Grammar. Parts of Speech for 2nd Grade. Collective Nouns and Reflexive Pronouns.

Every member of the family needs time for relaxation to replenish energy, communication to meet emotional needs, and reflection to discuss significant milestones. Suppose your family eats a savory seafood meal every weekend. During this time, one of your kids always talks about her dream of being part of the crew in a cruise ship; another kid consistently narrates of his goal of joining a national athletic team. With these concepts in their minds, you will be able to discuss the topic on one type of nouns called collective nouns. A collective noun is a noun that pertains to a group, which can either be taken as singular or plural depending on whether the members are doing the same thing at a particular time or not. If the members are into one task, the collective noun is taken as singular; if they are not united in doing an action, this noun is considered plural.

The above underlined words are examples of collective nouns: family, crew, and team. Each of them refers to a group of people. Furthermore, collective nouns can also denote a group of things or animals such as bouquet, set, bunch, flock (of sheep), pack (of dogs), and herd (of deer or of cows).

Using collective nouns is part of the everyday life as people would often see themselves as part of a cluster or would observe others as part of another crowd; same goes with noticing other non-human groups.

During your quality time while they are reflecting being part of something, your kids can also describe themselves at the present moment. Your daughter can characterize herself in relation to her circle. Or your son can explain himself to you when he is upset about his group. Even you, you can describe yourself when you were younger. The underlined words are called reflexive pronouns. A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject. Other reflexive pronouns are: myself, yourselves, and ourselves. Consider some parts of the previous statements to elaborate the definition to your children:

• Your kids can also describe themselves.
  (Themselves refers back to the subject “kids.” Themselves is used for a plural subject.)
• Your daughter can characterize herself.
  (Herself refers back to the subject “daughter.” Herself is used for singular feminine subject.)
  Your son can explain himself.
  (Himself refers back to the subject “son.” Himself is used for a singular masculine subject.)
• You can describe yourself.
  (Yourself refers back to the subject “you.” Yourself is used for a singular subject while yourselves is used for a plural subject.)

Hence, collective nouns and reflexive pronouns enhance and strengthen the communication skills of your children. To solidify what they have learned regarding these two concepts, here are the 1st grade printable worksheets that will ensure the application of their new knowledge to meaningful encounters:

The first worksheet, Collective Nouns Practice Worksheet, helps you to determine if your kids can recognize commonly used collective nouns. Through this practice, they are more likely to remember these nouns, and be able to use them in their personal or academic discussions, or be able to understand them when these are presented to them by others, be it on written or spoken forms.

The second worksheet, Collective Nouns Worksheet, incorporates collective nouns in a story. This establishes a more concrete way of learning these nouns. Your kids have an end goal of discovering what the character has seen in her visit. To let your children unlock the plot of the story, guide them in doing this interactive activity.

The third worksheet, Reflexive Pronouns Worksheet, targets the retention of the concept of reflexive pronouns, so children can make use of them in their sentences. This reinforcement activity is an effective way of inculcating in them the function of these pronouns and how these work to complete the thoughts of their statements.

Overall, your kids have traversed the mazes of collective nouns and reflexive pronouns; they are now ready for another learning adventure, Identifying Nouns in the Story.