Contractions Practice
Practice producing and decoding contractions: isn't, can't, won't, didn't.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Run both directions in the same session. Give the full form and ask for the contraction, then give the contraction and ask what two words are inside it. Won't is the interesting one and worth naming: it does not follow the pattern, since will not does not become willn't, and a student who is applying the rule will notice. Eight minutes covers the fourteen both ways.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- HintStress the part of the sentence that changes, or point to the word ending.Log as cued
- Sentence starterSay the first half of the sentence and let the student finish it.Log as cued
- ModelSay the correct form in the whole sentence; the student repeats it.Log as cued
Adjust it
Give a sentence starter every time, and do fewer cards.
Ask for a new sentence of the student's own with the same form, with no card to lean on.
Matching IEP goal
Given sentence cards, Student will produce the target grammatical form in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Fourteen contractions shown with their full forms: is not and isn't, can not and can't, will not and won't, did not and didn't, I am and I'm, you are and you're, we will and we'll, she has and she's. Both directions matter — expanding a contraction is a reading skill, and producing one is a speech and writing skill, and students are frequently good at one and not the other.
What to listen for
Listen for double negatives appearing when the contraction is expanded. A student who reads he can't go as he can not not go has mis-parsed the contraction rather than the sentence. Watch she's, which is ambiguous — it can be she is or she has — and a student who always expands it one way has a rule that will fail them in reading.
Carrying it home
Contractions dominate ordinary speech, so the practice is in noticing rather than producing. Asking what two words make up don't during a conversation takes a second and needs no materials.
What's in this activity
- is not → isn't
- can not → can't
- will not → won't
- did not → didn't
- do not → don't
- was not → wasn't
- have not → haven't
- would not → wouldn't
- I am → I'm
- you are → you're
- they are → they're
- we will → we'll
- he is → he's
- she has → she's
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- First through fourth, covering both the reading and the production side.
- Do I need to sign up?
- No, all fourteen pairs play free in the browser.
- Why is 'won't' irregular?
- It comes from an older form of will, not from the modern one, so it does not follow the pattern the other negatives do. It is worth teaching as an exception rather than trying to make the rule fit it.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.