Digital Games and Activities for Finding Subject and Predicate

Need subject and predicate activities?

How many of you have listened to your students read aloud and it sounds like one sentence has turned into an entire page?

Or have you graded a paragraph where those 5-6 sentences that should be there are actually just one big, long, run-on sentence by itself?

Can you relate? 🙂

While those frustrations are issues of their own I can leave for another day to talk about, I want to bring attention to one of the main underlying causes of lack of fluency and writing run-on sentences that we all know firsthand – Reading and writing without an understanding of subject and predicate. 

While you may think that finding subject and predicate is a totally grammar-related topic, it completely stems from reading and writing.

It’s not always an easy skill to catch on to for kids, which is why I’m sharing some digital games and activities to help you teach subject and predicate in a fun, engaging, and relatable way!

What is subject and predicate?

I’m just going to address the elephant in the room right away because there’s NO shame in asking! 🙂

The subject of a sentence tells exactly what the sentence is all about.

The predicate of the sentence tells what that subject is doing or what it actually is.

For example, in the sentence, “The sun was hot and bright,” the subject is “The sun,” and the predicate is, “was hot and bright.”

In order to make a complete sentence, there must be both a subject and predicate.

Why is it important to teach?

This is the golden question that should always drive your teaching! 🙂

It’s so important for students to learn because it guides their reading and writing.

Without knowing what a complete sentence is, those run-on sentences and reading with lack of fluency will only continue.

Once your students understand the basic requirements of a complete sentence and how to recognize a complete thought, they’ll be able to apply that knowledge to their own reading and writing.

Make sure to take some time to review nouns and verbs, as well as linking and helping verbs, too.

Subject and predicate activities and games

Subject and Predicate for Google Classroom

Now for the fun stuff – This Google Classroom resource is super simple and covers all of your bases.

It includes short answer and drag-and-drop activities that focus on sorting subjects and predicates, as well as underlining where they are within the given sentences.

You’ll also find questions that focus on the definition of each!

I have included teacher editable versions of the short answer activities that have the students underline either the complete subject or complete predicate in the sentence.

All you have to do is put in your own sentences and you can use the template as many times as you’d like! 🙂

Answer key and instructions for use are included, and you can download this activity as an interactive PDF or other apps if you aren’t a Google Classroom user.

 You can take a closer look by clicking here!

Digital Subject and Predicate Pixel Pictures

A total of 5 pixels included – alligator, gorilla, pig, ostrich, and llama. 🙂

There’s a variety of ways finding subject and predicate are practiced here!

For example, students will be asked to identify the complete subject while working on the alligator pixel, and the complete predicate on the gorilla pixel.

The other pixels focus on giving a specific word or portion of the sentence and the students must identify if it’s a part of the subject or predicate of the sentence.

These digital pixels are perfect to use for formative and summative assessments, daily assignments, or just extra practice opportunities.

They’re all self-grading, saving you tons of time and energy.

You can find a video preview of the pixels here!

These pixels are also a part of my grammar pixel bundle if you are on the hunt for more topics!

Not sure if a digital mystery pixel is for you?

Make sure to sign up below to get a FREE reading comprehension digital mystery pixel sent right to your inbox!

Subject and Predicate Interactive Notebook

I’ve included an interactive notebook on this list of digital games and activities for finding subjects and predicate because you can create an interactive PDF version! 😉

If you prefer paper, though, I’ve got you covered, too!

You’ll hit every level of the learning process with this notebook – defining what a subject and predicate is, sorting between the two, identifying underlined portions of sentences as subject or predicate, as well as underlining and circling the two.

It also works up to having students create their own sentences after being given a complete subject or complete predicate.

The notebook comes with three differentiated levels (completely filled-in, fill-in-the-blank, and totally blank) as well as instructions on how to complete it.

You can easily use the notebook for a whole-class lesson and incorporate discussions and questions along the way, or even use it as a small group or individual activity since the differentiation allows every student to be independent!

You can find this specific notebook for finding subject and predicate here or you can find other grammar interactive notebooks by clicking here!

The Tale of Mr. Morton

Another way to make things digital and interactive is a video or song!

I know you’ve all heard of the notorious Schoolhouse Rock songs.

They’re pretty old school, but they are SO darn catchy! 😉

This Schoolhouse Rock video, The Tale of Mr. Morton, explains subject and predicate perfectly and gives tons of examples throughout the video and song.

Sometimes it’s essential to just mix things up every now and then and give your students a different version of learning.

I know lots of kids who make great connections through song!

You can also discuss all the different sentences that are mentioned in the song and work through identifying the subject and predicate together as a class.

Kahoot!

Another super simple app that you can totally make into a game, review, or even assessment – Kahoot!

Kahoot is completely free and allows you to make multiple games for any subject.

You can make things simple by focusing on finding the complete subject during one game and a different game by finding the complete predicate, or you can have a variety of questions by simply adding the instructions in question.

For example, in the question area, you could say something such as, “Find the complete subject – The U.S. president spoke to the American people.”

And then have your different options be:

1. The U.S. President
2. spoke to the American people
3. spoke
4. President

Then your students select their answer!

When you give those 4 different options it’s also an easy way for you to review the differences between complete subject and predicate and simple subject and predicate.

Kahoot is also self-grading and you can download each students’ results at the end of the game!

Need more virtual ELA activities? Check out my blog post here.

I hope these resources and ideas give you some time back in your day to minimize your planning and grading and make finding subject and predicate so much easier for both you and your students!

Have fun! 🙂

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