Action, Saying, Thinking and Relating Verbs

This set of posters has been specifically designed and created for when students are learning about the different types of verbs. Mastering this concept will allow your students to write with grammatical accuracy and proper sentence structure.

The following content is shown on the posters:

• Action Verbs – An action verb expresses something that a person, animal, object or force of nature can do or be, as in, “The girl was blowing lots of big bubbles.”
• Saying Verbs – Saying verbs indicate speaking. They can provide more information as to how things are being said, as in, “I’m really sorry,” sobbed Tony.
• Thinking Verbs – Thinking verbs tell the reader what the characters are thinking about the events or what they were thinking at the time, as in, “I wonder what’s for lunch?” she thought.
• Relating Verbs – Relating verbs tell us how the characters relate to other parts of the story, as in, “Amazing Man was here saving people.” They also describe a state, as in, “Europe is a large collection of countries.”

Using Posters for Verb Activities

While these posters are the perfect visual reminder for your students to remember the different types of verbs in the classroom. They can also be a good starting point for a variety of verb activities, here are some suggestions:

• Action verb charades – students brainstorm different action verbs and then they can choose one to act out and their class mates need to try and work out the verb they are acting out.
• Saying verbs story time – students brainstorm different saying verbs and then create a short story or dialogue using as many different saying verbs as possible.
• Thinking verbs journal writing – students brainstorm different thinking verbs and then create journal entries from the perspective of a character using thinking verbs to argue their points.
• Relating verbs sentence rewriting – take simple sentences and rewrite them using relating verbs to connect ideas.