instead of reading the book as it’s written, try to take out all the contractions and use the two words that make the contraction instead. For example, if a sentence in the book says, “We’re going to have to work all night,” you would read “We are going to have to work all night.” Challenge someone in your family to do the same when you’re finished.
First Graders Are…
Children in first grade love closure. They really need to complete the full activity in order to feel successful. Make sure to give your child specific guidelines on how many pages he should read so he can feel like he’s accomplished something. Children need to know exactly what you expect of them.
Type: Game
Materials needed: 4 sheets of paper, 16 note cards, pencil, pennies
Number of players: 2 to 4
Get ready to play “Contraction Bingo.” First, ask someone to write down contraction word pairs on each of the 16 note cards. For example, one note card has “is not.” Next, ask someone to help you and the other players make bingo cards by drawing a 4 × 4 grid on a piece of paper. Read the words on a note card. Write down the contraction for those words in one of the spaces on your bingo board. You can pick whichever space you want! Continue until you’ve used all of the note cards. Your bingo card should be complete, and now you’re ready to play “Contraction Bingo.” Choose one player to call out the word pairs on the note cards. Each player should then find the matching contraction on his or her bingo card and place a penny on that spot. The first player with four markers across, down, or on a diagonal shouts “Bingo!” and wins.
Study Right
Help your child create flash cards with the contraction on one side and the word pairs that make the contraction on the other side. Your child can study contractions independently using these flash cards.
Has your child breezed through the activities? If so, he or she can work on this Using Your Head activity independently. You’ll probably want to read the activity below aloud to your child.
Using Your Head
Match the mail to the correct mailbox.
Answers: we will—we’ll; I am—I’m; you are—you’re; do not—don’t