Vivid Verbs Cards and Sorting Pages

Help your students learn more about vivid verbs and the boring verbs they can replace with these 50 vivid verb cards and 10 sorting pages. An answer sheet is also included.

What you need:

• vivid verb cards, printed and cut apart
• boring verb sorting pages, printed on cardstock or colored paper, if possible

What to do:

1. Divide the vivid verb cards and sorting pages in half so you can work on 5 boring verbs and their corresponding vivid verbs at a time.
2. Place 5 sorting pages in the middle of the table.
3. Deal out the vivid verb cards to the students and have them take turns placing their vivid verb cards on the corresponding sorting pages.  Use the verbs in sentences or act them out if the students aren’t sure where the verb cards should go.
4. Once all of the verb cards have been placed, go through the pages one at a time and discuss how the vivid verbs can be used to replace the boring verbs.  For example, instead of, “The old man walked through the park,” you could say, “The old man limped through the park,” which gives a much more specific picture in the reader’s mind.
5. You can then glue the cards onto the sorting pages and hang them around your room as reference posters.

These pages can be used together with the vivid verb pre-test and post-test, identification and sorting worksheets, and verb replacement story. These can each also be found as part of the Vivid Verbs Mini Set.