Collective Noun Practice with a Familiar Game

Use this resource as a partner activity for your reading center, as a guided reading activity, or a whole class exercise (see below) to practice identifying collective nouns.

Students will shuffle all cards and lay them face down. Players take turns flipping 2 cards at a time until either matches a picture card to its collective noun and sets the pair aside to keep score. 

Scaffolding and Extension Tips + More Collective Noun Activities

Challenge students who already understand the concept to put their creative spin on the game by making their own collective noun sorting cards. 

Support students who need help understanding the concepts by allowing students to work in groups, or look at the answer sheet while finding matches. 

Use this resource as independent practice for fast finishers, and for full-class learning opportunities like scoot activities, lesson reviews, formative assessments, and more.

🖼️ Gallery Walk (Scoot Activity)

Hang all 15 collective noun cards around the room to have your students complete a gallery walk. Working either alone or in pairs, assign a task card to each student and have them write the corresponding collective noun answers on a sheet of paper. When you say “Scoot” students will rotate through the cards until they have completed each one. 

🔔 Bell Ringer Activity

Project a collective noun card for your students to see as soon as they enter the classroom, or have students select a card of their own from a pile. On a piece of paper, have students complete the card with the corresponding collective noun, and draw a picture of it.

👯‍♀️ Odd Man Out

Place 3 cards at each station: a collective noun card and 2 picture cards, making sure one of the picture cards is the corresponding collective noun. Student pairs will rotate through each station and identify the matching collective noun card, writing their answers on a separate sheet of paper.  

Get our 10 Best Scaffolding Strategies here!

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Print on cardstock for added durability and longevity. Place all pieces in a folder or large envelope for easy access. 

These cards were designed to be printed front-to-back so that the visual elements are on the front side of the card and the game name is on the back.

Follow these directions to print double-sided cards:

1. Click on the printer icon or select File from the navigation bar, and select Print from the dropdown menu
2. From the dialogue box that pops up, next to Pages, click on All and select Custom
3. Enter 2-11 to ensure the cards print front to back
4. Click on More settings
5. Pages per sheet should be set to “1”
6. If it is not already selected, check the box for Print on both sides
7. If it is not already set to Flip on short edge, use the dropdown to make this selection
8. Click the Print button

To print only pages 1 and 12, use the directions above to step 3. 

Before You Download

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource. A directions sheet and answer key are also included with this download.

This resource was created by Emily Pate, a teacher in California and a Teach Starter Collaborator. 

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more collective nouns activities and resources to keep your students engaged in learning everyday grammar:

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Everyday Grammar Parts of Speech Warm-Ups – Grades 5 and 6

A 39-slide editable PowerPoint to use when reviewing parts of speech with your students.

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Collective Nouns Worksheet

Use this worksheet to review collective nouns with 8 fill-in-the-blank sentences and an accompanying word bank.

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Collective Noun Agreement Board Game

Students move along board game spaces and use collective nouns in sentences with correct subject-verb agreement.