Curriculum Suggestions

Activities for: Herd of Cows, Flock of Sheep

1. Make Up Your Own Collective Nouns
   1. Choose of a noun.
   2. Think of a name for a group of several of the things you choose. The name can have something to do with the noun, like "a scritch-scratch of chalkboards", or it can be totally made up, like "a blugly of beetles".

2. Read the story out loud to the class. Have the kids clap or stand up and then sit down every time they hear a collective noun.

3. Play "I Have a Farm".
   1. The first player says, "I have a farm and on my farm there is a _____." The player then names a collective noun phrase. For example, "Flock of sheep."
   2. The second player then says, "I have a farm and on my farm is a _____ and a _____." The player repeats the first player's collective noun phrase and then adds their own.
   3. Each additional player says, "I have a farm and on my farm is..." They then repeat all of the previous players' collective noun phrases, and then add their own.
   4. You can end play a couple of ways. The game can be over when everyone's had a chance to play. Or, if a player is unable to repeat all the collective noun phrases, they are out, and the game is over when there is only one player left.

4. Play "Hangman". Players guess which animal, or collective noun "It" is thinking of.

5. Have a spelling bee, with players spelling collective nouns.

6. Have a reverse spelling bee, where players have to spell out the collective nouns--backwards.

7. Play "Collective Noun Pantomime". One player is chosen to be "It". They come to the front of the class, and then act like they're a group of one type of animal, or that they're interacting with a group of animals. The rest of the players try to guess what the animals are, and name the collective noun. The first person to guess right is the next "It".

8. Play "Collective Noun Bingo".
   1. To prepare, write thirty collective nouns on small pieces of paper. Put them in a hat or a sack.
   2. Have the kids draw a Bingo grid on a piece of paper. (Show them a grid on the board. A Bingo grid consists of twenty-five squares--five squares across and five squares down.)
   3. Have kids X out the middle square.
   4. Read out the collective nouns. As you read each collective noun, kids write the collective noun down in one of the blank squares on their grid. They can skip any six of the collective nouns.
   5. Put all the collective nouns back in the hat or bag. Then pull them out one at a time and read them. If a kid has the collective noun on their bingo grid, they cross it out.
   6. When a player has five squares in a row crossed out, they shout out "Bingo". The game can end there, or you can keep playing until everyone has a Bingo, or until all the squares on all the grids are full.

9. Play "Toss the Collective Noun". Players sit in a circle, or at their desks or tables. One player has a beanbag and starts the game. They shout out a collective noun and toss the beanbag to another player. They then shout a collective noun and toss it to another player. Players keep shouting out collective nouns and tossing the beanbag until someone can't think of a collective noun, repeats a collective noun, or shouts out something that is not a collective noun.

   Competitive variations:

   1. All players stand while playing. If they repeat a collective noun, can't think of a collective noun, or say something that is not a collective noun, then they are out and sit down. The last player standing wins.
   2. Divide the class into two teams. One team lines up on one side of the room, the other team on the other side of the room. Players toss the beanbag bag and forth, from one team to the other, and shout collective nouns. If they can't quickly think of a collective noun, or if they shout out a collective noun that's already been said or something that's not a collective noun, the other team gets a point. The first team to get five points wins.

 
 

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Picture Credits
Original bunny climbing rope picture by Paige Miglio (copyright 2000 ©) from One More Bunny authored by Rick Walton.
Original purple monster picture by Renee Williams-Andriani (copyright 1998 ©) from Really, Really Bad School Jokes authored by Rick Walton.
Original bullfrog seated picture by Chris McAllister (copyright 1999 ©) from Bullfrog Pops! authored by Rick Walton.
Electronic modifications by Ann Walton.