I think everyone loves Mad Libs! Kids enjoy the silly stories that result (teachers like the sneaky way it teaches parts of speech), and as adults, I'm guessing we've all laughed at the NSFW versions we've created! Wouldn't it be fun to be able to let kids create their own Mad Lib stories? It can be done pretty easily using Google Forms, Google Sheets, the Autocrat add-on, and Google Docs.
If you're thinking that's too many tools to use, don't worry! It's actually not :-)
If you're interested in how to do this, click here for step by step directions!
How can you incorporate Mad Libs into your curriculum? Here are some ideas!
- Have students "rewrite" a story, poem, event from history, process, biography, passage from literature, or character sketch.
- Challenge students to use vocabulary words.
- Practice parts of speech.
- Focus on using specific, descriptive words to practice creating imagery.
- Have students create a class silly story; assign a section of the story to each student, then compile them into one large class story.
As an example, here is how I am using this:
- I am reading a story to students in grade 3 about a character who signs up online to receive a free game in the mail. He ends up getting tons of goofy junk sent to his home. The objective of the story is to teach students about not sharing their personal information online to avoid getting scammed and ending up with spam instead of what they thought they were getting.
- After the story, I will debrief with the kids what they learned.
- I did a short rewrite of the story and then turned it into a Mad Libs activity for the kids to complete so they have their own version of the story.
Does this sound like something you want to try? Let me know and I would be THRILLED to come help you set it up!
P.S. In case you thought I was smart enough to figure out how to do this on my own, ummm nope! I had the idea to do Mad Libs but wasn't sure the best way to do it, so I did a little research and used this site to help me figure it out!
This is a super cool idea! I'm definitely going to find a way to incorporate this into the library.
ReplyDeleteI did a Mad Lib with my 8th LA class where I used Nearpod to have the students put their suggestions for the parts of speech needed on collaborate boards. They could upvote their faves, which I used to fill in the story I read aloud to the class. It took some time, but it was pretty fun!
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