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This was a review week for adjectives, and my kids are still having a little trouble identifying adjectives in context. See, we have focused so much on imagery, similes, and other descriptive language in writing that they are really struggling to differentiate between those and just plain adjectives.
Cue the anchor chart.
It's simple, but they are in awe of my cursive skills right now, and we just added words as we read Lily's Purple Plastic Purse. (I just finally got my own copy from our book fair- yay! Love Kevin Henkes.) I realize some of these don't seem like adjectives (like "movie star") but it was used as one in the book!
One of the things they taught me to do in college was to have some kind of engaging task for students as they listen to you, like during a read aloud. In my class, the parts of speech we work on a lot each have a motion.
For a noun, we act like we are taking a picture with a camera. (You could photograph most nouns.)
For action verbs, we mime running in place. (Action!)
For adjectives, we act like we're taking notes (because we're describing a noun).
As I read aloud Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, the class made the movement for adjective whenever they thought they heard one. It helped me see who knew them really well, and also helped me notice times when they heard not-adjectives but thought they were adjectives, so we could stop and discuss.
When we shared adjectives, I wrote them on the anchor chart. (I love letting kids write on the chart, but does anyone know a way to do that without having to wait for.ev.er. for each kid to get up to the chart? I feel like it just kills all the momentum of my lesson and I go crazy because the kids usually do too!)
Then, we used adjectives to write riddle poems in this format. No, it's not anything special, just something I made up. You could modify it!
What is ___________?
What is ___________?
What is __________________________ (rhymes with line above)
What is ___________ and __________ and ____________?
A _________________.
Then I modeled brainstorming some adjectives to see if I could think of enough for the poem...
Here is where I keep it real. This chart is far from cute- but I modeled changing the order of the first two lines to make rhyming easier. I tend to have kids that will come up to me saying, "What rhymes with 'ridiculous'?" when they could have rhymed with something like "bad."
Then, we made the poem together. A kid came up with "slimy as a sardine." (Love it!)
A couple of student examples...
What are sweet?
What are neat?
What is something you just can't beat?
What is loyal, honest, and kind?
Friends!
What is green?
What is red?
What has the rain and sun led?
What is beautiful, colorful, and untouchable?
A rainbow!
After rough drafts that you check over, have the kids fold a big piece of construction paper (you know, the ones that twice as long as normal paper?) in half. Paste the riddle on the front, and then the child's answer to the riddle (along with a drawing) on the inside. Hang so that kids can lift up the top flap to look underneath and see if they got the answer right.
It's a simple enough idea to implement, but I love finding print-and-go lessons... so here you are!
Download your freebie copy of the planning sheet and publishing papers here.
Adjective riddle poems were such a fun way to practice description, and they are an instant interactive bulletin board, too! Let me know if you try these out in your classroom!
