The Pit of Being

Today in grammar class we learned about verbs of being, and after doing a few written activities we had an activity. Each boy chose a slip of paper which either had an action verb or a verb of being printed on it. If his paper had an action verb he walked around the room doing that activity. After one trip around the room he chose a new paper which either contained a new action verb or a verb of being. If his paper had a verb of being he had to go to the Pit of Being and chant the phrase, "Am, is are, was, were, been, I'm stuck in the Pit of Being." He could escape if someone pulled a slip which said, "Free the Pit," or if someone else drew the same verb of being which doomed him to the pit. It was a bit of a lively activity, but the boys handled it extremely well, showing me that I can do this sort of thing with them in the future. The best news is that at the conclusion of the activity, the boys had no doubt about what the verbs of being are. Unfortunately we were missing three of our classmates, so sometime soon when all 16 students are in school we will repeat the activity. I will be sure to come up with some new action verbs.