Lesson

Title/Focus

Intro to Adjectives

Date

11/14/14

Subject/Grade
Level

Grade 6 English Language Arts

Time
Duration

41 min

Unit

Parts of Speech

Teacher

Trevor Maekelburger

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
Learning
Outcomes:

GLO #4: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance the
clarity and artistry of communication.

Specific
Learning
Outcomes:

6.4.2.A.3 Attend to grammar and usage: Students will identify comparative and
superlative forms of adjectives, and use in own writing.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Describe nouns using appropriate adjectives.
2. Locate and identify adjectives in a sentence.
3. Distinguish between adjectives, proper adjectives, and articles.

ASSESSMENTS
Observations:

Key Questions:

Products/Performances:

Will circulate the classroom observe students to confirm that the words they
are circling are indeed adjectives, noting any large gaps in knowledge during
LA#1 (LO#2).
Observations of consensus of found adjectives in LA#2 (LO#3).
Why do we use adjectives?
Where is an adjective located in a sentence? (LO#2)
What is a proper adjective? An article? (LO#3)
Can a noun act as an adjective? (LO#3)
Can more than one adjective describe a noun? (LO#1)
None for this lesson, as it is more of an intro/review lesson to the topic of
adjectives.

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

Grade 6 ELA curriculum resources (worksheets)

Alberta Education ELA Program of study
Lesson plan resources from readwritethink.org
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

27 Secret Shopper adjective worksheets

6 sticky note pads
smart board
secretShopper.pdf and panther.pdf files
dictionary
sheet of poster paper

PROCEDURE
Attention Grabber
Assessment of Prior
Knowledge

Introduction
Silent reading: Have students get their books out for silent reading
for the first 5 min of class. If they do not have a book, or left it at
home, have them select one to read off of the bookshelf.
Ask students if they know what an article is. Use the panther
mnemonic to help students remember the three articles A, AN, and
THE (LO#3). Bring the worksheet secretShopper.pdf up on the smart
board. As a class, go over the first sentence, to help students see

Time
6 min

5 min

Expectations for
Learning and Behavior
Advance
Organizer/Agenda
Transition to Body
Learning Activity #1

where adjectives are located in relation to other nouns, and that

some adjectives are indeed nouns (could give the example of moose
meat).
Students are expected to read their book silently, and attentive as I
introduce the worksheet. Students should remain seated as
worksheets are passed out for the learning activity, and should not
distract other students who are still finishing up their work.
Write agenda on the board for students:
1. Silent reading
2. Proper adjectives and articles
3. Locating adjectives worksheet
Have students put their books away, and direct their attention to the
front of the room where the Smart Board is.
Body
Locating adjectives worksheet (LO #2, 3):
1.

2.

4.

1 min
1 min
Time

Before giving the students the worksheet, explain the

difference between proper adjectives and articles. Proper
adjectives are like proper nouns, and are capitalized. Articles
can be thought of as baby adjectives; a, an, and the are
articles. Use PANTHER as a mnemonic for students to
remember articles.
Go through the first sentence of the worksheet, circling
adjectives and ask students:
- Can a noun act as an adjective?
- Can more than one adjective describe one noun?
- Where is the adjective placed in relation to the noun?

3.

15 min

Hole punch the worksheets, and have a student or two help

to hand out the sheets. Have another student pass out their
LA duotangs, which they will put the worksheet in. Students
will then have the opportunity to work on their worksheets
individually.
Will give the students a five-minute warning before
wrapping up the activity.

Extra time activity: if students finish their worksheet, have them

come up with a bad adjective (e.g. good, bad, nice, big, small) and
have them come up and put it on the poster.
Assessments/ Differentiation

Learning Activity #2

Self-assessment: students will self assess if they are finished, and are
able to review the adjectives with a partner, seeing which adjectives
they missed and found. (LO#2,3)
Observation: will circulate the classroom observe students to
confirm that the words they are circling are indeed adjectives. Will
not check for completeness (finding all the adjectives) but
correctness of answers. (LO#2,3)
Large group review of worksheet (LO #2, 3):
Depending on how much time is left, the review of the worksheet
may be done at the beginning of the next class.
1.

If there is enough time at the end of class, the teacher will

10 min

2.

3.
Assessments/ Differentiation

Sponge Activity

Assessment of Learning:

Feedback From Students:

Feedback To Students

Transition To Next
Lesson

review the answers to the worksheet in a large group,

making annotations on the document on the SMART board.
The bulk of the time will be spent explaining some of the
harder to find adjectives in the passage.
As the passage is reviewed, make note of which adjectives
are articles, and which ones are proper adjectives. Students
will be given the opportunity to circle adjectives they missed
as the class goes over the answers together.
Save the annotations on the document in the event that this
activity needs to be continued another day.

Questions/observation:
The students level of skill of locating adjectives will be assessed by
observations of the consensus of which words in the passage are
adjectives (LO#2). For certain words that are questionable, students
will be asked to give a reason why they think it is an adjective (LO#2,
3) (students should have had some time practicing this skill playing
scattergories).
Sponge activity: If the students claim to have found all of them
adjectives during LA #2, tell them to partner up with someone at
their table and check that they have found at least 60 adjectives on
the page. Also see if they can make a note of where the two proper
adjectives are in the passage.
Closure
Review the kind of characteristics of a noun that an adjective can
describe (quantity, color, kind, size, texture, ect.). Review PANTHER
for articles, and note that nouns can act as adjectives (like in moose
meat or car salesman). Most of this consolidation of learning can be
incorporated into the review of the worksheet.
Call on a student to explain what two types of adjectives we talked
about in the lesson. Have sticky notes to give the students and they
must come up with an adjective to describe their teacher, one
proper, and one of their choice.
Based on my perception of their overall understanding, I will tell
them that they are ready to move on to going over some other types
of adjectives, or that more review may be required. I will tell them
what I thought went well while they were working during the lesson,
and areas where they were not meeting expectations and need to
improve for next time.
Next lesson we will begin talking about more types of adjectives,
when they are used to compare two or more things.

Time

3 min

Lesson
Title/Focus

Using adjectives to describe non-physical

characteristics

Date

11/17/14

Subject/Grade
Level

Grade 6 Humanities

Time
Duration

55 min

Unit

Parts of Speech

Teacher

Trevor Maekelburger

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
Learning
Outcomes:

GLO #4: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance the clarity and
artistry of communication.

Specific
Learning
Outcomes:

6.4.2.A.3 Attend to grammar and usage: Students will identify comparative and superlative forms of
adjectives, and use in own writing.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Describe similar pictures using a variety of different adjectives.
2. Use adjectives to describe non-physical characteristics of something (e.g. personality, character, mood)
3. Create an encouragement note for their teacher using various adjectives.

ASSESSMENTS
Observations:

Key Questions:
Products/Performances:

students verbal answers for the worksheet activity (review from last class)
students selections of appropriate and specific adjectives during LA#1 and 2. (LO
1,2,3)
Why is it important to use good adjectives when you are encouraging someone?
(LO#2)
Adjectives used and identified in encouragement note to teacher (LO#3)

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

50 Instructional Routines to Develop Content Literacy, by

Douglas Fisher et al.
Alberta Education ELA Program of Study
Lesson plan resources from readwritethink.org
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm
Smart Exchange

12 Calendar Pictures, numbered

secretShopper.pdf and heresTheAdjective.pdf
SMART board
Dictionaries/Thesauruses
27 LA journals (students will already have them
in the classroom)

PROCEDURE
Attention Grabber

Introduction
Start with two truths and a lie with three students. (need to pick for 6D)
(May need to save for next class) As a review of what was talked about in
the previous lesson, will start out with a Schoolhouse Rock video about
adjectives. Unpack your adjectives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuuZEey_bs
Will tell the students to be watchful for any adjective rules they notice in
the video that may be helpful. After playing the video, ask: what were
some of the adjective rules you noticed in the video?

Time

6 min

Assessment of Prior
Knowledge

Will most likely need to finish going over the locating adjectives
worksheet that was started in the previous lesson. I will use the
assessment of learning in the previous lesson to determine if extra time
needs to be spent practicing using and selecting adjectives. If the students
are struggling understanding the use of adjectives, I will go over some
examples on the SMART board on the Heres the Adjective! worksheet
and address some of the issues that students were having in the previous
class.

10 min

Since 6C finished the adjectives worksheet, ask them if they have any
questions about it.
Expectations for
Learning and Behavior

Advance
Organizer/Agenda

Transition to Body

Learning Activity #1

Students should be developing an understanding of the many aspects of

nouns that adjectives describe. In this lesson, students are expected to
contribute to class discussions during the worksheet activities, and to
write kind messages for their teacher during the encouragement note
activity.
Write agenda on the board for students:
1. Finish/review Secret Shopper worksheet
2. Go through Heresthe Adjective (6D only if time)
3. Dog calendar activity (if 6Ds are pressed for time, may have
to cut this out)
4. Encouragement note
Explain to the students that I am seeing them using adjectives well to
describe physical characteristics of a noun, but that I want them to begin
focusing on the non-physical aspects of something (beyond the five
senses).
Body
Dog Calendar activity:

1 min

Time

1.

Assessments/ Differentiation:

Learning Activity #2

Have a student distribute one piece of lined paper to each

student, and ask another to hand out the LA duotangs.
2. Begin by picking two pictures from the husky calendar and ask
the students to come up with words to describe the two dogs.
3. The remaining 10 pictures from the husky dog calendar will be
distributed between the five tables.
4. Students will write the numbers 1 to 10 on their lined piece of
paper, and will be given 1 minute to come up with some
adjectives (1-3) to describe the 2 dogs at their table.
5. After the minute is up, the students will pass their pictures
clockwise (may need to demonstrate to students), and repeat step
4 until they have gone through all the pictures. Students may not
use the same adjective twice.
6. After they are done, collect the pictures and put them up on the
whiteboard. Draw popsicle sticks and have students give a few
adjectives that they wrote for the different dogs.
Observations: Will go around during the activity to check with weaker
students to see if the words they are using are adjectives, and if any bad
adjectives are being used. I will also observe students responses when
going over the pictures as a class.
Encouragement note activity:

1.

Adjectives can be powerful words that have the potential to hurt

15 min

15 min

2.
3.

Assessments/ Differentiation

Sponge Activity:
Assessment of Learning:

Feedback From Students:

Feedback To Students
Transition To Next
Lesson

people, but they can also encourage as well! Explain to students

that their teacher (Ms. A) is in need of some encouragement, as
her family is having a hard time right now (do not go into much
detail). The students will be writing a note of encouragement on a
slip of paper, which will be made into a little booklet for Ms. A.
Remind students to use encouraging words, and correct students
who are writing anything negative.
Have students check with you once their note:
a. Is written in pencil
b. Has the adjectives underlined
c. is free of spelling errors and bad adjectives (draw
students attention to poster)

have them write over it in pen, coloring their adjectives in a

different color.
4. If students are finished early, have them make one for Mr.
Maekelburger or Mr. McClary.
Product: Adjectives used and identified in encouragement note to teacher
(LO#3)
Question: Why is it important to use good adjectives when you are
encouraging someone? (LO#2)
Silent reading: students may read a book of their choice for the
remainder of LA#2.
Closure
Reiterate the importance of using a variety of different adjectives to
describe very similar things, and to avoid using bad adjectives,
redirecting the students attention to the poster they made. Remind them
that a specific adjective can really make someones day.
Ask the students if they enjoyed the encouragement note activity, and if
they did, tell them that if they are more than welcome to write an
encouraging note for one of their other teachers.
Give some students praise for some of the unique adjectives that they
chose in their activity. Affirm their encouraging notes to Ms. A, and
highlight any misunderstandings that came up in the activities.
Next lesson, we will look at the comparatives and superlatives sheet that
was handed out last class.

Time

8 min

Lesson
Title/Focus

Comparative and Superlative forms of

Adjectives

Date

11/24/14

Subject/Grade
Level

Grade 6 Humanities

Time
Duration

55 min

Unit

Parts of Speech

Teacher

Trevor Maekelburger

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
Learning
Outcomes:

GLO #4: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance the clarity and
artistry of communication.

Specific
Learning
Outcomes:

6.4.2.A.3 Attend to grammar and usage: Students will identify comparative and superlative forms of
adjectives, and use in own writing.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Distinguish between superlative and comparative forms of adjectives.
2. Use comparative and superlative forms of adjectives to compare nouns in writing.
3. Understand basic adjective rules for comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.

ASSESSMENTS
Observations:

Key Questions:
Products/Performances:

Observe students as they are writing their answers during LA#1, giving verbal
feedback on ones they may be struggling on. Will observe students responses as
we go over the worksheet as a class, to ensure that they are correctly
distinguishing between superlative and comparative. (LO#1,3)
I will ask students to give examples of superlatives and comparatives that apply
to the different rules during LA#2 (LO#1,3).
will observe students as they write their questionnaires and as they interact
around the room. I will ensure that their questions contain superlatives, and that
they are used correctly. (LO #1,2,3)
What form of adjectives do you use to compare two nouns? (LO #1)
What form of adjectives do you use to compare three or more nouns? (LO #1)
none

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

50 Instructional Routines to Develop Content Literacy, by

Douglas Fisher et al.
Alberta Education ELA Program of Study
Lesson plan resources from readwritethink.org
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm
Smart Exchange

SMART board and laptop

Adjectives Comparative and Superlative Smart
notebook document downloaded from Smart
Exchange (preview available at
http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=
4973855c-701f-4261-b6e3-1a52f9c58ecf)
Dictionaries/Thesauruses
27 writing journals (students will already have
them in the classroom)
27 Dare to Compare worksheets

PROCEDURE
Introduction

Time

Attention Grabber

Assessment of Prior
Knowledge
Expectations for
Learning and Behavior

Advance
Organizer/Agenda

Transition to Body

Learning Activity #1

As an introduction to the topic and some of the adjective rules, will start
out with a song about adjectives. Paint the way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIqdPrH--k
Will tell the students to be watchful for any adjective rules they notice in
the video that may be helpful. After playing the video, ask: what were
some of the adjective rules you noticed in the video?
What adjective rules in the video did you see that we have talked about
already?
Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns; describe which one, what kind,
how many, ect.
Students should understand how to compare different nouns by using a
range of different degrees of adjectives positive, superlative, and
comparative forms. Students should begin moving away from resorting to
bad adjectives and using more descriptive adjectives. During the
instructional portion of the lesson, students are expected to be attentive
to the teacher and participate in the activity during the SMART board
lesson. If the structure of the room is such that students chairs are facing
away from you, move around to different parts of the classroom in order
to hold students attention.
Write agenda on the board for students:
5. Worksheet activity
6. Student superlative demonstration
7. Smart Board activity
8. Partner questionnaire
As a transition to superlatives/comparatives, show the Guinness book of
world records video https://www.youtube.com/v/IRXW7Ne1_88?ref=0
Body
Worksheet activity and student demonstration:

6 min

1 min

3 min
Time

1. Have a student help to hand out L.A. duotangs to the class. Students will
find the locating adjectives worksheet that we went over in a previous
class and turn to the back side of the worksheet.
2. Briefly review some of the rules outlined on the worksheet before
starting. A simple rule to remember with superlatives and comparatives is
that the modifier er has two letters and compares two things, and that
est has three letters and compares three or more things. Highlight the
note on the page that says that more and most apply to adverbs that end
in ly.
3. Give students 5-7 minutes to complete the worksheet. There are two
questions, namely 4 and 8, that will require some discussion afterwards.
4. Go over the answers as a class, and make note of some of the rules that
are used. Draw popsicle sticks, picking more green ones for the difficult
ones, and red ones for the easier ones. Have students fill in the answers
that they did not have time to complete.
5. Have students get up out of their chairs, and stretch. Explain that I need
them to sort themselves from youngest to oldest. Along two walls of the
room. Once they have successfully done that, challenge them to sort
themselves from shortest to tallest, without talking. Make comparisons

15 min

using comparatives and superlatives to give students a concrete idea of

how they apply to real life situations.
Assessments/ Differentiation:

Learning Activity #2

Differentiation: for J, can have her type the answers out if she would
prefer using her laptop.
Assessment: Observe students as they are writing their answers, giving
verbal feedback on ones they may be struggling on. Will observe students
responses as we go over the worksheet as a class, to ensure that they are
correctly distinguishing between superlative and comparative. (LO#1,3)
Superlatives and Comparatives SMART presentation:
1.

2.

3.

4.

Assessments/ Differentiation

Learning Activity #3:

Open the notebook document

AdjectivesComparativeandSuperlativeUS using the Smart
Notebook software. Go through the slides, elaborating on the
rules for superlatives and comparatives.
Define superlative and comparative forms of adjectives. It is
important that students know how to distinguish between the
two when they see them in writing. Than is an important
keyword for noticing comparative forms of adjectives, while
superlative forms are usually characterized by adjectives ending
in est, or having modifiers like most or least.
A few students will then have an opportunity to come to the
smart board and write example sentences using a positive
adjective and its superlative and comparative forms. (Use
popsicle sticks or have student pick another student to go next)
At the end of the notebook presentation, there is an activity for
students to drag positive, superlative and comparative forms of
adjectives onto a table. Ask one student to volunteer to place one
of the words in the correct column. Encourage feedback from the
rest of the students if the student is having trouble. That student
will then choose another student to take the next word, until all
words have been placed.

10 min

Questions/Observation: I will ask students to give examples of

superlatives and comparatives that apply to the different rules (LO#1,3).
Questionnaire: Students will pose some questions using different
superlatives and go around the classroom and find answers to them.
1.

2.

3.
4.

Students will write down five questions using superlatives, that

they may want to know about someone else in the room. The
questions must be appropriate (they cannot be TOO personal).
E.g. What is the most intense ride that you have ever been on?
Give the students about 5-7 minutes to come up with some
questions. The students may not use the same superlative
twice. Each question must have a different superlative form of an
adjective.
Students will then go around the room asking their questions to
their peers, writing down the answers to their questions. They
may not ask the same person more than one question.
If there is time at the end, have some students share their
answers with the class.

Sponge activity: Online adjectives quiz.

15 min

Assessments/Differentiation

Assessment of Learning:
Feedback From Students:
Feedback To Students

Transition To Next
Lesson

Observations: will observe students as they write their questions and as

they interact around the room. I will ensure that their questions contain
superlatives, and that they are used correctly. (LO #1,2,3)
Closure
Comparative forms of adjectives compare two different things, and are
often recognized by the word than, and superlative forms of adjectives
compare three or more things,
Pose a question to the students (using a superlative of course!): What was
the most fun activity today?
Acknowledge some of the creative questions that students came up with
during the activity, and tell them that if they are still struggling with
adjectives, to review their locating adjectives worksheet, or even give the
adjectives video another watch at home. Address any issues that the
students were having with either superlatives or comparatives during the
lesson.
Next lesson, we will move on to the next part of speech: the adverb. We
will begin by relating them to adjectives and looking at the similarities
between adjectives and adverbs.

Time

5 min