Jazzy sentences

This is an interesting activity to help students jazz up or make their sentences more interesting by adding adjectives, adverbs, more vibrant verbs, and descriptive nouns.

A lesson plan for grades 3–4 English Language Arts

By Helen Potts

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Related topics

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• review nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverb parts of speech.
• improve their sentences to add more interest and readability.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

45 Minutes

Materials/resources

• Board (either blackboard or white)
• Paper
• Pencils

Pre-activities

Review using such questions as: “What is a noun?” and “How is a noun used in a sentence?” Ask the same type of questions for verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Activities

1. After reviewing the four parts of speech, put a sentence on the board putting a space between each word, like this: The_______man_______went_______to_______the_______store.
2. First look at the two nouns “man” and “store”. Have the students brainstorm every noun they can think of to replace these two nouns to make them more interesting. Such as:
   • Man: preacher, cowboy, lawyer, dude, doctor, etc.
   • Store: Wal-Mart, Harris Teeter, flea market, JC Penney, barber shop, etc.
3. Next, look at the verb “went” and brainstorm more interesting verbs, such as:
   • skipped, jumped, flew, sauntered, rolled, etc.
4. Now, brainstorm adjectives to describe “man” and “store”:
   • lazy man, crazy man, sissy man, sleepy man, well-dressed man,etc.
   • dirty store, crowded store, empty store, expensive store, cheap store, etc.
5. Now, brainstorm adverbs to describe the verb “went”, such as:
   • quickly, slowly, happily, sadly, surely, etc.
6. Last, go back and choose some of the brainstormed words to write a jazzy sentence instead of a boring sentence. Example:
   
   The sissy cowboy sauntered happily to the dirty flea market.
7. Put some additional expanded sentences on the board to let them try in either groups, pairs, or alone. Examples:
   • The_______girl_______sang_______a_______song.
   • The_______cat_______ate_______the_______bug.
   • My_______dog_______chased_______the_______car.

Assessment

Check the student’s work by having each group, pair, or individual student put one of their “jazzy” sentences on the board.

In future writing, check to see if students are writing more interesting sentences using more elaborate vocabulary.

Supplemental information

Comments

Students really get into this activity and enjoy competing to see who can come up with the most outrageous sentences. Remind students not to use any inappropriate words or names of fellow students in their sentences.