The Verb That Would Not Sit Still
A lively word escapes from its sentence and changes action everywhere it lands.
Read together at your own pace. Pausing, rereading, or stopping is always okay.
The word JUMP bounced out of a sentence and landed beside a frog. The frog jumped. It landed beside popcorn. The popcorn jumped too. “Action words are difficult to shelve,” said Librarian Lee.
Mara carried a blank sentence frame: The rabbit ___. JUMP fit, but so did hopped, dashed, rested, and listened. Each verb changed what the reader imagined.
They guided JUMP back by offering it the liveliest place: The children jump across the last puddle. It settled happily between the subject and the rest of the action.
Mara began collecting verbs in a notebook, but she never expected them to stay quiet. A verb’s job was to show action or a state—and even the calm verb “rest” helped something happen in the reader’s mind.
Story workshop
Notice, talk, and play
Words to notice
- verb
- a word showing action or a state of being
- subject
- who or what a sentence is about
- imagine
- to form a picture or idea in the mind
Talk about the story
- How did different verbs change the rabbit sentence?
- Where did JUMP settle?
- Can a calm word still be a verb?
Try it together
Choose one noun and act out three safe verbs it could do. Say or write a complete sentence for each action.
Activities are designed for shared use. An adult should choose materials and supervision appropriate to the child.
Keep reading
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