Process
1. First things first! First you'll need to: Investigate the different parts of speech.
Parts of speech review:
NOUN: A person, place, or thing
Persons: student, visitor, parents
Places: classroom, state, parks
Things: clothing, chairs, pencils, books
Students often use yellow pencils in the big classroom. They write quickly with them.
PRONOUN: A word that takes the place of one or more nouns.
Singular pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, me, him, her
Plural pronouns: we, you, they, us, them
Students often use yellow pencils in the big classroom. They write quickly with them.
VERB: A word that expresses action. It shows what the subject does or did
Write, jump, slides, type, found, reads, drew, sing, danced, use, kicks
Students often use yellow pencils in the big classroom. They write quickly with them.
ADJECTIVE: A word that describes a noun. It can tell what kind or how many. It usually comes right before the noun it describes.
Chilly, many, yellow, big, small, bright, dark, colorful, slimy, slippery
Students often use yellow pencils in the big classroom. They write quickly with them.
ADVERB: A word that tells more about a verb. It can tell how, when, or where an action takes place. Many adverbs end with ly.
Sadly, suddenly, carefully, yesterday, recently, quickly, finally, happily, often, loudly, slowly
Students often use yellow pencils in the big classroom. They write quickly with them.
Now that you have reviewed the parts of speech, it's time to play the Rat Game!
When you're finished playing, click on the back arrow to come back to this page.
2. What in the world is a MadLib?
A MadLib is a funny short story with some key words missing from it. In place of these words is a blank with a part of speech underneath. Without looking at what the story is about, you must decide on another word with the same part of speech to fill in the blank. Once you fill in all the blanks, read the new, funnier, story!
MadLibs in books usually look like this:
Before you create your own MadLib to do with a partner, you will complete one online. While the MadLib that you later create will look like the one above, the one online looks different at first: you won't be able to see the rest of the story until after you finish typing in all the words. After you finish, you may print your completed MadLib to share with your friends. Then click the back arrow button 3 times to come back here.
Go here to the Wacky Web Tales site to choose a MadLib to complete online:
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/
3. Let your creative juices flow - it's MadLibs time!
It's finally time for you to create your own MadLib story. Before you begin, here are some guidelines for your story:
- Must be at least 6 sentences.
- Must use each part of speech at least once (so there should be at least 5 blanks).
- Your MadLib must make some sense.
Need some help getting started? Here are some tips:
- Start by writing a short story, fairy tale, letter, or how-to paragraph. You don't have to leave out any words yet.
- Use a highlighter to mark, or underline with your pencil, at least 5 important words in the story.
- Decide which parts of speech these words are, and write them below the words.
- Once you have decided which words to take out, rewrite your story, replacing the highlighted words with blanks. Write the appropriate part of speech underneath each blank.
Some other things to keep in mind:
- You don't have to try too hard to be funny. By just leaving some words out, your new story will end up being funny.
- Leaving out too many words can be a bad thing! Keep enough words in, so that the story makes some sense.