NOUNS, VERBS, ADJECTIVES OH, MY! GRADE LEVEL(S) 1-3 LESSON OBJECTIVE Students will reinforce their ability to identify, understand and use the basic parts of speech in the real world setting of the Santa Monica Pier BACKGROUND/PRIOR KNOWLEDGE NEEDED Students should have been taught the definitions of and create a list of nouns, verbs and adjectives. EDUCATION STANDARD(S) Grades 1-3: Writing Written and Oral English Language Conventions 1.2, 1.8 MATERIALS NEEDED Parts of Speech worksheet (Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives Oh My!), and pencil/pen MOTIVATION Introduce or review nouns, verbs and adjectives by reading various picture books on the topics (see additional resources). The stories are informative, motivational, fun, and silly and children love them. DIRECT INSTRUCTION Read picture books on nouns, verbs and adjectives (see addition resources for suggestions). Define: What is a noun, verb and adjective? Have students independently or as a class list nouns within the classroom, action verbs that they would do in the class, and adjectives to describe the nouns in the classroom. Say, Now that we ve found so many nouns, verbs, and adjectives within our classroom, we are going to take a field trip to the Santa Monica Pier to see what nouns, verbs, and adjectives we can find there. Share the graphic organizer (see attached) with the class. Have them think of one or two nouns they might see at the Pier. List those on the chart.
Take a field trip to the Santa Monica Pier. Using the graphic organizer, have students work in pairs, or teams to travel around the Pier in search of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Their task is to fill their chart with as many of the parts of speech they can find. An example might be at lunchtime the children can write lunch for noun, eat for verb, and yummy for adjective. Back in the classroom, share and list (add to the chart or create a new one) all the nouns, verbs and adjectives students found on their field trip to the Pier. GROUP/INDEPENDENT WORK Students can work independently, in pairs, or in groups depending on level of ability, class size and/or teacher s preference. ACCOMMODATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS Add additional parts of speech to this activity to vary the ability of the lesson. This could include adding a section for adverbs, prepositions, etc Have students find proper and common nouns, or differentiate between person, place, thing or idea nouns. Limit the areas on the graphic organizer for younger students. For instance, only have the class do nouns, or only verbs. Color code the nouns, verbs and adjectives during all discussions to differentiate. To expand this lesson, have students create sentences with the words found at the Pier. To modify this lesson for Kindergarten and Pre-K students, change the title to Words That Describe Oh My! During direct instruction substitute A Discussion of Words That Describe with Define: What is a noun, verb, and adjective? o Modify the subsequent direct instruction with a conversation of the books used for Motivation. An excellent book choice is Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly. This book is also available in Spanish. o Invite children to think of a list of words that describe. Write these words on a chart or your Word Wall. o Take a trip to the Santa Monica Pier. Teachers and chaperones will encourage children to use and model the use of descriptive words. Teachers and chaperones will prompt children as needed to increase the use of descriptive language. ASSESSMENT/WRAP UP Students can verify each other s work prior to class discussion. Work can also be assessed and checked through the class discussion. In addition, the teacher can review the students parts of speech chart (Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives Oh, My!).
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What is a Noun? by Brian Cleary Grammar Tales (Adjectives): The Bug Book by Maria Fleming Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an Adjective? by Brian Cleary Nouns and Verbs Have a Field Day by Robin Pulver To Root, to Toot, to Parachute: What is a Verb? by Brian Cleary