Contractions Anchor Chart Pack: A Simple Guide to Teaching Shortened Words

These visually appealing contractions anchor chart posters have a cute theme of Karate as students think about the letters they are going to ‘kick’ to the curb to create a contraction. Each poster features a dynamic karate illustration, reminding students to channel their inner linguistic warrior as they tackle those tricky contractions.

These posters in our Contractions Anchor Chart Pack serve as a powerful visual aide in the classroom, reinforcing the concept of contractions in an engaging way. Whether it’s “can’t,” “won’t,” or “isn’t,” students will be empowered to karate chop those unnecessary letters and streamline their writing with ease.

Engaging Activities for Teaching Contractions to 1st and 2nd Graders

Here is a list of easy activity ideas to help your students practice after teaching contractions:

• Contraction Surgery – Write two words on sentence strips (e.g., do not). Have students “cut” out the unnecessary letter(s) with scissors and “stitch” the words together using a Band-Aid or apostrophe sticker.
• Apostrophe Pop – Write contractions on balloons and their corresponding two-word phrases on index cards. Students match the balloon with the correct card and “pop” the contraction by saying it aloud.
• Contraction Puzzles – Create puzzle pieces where one half has the two-word phrase (e.g., she will), and the other half has the contraction (she’ll). Students match the pieces to complete the puzzle.
• Contraction Flipbook – Give students a small flipbook where the top flap shows the full phrase (e.g., cannot), and when flipped, it reveals the contraction (can’t), with the missing letters highlighted.
• Silly Sentence Sort – Write sentences with contractions and their expanded forms on strips. Have students sort them into two groups, then rewrite or read them to see how contractions make speech and writing smoother.
• Musical Contractions – Play a simple game where students walk around the room while music plays. When the music stops, they must find a partner and form a contraction by combining their words (e.g., one student has do and another has not—together, they form don’t).

Download and Display Today

Use the dropdown arrow located on the Download button to choose between the easy to print PDF or editable Google Slide version of this resource.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter collaborator.

More Contraction Activities

Looking for more contraction activities to use in the classroom? We have you covered…

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Contraction Bubbles Worksheet

Practice matching words to create contractions with this fun bubble-themed worksheet.

teaching resource

Contraction Bubbles Worksheet

Practice matching words to create contractions with this fun bubble-themed worksheet.

teaching resource

Contraction Bubbles Worksheet

Practice matching words to create contractions with this fun bubble-themed worksheet.