Contractions: Am and Are

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The words you saw above are all contractions.

A contraction is a word that is made up of two other words. Whenever you see a contraction, you will see an apostrophe (') in the word. For example, the word "she's" has an apostrophe, then an "s." The word "she's" is a contraction that puts together the words "she" and "is." If you have not yet taken it, study the Contractions series Related Lessons found in the right-hand sidebar.

You will learn about some new contractions in this lesson. The first one you will learn about is an easy one!

There is one contraction you can make that combines a word with the word "am." This contraction is listed below. Ask your parent or teacher to read it to you:

• I'm = I am

There is only one you have to remember that includes the word "am"! Read the sentences below aloud to your parent or teacher:

I'm happy!
I am happy!

That wasn't so hard! Try reading the next sentence below. Tell your parent or teacher what the contraction is, and what two words make up that contraction:

I'm sad.

The contraction in the sentence you just read is "I'm." If you break up the word "I'm," you will have the words "I" and "am." Were you able to figure this out on your own? Great work!

Contractions can also be made with the word "are." When you blend one word with the word "are," you need to add an apostrophe then an "r" and an "e." A great way to remember this is to drop the "a" from the word "are" and add the remaining "r" and "e" to the end of the word. Ask your parent or teacher to read the examples below out loud to you:

• They're = They are
• We're = We are
• What're = What are
• Who're = Who are
• You're = You are

Now, you read the examples below aloud to your parent or teacher:

They're mad!
They are mad!

We're in the pool.
We are in the pool.

You're running fast.
You are running fast.

You read three examples of contractions that have the word "are" in them. Try reading the next one on your own. Tell your parent or teacher what the contraction is, and what two words make up the contraction:

What're they playing?

The contraction in the sentence is "what're." This contraction is made up of the words "what" and "are."

Aren't you glad you're learning about contractions that have the words "am" and "are" in them? In the Got It? section, you will practice identifying contractions in sentences.