The use of sports in the classroom is a great way to engage young people in learning! One of my favorite days of the year is baseball’s Opening Day. I use the opportunity to get students out of their seats and interacting with both grammar and baseball. The Baseball Grammar Game will get students moving, writing, and identifying parts of speech.
Objective: Teams of students will participate in a classroom baseball game that requires they complete a writing prompt and correctly identify parts of speech.
Materials: Plastic bat (optional), Baseball Grammar Game downloads
How to use in the classroom: Prior to playing the game, students will write short essays based on a writing prompt provided by you, the teacher. Some examples of a writing prompt are: Describe your favorite outdoor activity or What is the best part of going to a baseball game? The essay should be short, perhaps 5-10 sentences. Have students write each sentence of their essay on the Baseball Writing Activity Sheet provided in the Baseball Grammar Game download. These papers will be wadded up and become your "baseballs."
The teacher will divide the class into two teams and assign each person a position. Each team needs the following position players: pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder. All position players will play the field and have a turn at bat. If you have extra students, use a rotation system after each batter or each strike-out. Students can also be “bat boys or girls”, scorekeepers, or baseball handlers.
The defensive team will take the field and the offensive team will line-up to bat.
The baseball handler tosses the first baseball to the pitcher who pitches it to the batter.
The teacher will ask the student a question about the sentence. To get a “hit” and advance to first base, the batter answers the question correctly. (It is not important that the batter catches the ball, only that their answer is stated correctly). If the batter gets the question incorrect, it is an out.
The rotation continues until there are three outs for the team.
After three outs, the teams switch sides.
Have the scorekeeper keep track of runs and outs.
Engage your students in a fun and interactive writing and grammar baseball game that will help them practice their skills and build team spirit!