Conjunctions Teaching Resources

Teach conjunctions to your elementary students with printable worksheets, digital activities, sentence creation games and more from the teachers of Teach Starter.

Our expert teacher team created this collection of teaching resources to help you help your students learn how to identify and use this part of speech correctly, including activities to learn about coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and compound sentences.

With editable curriculum-aligned resources, you'll be able to meet Common Core and state standards while also differentiating instruction for the individual students in your classroom.

New to teaching this part of the English Language Arts curriculum or just looking for new ways to engage students as they learn about conjunctions? Take a peek at this primer from our teacher team!

What Is a Conjunction? A Kid-Friendly Definition

Knowing the definition of this part of speech is only part of the battle. You'll also need to explain conjunctions to your students! Here's a kid-friendly definition from our teacher team!

Imagine you have two sentences that you want to connect. That's when a conjunction comes to the rescue! A conjunction is a special word that helps us join two sentences or ideas together when we're writing.

Types of Conjunctions and Examples of Each

There are three main types of conjunctions:

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions are the superheroes of the sentence world because they join two sentences of equal importance. The most common coordinating conjunctions are "and," "but" and "or."

• "And" is like a friend. It helps us add more things together when we're writing. For example: "I like pizza, and I like ice cream."
• "But" is like a stop sign because it shows a contrast between two things. For example: "I wanted to go to the park, but I had homework to do."
• "Or" is like a choice. It gives you options. For example: "Do you want a red up or a blue cup?"

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions connect a main sentence with a less important one. They show a relationship of time, cause and effect or condition. Some examples are "because," "when" and "if."

• "Because" explains why something happens. For example: "I couldn't go outside because I didn't finish my homework."
• "When" tells you the time something happened or will happen. For example: "I will do my homework when I get home."
• "If" shows a condition or possibility. For example: "If it snows, we can build a snowman at recess."

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are a bit like a pair of shoes because they always come in pairs and work together. Some examples are "either...or," "neither...nor" and "both...and."

• "Either...or" gives you a choice between two things. For example: "You can either have cake or ice cream."
• "Neither...nor" means not one thing and not another thing. For example: "Neither the dog nor the cat is allowed at school."
• "Both...and" means having two things together. For example: "She is both smart and nice."