I Spy Nouns

This lesson will introduce students to nouns. The lesson will begin with a game of "I Spy." This game will help students to understand that nouns are things that can be seen and touched. Then the students will make lists of people, places, and things.

A lesson plan for grade 1 English Language Arts

By Beth Edmonds

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• Learn more about English language arts.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• The learner will participate in a game of “I Spy.”
• explain that a noun is a person, place or thing.
• identify a noun as a person, place or thing.
• make a list of nouns (people, places, things).

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

50 Minutes

Materials/resources

• 1 sheet of paper for each student
• pencils
• timer

Technology resources

None

Pre-activities

Have the whole class participate in a game of “I Spy.” Start the game by explaining that you are going to choose something in the classroom. You are not going to tell anyone what object you selected. The students will ask questions one at a time — such as, Is it red? Can a person sit in it? Does it have legs? etc. The first student who guesses the object will get to come up next. He/She will choose an object in the classroom and say “I spy an object in the room.” The game will continue until you decide to end it. Try to give as many students as possible the chance to be the “spy.”

Activities

Tell the students that the objects that were spied in the room are nouns. Explain that nouns are people, places or things. Call out some nouns and have the students say whether the noun is a person, place, or thing. For example, you could call out the following nouns: television, tree, North Carolina, teacher, chair, library, grandmother, lizard.

For a written activity, have students fold a sheet of paper into thirds. Tell students to write the word “People” at the top of the first section. Set a timer for 2 minutes and have students write the names of people at their school (Chelsea, Tyler, Mrs. Edmonds, etc.) Write as many as they can during the time period. Encourage students to use temporary spelling if necessary.

In the second section of the paper, have students write “Places” at the top. Set the timer for 2 minutes and have students write the names of places in their community (Pizza Hut, library, etc.) or places they would like to visit. Use temporary spelling.

In the third section, have students write “Things” at the top. Set the timer for 2 minutes and have students write the names of things they would like to get for their birthday. Use temporary spelling.

Have students share their lists with other students. Ask several students to tell the rest of the class the most unusual noun that someone shared with them.

Assessment

The students’ understanding of nouns can be assessed during the written activity. First, check to see whether each student can generate a list of nouns. Second, check to see whether students can identify the nouns as a person, place, or thing.

Students can be assessed the day after this lesson was taught. Students can draw a picture and label all of the nouns in the drawing.

Supplemental information

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