Houston Baptist University

Department of Education and Kinesiology

Lesson Plan Format
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Subject:

Language Arts

Grade Level: First Grade

Time Estimate: 1 hour 30 minutes

Unit:

Oral and Reading Conventions

Topic: Adjectives

Goal(s): TLW know an adjective describes a noun

TLW understand how to use adjectives in their own writing
TLW understand how to label their environment and surroundings with adjectives.
Objective(s): TLW identify adjectives and the nouns they describe in a sentence
TLW indicate which words are adjectives in a story.
TLW demonstrate what adjective labels their classroom
TLW connect adjectives to nouns in their lives
TLW choose the best adjective to describe a given word
TLW write a story using at least five adjectives
TEKS: 20.A.iii
Materials/Resources/Technology needs:
- Story with and without adjectives written by the teacher.
- White board or chalk board for class
- Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an Adjective? By: Brian P. Cleary
- Document Camera
- Notecards with Adjectives and Blank
- Individual White Boards
- Mad Libs missing Adjectives
-Adjective Song and Hard copies
- Stapled books for their own writing.
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Instructional Procedures
Focusing Event: I am going to begin by reading you two stories. Each one I
wrote during writing time. Can you be my revision group and tell me which one sounds
better? I will read a plain Jane story about going to the park. I will then read one with
adjectives to make them feel like they are there in the story. I will ask them which one
was more fun to listen to. I will tell them that with special types of words we can make
our writing more inviting. I will tell them that these words will identify the nouns that we
covered before this lesson. I will then have the children describe the class pet or myself. I
will write a list on the board of their ideas of ways to describe whatever it is and we will

discuss the special words we will learn are adjectives and we already know them, look on
the board we just made a list of them.
1.

Teaching/ Learning Procedures: First we will read as a class Hairy, Scary,

and Ordinary: What is an Adjective? By Brian P. Cleary. I will treat this as an
interactive read aloud and will pause periodically to use the words we find in the
book in our own lives. I will also ask, What is the adjective in this sentence? In
this book, what adjectives did you hear? Once we have finished we will discuss
what exactly an adjective is. This will be a very informal conversation to
introduce the idea, use the book as prior reference, and to talk about why we need
them so much and where we can find them. Next, I will begin talking about how
adjectives are useless without a noun to describe. This can be used referencing
back to my first story. I will put it on the document camera and have them look
and read with me to find all the nouns. (Before this lesson children will be
comfortable in noun work). We will highlight the nouns blue and then find the
words that describe them. I will have them raise their hands and come up and
highlight them on my paper. I will make sure that every child has an opportunity
to see an adjective next to a noun to better help them. I will ask questions such as,
What is the noun the adjective is describing? What would be a label for the
playground equipment? What would be an appropriate label to describe our
bulletin board on the wall? When we have finished I will have them complete an
activity on their own. Instead of doing a worksheet I want them to label my
classroom with adjectives. I will give each child 10 notecards. We will discuss
their words before they begin so each child knows, understands, and can say their
words. I will then give them time to walk around and think hard about what they
would label each one. There are a lot of white things in the classroom, which
would you think is the BEST thing to name a white_____. What could I use to
describe my book shelves? Once every child has distributed their notecards I will
walk around the room and make sure that each word could correctly label the
noun. I will as, The sharp scissors? Does that sound right? Why or why not? If
we dont think so what would better fit the word sharp, etc. I will pause
occasionally to ask, What else can you think of that has the same adjective as
sharp? This will help each child to see not only their words but others as well. I
will call on students to come and read the word with the noun like I did and we as
a class will give thumbs up or down. If a child is fully participating and trying
their best I will have them put a smiley face sticker on their teamwork chart for
group discussions and group work. I will make sure that every child gets a chance
to find a noun adjective group and that they can tell me in their own opinion agree
or disagree.

Formative Check (ongoing or specific): The biggest part of my formative

check will be the labeling of the classroom assignment. I will have each childs card with
a different type of coding so I can tell whose was whose. I do not want to include names
because I dont want someone to feel embarrassed or scared if they are unsure. I will go
through the room throughout the day and take notes to see who seemed to fully
understand and who seemed to struggle through part or all of the lesson. I will make
notes during the discussion about which students seemed to be spot on and the ones who
seemed to lack full understanding. I will also make notes of prior knowledge to see if any
children were advancing faster, and if so did they have a basic idea about adjectives, or
describing words already. This will be ongoing throughout the lesson but the final activity
will be a large part of my assessment as well.
Reteach (alternative used as needed): For a reteach I will have a list of
nouns on the board. They will all be covered so to reveal only one at a time. Children will
be in groups based on their tables. There will be about four groups. I will reveal the first
noun, Cat, to the students. I will follow up with students and ask, If cat is the noun what
was its adjective? Each group will brainstorm the best adjective they can for the word
cat. I will be walking around and helping them to understand what I am looking for and
to show them to list the adjectives they can on the white boards given to each group.
They will then pick their favorite one. Each group will help add one adjective to the
board. For example it could be the cuddly, fuzzy, sweet, gray cat. This will continue for
the next 10 to 15 words. We will then as a class vote on the adjective we like the most.
Before this I will create a Mad Lib with blanks for adjectives. I will make sure to include
whatever we have been talking about in class. May it be the policeman, gardening, plant
life cycle, anything. Once we have found our favorite, had group discussions about
adjectives, I will add the words to the Mad Lib. Once all the nouns have adjectives I will
read their new story to them. I will show them how before all their wonderful adjectives
the story seemed plain. This is why we should use them not only in writing, but in telling
stories with our friends, or even our day in school. No student will finish early because
they will all be participating at the same time.
Closure: We will sing a song (bottom of the page) about Adjectives. This song is
sang to the tune of Row, Row, and Row Your Boat. We will read the song together at first
but we will sing it two times after. I will get the tune stuck in their head just like we want
adjectives to be. I will explain to students that now they all know and are so smart with
adjectives that I want them to try to use at least 5 adjectives in the days Tiny Moments
story. If they do use all five they can draw a happy face on their paper and receive a
happy face on their participation chart. Before they can leave the carpet to go back to
their desks, each student will need to tell me an adjective for the noun that I give them
(fireman, cake, party, etc.). I will prompt parents with questions like, What adjective
could describe fireman? Once they name an adjective they can be released from the
carpet with their exit ticket. Once students are back at their seats they will begin their

writing. While writing I will be sure to include questions like, In our writing can we
think of a few words we could have adjectives with?
Assessment/Summative Evaluation: Their summative assessment will be at the end of the
two week writing lessons. We will continue to discuss them in class every day and strive
to use them in our own work. My major grading of their understanding will be having
them write a paper using 5 adjectives correctly along with a noun. They will have been
building up practice since this lesson so they will plenty of practice. They will create a
story and we will do Final Friday share before turning in our favorite story from the week
that matches the rules written on the board. After turning in their book they will share
with their peers. Their peers will then tell them the nouns and adjectives they heard in the
story. I will be sure to bring up questions in conferencing like, In your paper you only
used boy could you describe the boy? Write it down.
Homework: I will send home short stories on the childs reading level that they will need
to read nightly with a parent to practice reading. I will have the children with their
parents help to try and find all the adjectives in the story and write them and the noun on
a separate piece of paper. This will help strengthen vocabulary, writing, reading, and
language and also involving the parent in their childrens learning.
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Modifications/Notes:
1. I will have prewritten cards for the students who cant write very well so they can
participate in the labeling. I will have blank cards for the students who want to use
a special label that they thought of but did not have. The children would need to
come ask for a card so we did not end up with random words written all over the
classroom though.
2. When playing our group game I will be sure to make sure that the groups are
fairly balanced so each group has a child in it that is strong with the concept and
can help those to better understand. I will make sure that each group has a
balanced understanding so that everyone can get the most out of the lesson during
the discussion.
3. When singing the song I will have printed out sheets for the children to use. Some
children may need special paper they can read better on, or any assistance they
may need to excel at learning the song.