I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Relationships

Essential Question:

What are the parts of speech I need to know to communicate well?

Bridge:

Sets

Content:

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: Students will determine relationships among items/objects.
Activity: Students are given a set of pictures or objects and asked to organize them into groups according to some relationship. (Examples: shape, color, species.)
Evaluation: Participation of students.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: Students will discuss relationships.
Activity: Students, working in groups, list the relationships they formed, and discuss other possible relationships that could have been formed. These lists are shared with the whole class.
Evaluation: Participation and quality of discussion.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: Students will determine relationships among words.
Activity: Given a set of twenty words, small groups of students divide words into sets according to some relationship. Groups discuss their sets with the whole class. Discussion should lead all groups to discover, if they have not already done so, that the words given to each group could be organized by parts of speech.
Evaluation: Participation and quality of discussion.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: Students will understand parts of speech—nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Activity: The definition and usage of parts of speech—nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs—is presented with the aid of a textbook, lecture, and activities such as the following:
1. Nouns: Place this heading on the chalkboard: Person—Place-Thing. Students cite examples of nouns that would fit under the various headings. (Activity could be varied by listing nouns from a particular environment, such as a farm, school, shopping mall.)
2. Verbs: Write various action verbs (jump, shave, etc.) on slips of paper. Student volunteers pick a slip and pantomime the action for the class. As students guess each action, the verb is written on the board. Extend list of “action verbs” with examples provided by students.
3. Adjectives: Ask a volunteer to choose an object in the room. Without revealing its identity, the volunteer writes three words that describe the object on the board. Students try to guess the object. Once the object has revealed, students list other words that describe it.
4. Adverbs: Write on the board: “Joe was playing.” Ask volunteers to suggest single words that tell how Joe might play, then words that tell where he played, and finally when he played. Repeat this using the sentences “Jill was dancing.” And “Harry was eating.”
Evaluation: Participation in activities and understanding of parts of speech.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: Students will practice using nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Activity: Practice in the proper use of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs is done using workbooks, written language activities, and oral language activities such as the following:
1. Pop An Adjective: Describe a person or object in the room on a small slip of paper. (Only positive things should be said when describing a person.) Fold the slips, enclose in balloons, blow up and tie the balloons. Students exchange the balloons, pop them, read the descriptive words, and try to identify the object or person described.
2. Adjective Collage: Cut out pictures of things (nouns) from magazines and paste them on construction paper. Label each picture with its name and an adjective that best describes it.
3. Language Tic-Tac-Toe: Play tic-tac-toe to review the four parts of speech. Each student draws a grid on a sheet of paper and numbers the squares randomly from 1 to 9. (Make sure the numbers are small and placed in the corner of each box.) Call out a number and a word. Students write N in the appropriately numbered square if the word is a noun, V if a verb, ADJ if adjective, and ADV if an adverb. Three of a kind in a row wins.
4. Language Bingo: Prepare traditional format Bingo cards (five spaces down and five spaces across with FREE in the center). Randomly arrange the four parts of speech in the squares. As the words are called, cover the correct part of speech.
5. Accidental Writing: Ask each student to think of interesting words to complete the following sentence. The (adjective) (noun) will (verb) the (adjective) (noun). For variety, have different groups form a list of words for one part of speech, then randomly choose a word from each group to fill in the blanks. Some interesting and unusual combinations can result, such as “The exquisite horse will drink the young wine.” This activity also serves as means of breaking students free from their habitual way of looking at things. Students could draw a picture illustrating the sentence or construct a story around it.
6. Illustrated Words: Make words look like their meaning by altering the shape, texture, and arrangement of the letters. Examples:
T
A
L
L
7. Sorting Activities: Make word cards for the four parts of speech and label four containers, one for each part of speech. Students place the word cards in the appropriately labeled container. (I use old reading charts and vocabulary cards and Pringle’s cans.) As a bonus activity, students can put words together in sentences.
8. Newspaper Activity: Cut out words from newspapers and glue them onto paper by parts of speech or arrange them in sentences.
Evaluation: Quality and accuracy of practice and quizzes.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: Students will select a project which illustrates a personal understanding of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Activity: Provide each student with written guidelines for the assignment including time allotment, specific requirements, and evaluation procedure. Students brainstorm for project ideas. Teacher adds suggestions to the list. Class discusses and decides upon an audience for presentation of the projects. Each student selects a project.
Evaluation: Participation in activities.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: Students will complete their projects with on-going analysis and revision.
Activity: Teacher serves as a guide and resource person providing extra materials, offering possible alternatives, stimulating further ideas, and giving encouragement. Students edit and complete their projects and answer the essential question, “What are the parts of speech I need to know to communicate well?”
Evaluation: Quality of completed projects.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: Students will share their projects.
Activity: Students share their projects with the audience decided upon earlier. The method of sharing will depend upon the individual project.
Evaluation: Quality of presentation and response to each presentation.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: