Adjectives Color Our World

Subject Area: Language Arts

Grade Level(s): 6

Duration of Activity: One to two, 50-minute class periods

Description of Activity:

Students will use four types of adjectives in original sentences and identify each adjective used through appropriate color-coding.

Objectives:

• The student will identify and demonstrate the correct use of possessive adjectives.
• The student will identify and demonstrate the correct use of demonstrative adjectives.
• The student will identify and demonstrate the correct use of interrogative adjectives.
• The student will identify and demonstrate the correct use of indefinite adjectives.

Materials/Equipment:

• Language Arts textbook
• Computers with Internet access for student use
• Computer with large monitor, NetTV, or wall projector for demonstration purposes
• Printer
• Handout 1: Adjectives Color Our World (Printout of Microsoft PowerPoint presentation)
• Handout 2: Color-Coded Adjectives

Prerequisites (skills or background needed):

• Basic skills in accessing and using the World Wide Web
• Basic computer skills
• Basic keyboarding skills using Microsoft Word or other word-processing software
• Completion of an introductory unit on adjectives using the textbook and other resources

Procedure

Teacher Component: The teacher will

1. arrange for use of a laptop cart or computer lab. If this is not possible, a schedule should be created that allows each student ample time to complete the assignment using classroom computers.
2. use the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to review the four types of adjectives and provide students printouts of this presentation as Handout 1: Adjectives Color Our World.
3. distribute Handout 2: Color-Coded Adjectives and review the assignment with the students.
4. ask the students to create original sentences using the four types of adjectives discussed in class. Word-processing software will be used to create the sentences and color-code the adjectives correctly according to the key on Handout 2.
5. facilitate the students’ use of the computers and printing of the completed student products.

Student Activities: The student will

1. view the teacher’s PowerPoint presentation review of adjectives.
2. create original sentences using the four types of adjectives discussed in the presentation and color-coding them according to the key provided in Handout 2: Color-Coded Adjectives.
3. print and submit the completed project for assessment.

Accommodations:

• If sufficient computers are not available for individual use, students may partner and share a computer, taking turns to complete each activity.
• Adaptations can be made in the color palette or formatting for students who have problems distinguishing among the four colors designated for the four types of adjectives. If suitable colors cannot be found, changing the font style would be another way to designate the different adjective types.

Extension Activities:

• Students can insert clip art objects into their word-processing document that represent the adjectives used in their sentences.
• Students may go to the Website, Schoolhouse Rock—Grammar Rock / http://www.postdiluvian.org/~gilly/Schoolhouse_Rock/HTML/grammar/adjective/A> and listen to the musical rhyme about adjectives. The students can write original songs, poems, or raps about adjectives or containing adjectives.
• Students can create adjective crossword puzzles. Clues would refer to adjectives, or clues could be adjective opposites. Students can create the crossword puzzles using Microsoft Excel software. The FORMAT menu options of CELLS > ALIGNMENT > MERGE CELLS and CELLS > PATTERNS can be used to create the black spaces in the crossword puzzles.
• Students can use Microsoft Excel to create word searches for adjectives.
• Students can locate and define an "adjective of the day" on a rotating basis. The A.Word.A.Day / http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html Web site is a good source of unusual words that might interest the students.

Integration:

• Technology

Assessments:

1. The students’ original sentences will be assessed for grammar and appropriate color-coding.

URLs:

These Web sites can be used to introduce or review adjectives.

• Schoolhouse Rock—Grammar Rock
  http://www.postdiluvian.org/~gilly/Schoolhouse_Rock/HTML/grammar/adjective
• Aardvark’s English Forum.com
  http://www.englishforum.com/00/
• What is an Adjective?
  http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/adjectve.html
• Discovering Adjectives:: Lesson Plan, Activity, or Teaching Idea from A to Z Teacher Stuff
  http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/467.shtml
• Adjectives Worksheets!
  http://www.edhelper.com/language/Adjectives.htm
• Adjectives: Match the Opposites
  http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~efl/exercises/adjectiv.htm
• Adjectives—Describing Words
  http://www.stufun.com/adjectives/
• Web English Teacher
  http://www.webenglishteacher.com/grammar.html

Curriculum Frameworks

Mississippi:

Sixth Grade

11. Demonstrate continuous progress toward control of penmanship, grammar, mechanics, sentence structure, and usage of standard English in the context of writing and speaking. (R, W, S, L, V)
    1. Demonstrate knowledge of grammar and usage, including, but not limited to, parts of speech, all punctuation marks, capitalization, verb tense, subject-verb agreement, subordination, pronoun reference, participle and gerund phrases, and basic sentence elements.
    2. Interact with increasing competency using standard English when writing and speaking in a variety of situations.
    3. Apply correct grammar skills in speaking and writing.
    4. Apply correct usage in speaking, writing, and editing/proofreading
    5. Use correct sentence structure in speaking, writing, and editing/proofreading.
    6. Increase proficiency in penmanship.

National Educational Technology Standards (NETS):

8. Select and use appropriate tools and technology resources to accomplish a variety of tasks and solve problems, (5, 6)

TerraNova:

09 Editing Skills
Identify the appropriate use of capitalization, punctuation, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in exiting text.

Link and Feedback to Author(s):

Christine Russell, Hunter Middle School, Drew, MS
Christinegr60@hotmail.com