Primary Grammar ADJECTIVES - with free activities!
GRAMMAR UNIT 2: ADJECTIVES
I am so excited to share unit two in my primary grammar series!
We are learning all about adjectives in this unit, and it works perfectly if you just completed Primary Grammar Unit 1: Nouns.
I know a lot of people first teach nouns, and then jump to teaching verbs.
I have had better success teaching adjectives right after we learned about nouns.
Adjectives describe nouns, so seeing how they work together makes so much more sense to students.
Ready to teach your primary students about adjectives in a way that will actually STICK with them?!
Let’s get started.
My kids are little noun experts since we just finished unit 1. Now we are learning about describing those nouns with details.
These are the slides that I show in lesson 1. I tell them that adjectives answer the question what kind?
What kind of snow? white snow
What kind of boy? a silly boy
What kind of horse? a fast horse
What kind of rocks? round rocks
HERE IS A FUN VIDEO TO HELP INTRODUCE ADJECTIVES
Tip: watch this video at the start of your grammar lesson each day for at least a week.
I tell students our words can paint a picture in someone’s mind by describing a noun with as many details as possible.
We go over the anchor chart shown to your left. I hold up objects (nouns) and they use put an adjective in front of the word.
For example: blue basket, sharp pencil, yummy candy, etc.
Our first activity will be to describe popcorn! I tell them to pretend they are explaining popcorn to someone who has never tried it before.
The adjectives to describe popcorn are provided for the students.
When they are done gluing the adjectives around popcorn, I can have them write more adjectives on the back.
They are starting to get the hang of adjectives, and they are already wanting to show me they understand.
The next couple of lessons are so much fun! We are doing adjective sorts. The mats are color coded for scaffolding, and I prefer to laminate them for durability (optional).
After they complete the color mats, there are coordinating follow up activities.
We talk about choosing adjectives to describe specific nouns. For example, yummy would not describe a turtle, but it is the perfect adjective for a cheeseburger!
I have them sort the color adjectives between two picture mats, and then they complete the two follow up activities:
Cutting and pasting the same coordinating adjectives (shown to the right)
Writing the adjectives both before and after the noun in each sentence (shown above)
Seeing the same pictures and words/adjectives is very helpful for students.
Plus, once they do these activities today, tomorrow and the next day are a breeze because the activities are the same.
The adorable theme changes along with the describing adjectives.
On lesson 2, we do the turtle and the cheeseburger, on lesson 3 we do the fox and the beach and then lesson 4 we learn about the adjectives that describe the fireman and arm chair.
All three of these lessons follow the exact same format of sorting color mats, then coloring and sorting with the cut/paste adjectives and finally the worksheet of filling in the adjectives.
I love how many adjectives they are learning - it so is cute to hear them say things like “the cozy arm chair” or “ the brave fireman.”
Now that they have some background with adjectives, I teach students that adjectives come from using our fives senses.
The cut and paste activity is differentiated and you can use one or both.
I tie this back to the popcorn lesson - I remind them of the adjectives we used to describe popcorn and how they come from all our senses - crunchy (hearing), bumpy (touch), salty (taste), etc.
I circle back to explaining that adjectives answer these three questions:
Which one?
What kind?
How many?
I actually sing this over and over again and have the kids join me so it sticks (if you don’t sing… just chant over and over!)
The activity pages coordinate perfectly, and they use the slides shown above to fill out the first worksheets. Then they can practice the second on their own.
During the next few lessons, we are solidifying how adjectives are used in a sentence.
I teach my students that adjectives often come right before nouns (shown on left.) This is a very common way adjectives are used in sentences.
They can also come after the noun connected by “to be” verbs such as is, are, was, etc. (shown on right.) These are the two most common ways adjectives are used in simple sentences.
We do a whole group activity, and then use this activity page. I also have students write adjectives on their own!
My goal is for students to see the pattern in how nouns and adjectives work together in sentences.
I also include sentence building activities, where students build two sentences using the same nouns and adjectives, but the sentence is in a different format. This is so helpful for students to see the patterns within sentences.
Differentiated versions are included, and everything is planned out for you!
This next activity is so much fun, and we spend several days on it. Children absolutely love it, and learn so much from it.
Students match the adjective with the noun, and then we practice using them both in a sentence. I challenge them to make two sentences each (orally) using both common sentence structures (adjective directly before the nouns, and then adjective after the noun and being verb.)
This sounds tricky, but they get the hang of it!
For example:
I see a silly clown.
The clown is silly.
It is so important to start with having students orally make sentences. You want them to get comfortable simply paying with language and how to form different sentences using the same words.
Have them produce a sentence orally and then they can move on to writing it on the coordinating writing pages.
We spend several days on this activity - we play memory, matching, go fish and other games with the cards. Each day they can fill out one of the activity pages by writing complete sentences.
They will learn and grow so much during these few short dosed, and it is so fun to be a part of!
Next, we move on to adjective hunts! It is a similar format to my noun hunts, and they are simple, straightforward and fun for the kids.
This builds right where we left off with the noun hunts.
Children locate a noun in the picture and write it on their paper. Then, they write an adjective to describe that noun.
At the bottom of their paper, they choose one set and write a complete sentence.
They can they trade papers with a partner to see which nouns and adjectives are the same and different than each other.
We spend at least two days doing these, and it is so fun!
Next, we move on to rewriting sentences using adjectives. I call it adding sprinkles to their writing!
The first activity they cut out “sprinkle adjectives” and glue it to ice cream.
The next day, students add “sprinkles” to the sentences by rewriting the sentences using adjectives.
Your kiddos will be so engaged with these lessons!
We are nearing the end of the unit, and now we are applying what we learned with the activities below.
MYSTERY BAGS!
The kids love this lesson!
We do mystery bags, and the kids have to reach their hands into the bag and write adjectives to describe what they feel.
They can then make a prediction on what they think the object inside the bag is.
Some ideas of objects to put in the mystery bags are uncooked spaghetti noodles, silly putty, play dough, grapes, yarn, beads, and pipe cleaners.
The possibilities are endless! The recoding page has two mystery bags for students to record their adjectives and predictions, but if you copy it front to back you could do four mystery bags.
This is such a fun lesson, and the kids will remember it for a long time when you talk about adjectives in the future.
I love doing lessons that really stick with them, and master bags are a sure way to help students remember that adjectives describe nouns.
These worksheets are a great way to check for understanding to see if your students are grasping adjectives.
The next two lesson are focused on comparative and superlative adjectives. I don’t focus on them mastering this yet, but it is a great introduction.
FYI: ELL students will have a harder time with this concept. We spend two days on these lessons.
Our last few days with adjectives are spent with animals! This is so cute.
Kids love anything to do with animals.
I provide a word bank, and students write sentences with adjectives describing each animal.
Both color and black and white options are included for each animal. It is so fun, because everyone’s sentences will be different, and it is perfect to take time to share with each other.
WATCH THIS QUICK VIDEO TO SEE HOW FUN THIS UNIT IS!
Ready to get started with adjectives?!
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