How to Teach Elementary Kids Compound Words

Reading Lesson Plan Featuring If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

Oct 17, 2009

Elementary teachers can use the book If You Take a Mouse to the Movies to introduce compound words to their students and play a word match game during reading class.

In the children’s book If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff [HarperCollins, 2000] the mouse and the little boy string popcorn and make snowballs. Elementary teachers can use the popular story to introduce their students to these compound words and others during language arts time.

Compound Words Reading Lesson Objective

Teachers read If You Take a Mouse to the Movies to the class. The students discuss the story and talk about the things that the little boy and the mouse did after they went to the movies.

The teacher asks the class who likes to eat popcorn. She asks the students if they have ever seen popcorn before it is made. They talk about what a popcorn kernel looks like. The teacher asks the students who knows how the popcorn kernel becomes popcorn. The kids talk about how the corn kernels pop into popcorn.

The teacher writes the word popcorn on the whiteboard. She tells the class that popcorn is a compound word. She explains that a compound word is a big word made up of two smaller words.

The teacher underlines pop and corn in popcorn. She tells the students that popcorn is made up of the two smaller words pop and corn. The teacher explains that the word popcorn was created because the kernels of corn pop into popcorn when heated.

Teach Elementary Students to Identify Compound Words

The teacher tells the class that there are more compound words in the story If You Take a Mouse to the Movies. She rereads the story to the students and tells them to yell stop if they see or hear a compound word. If the students yell stop before getting to the words snowman and snowball she revisits the definition of a compound word and keeps reading.

The elementary students yell stop when the teacher gets to the word snowman. The teacher writes the word snowman on the whiteboard. She asks the students to identify the two smaller words in snowman. She has student volunteers come up to the board and underline snow and man.

The teacher continues reading the story until the kids yell stop for the word snowball. The teacher writes the word snowball on the front board and asks the class what two words make up the compound word snowball. Volunteers come to the front of the room and underline snow and ball.

Make a Compound Word Match Game for Kids

The teacher tells the class that they will each be making their own compound word match game to help them practice identifying and creating compound words. She passes a manila file folder to each student in the class. On the inside right hand side of the folder the teacher has glued or taped a black and white popcorn bucket graphic. On the left hand side of the folder the teacher has stapled a Ziploc® bag.

The teacher has the students color the popcorn bucket in the folder and then passes out worksheets with 24 popcorn outlines on them. The students also receive a compound word list. The teacher has the kids work with a partner to underline the two smaller words in each compound word on the list.

The students write each smaller word on the popcorn outlines and cut out all of the pieces of popcorn. The teacher gives each of the students 24 pieces of the soft half of Velcro® dots to place on the back of the popcorn cutouts. The teacher then sticks 2 of the rough Velcro® pieces onto their popcorn buckets.

The students practice creating compound words by sticking the smaller words onto the bucket to form a compound word. They check their words using their elementary compound word list. After they are finished they can store their popcorn pieces in the plastic bag. On the front of the folder they can write the definition of a compound word.

Elementary Compound Word List:

Elementary teachers can introduce the concept of words to students using the compound words in the book If You Take a Mouse to the Movies and playing a compound word match game with the kids. For more If You Take a Mouse to the Movies lesson plan ideas teachers can read the Language Experience Approach Lesson Plan and Elementary Snowman Glyph Math Lesson Plan.

The copyright of the article How to Teach Elementary Kids Compound Words in Primary School Lesson Plans is owned by Megan Sheakoski. Permission to republish How to Teach Elementary Kids Compound Words in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.