Grant D.

Hall
MAT 663 Lesson Plan Observed April 7, 2015

Adjectives a shared reading

Phase I:
Prior Knowledge:
Prior to reading the poem, I will ask the class what they know about poetry.
Do you know what a noun is?Person/Place/Thing
And do you remember what an adjective is? A word that describes or modifies a person or thing.
Today we are going to be looking at adjectives in a short poem. I am going to read it to you first,
you can follow along on the board (doc cam), and then we will talk about the poem.

1st Reading: Crayons: A Rainbow Poem by Jane Yolen

I will read the poem the first time, out lout, to the class.
The poem will be projected on the smart board.

After the first reading, I will ask the students if they can pick out some of the adjectives.
I will have them come to the board and circle the adjectives.

2nd Reading:
When we have finished identifying the adjectives, I will ask the students to put their heads on
their desk and close their eyes. I will then read the poem to them again, without any of the
adjectives. We will then have a quick share of what the difference was when the adjectives have
been taken out of the poem.

Now, we will look at the first line of the poem, without the adjective.
This box contains the wash of

sky.

What words, ADJECTIVES, can we use to describe WHAT? The sky. Because adjectives
describe the noun in a sentence, and sky is the noun. If students reply that box is also a noun, I
will explain that first we will talk about the noun sky, and then we will talk about the noun box.
We will then do a think-pair-share for students to come up with adjectives that can be used to
describe the noun sky. About 30 seconds and then Ill take suggestions from the students and
make a list on the board.

Now that we have a list of descriptive words, adjectives, that go with the noun sky, lets put one
in the space where blue was in the original poem.

I will then write the new line of the poem on the board.

Does it mean the same thing at the original line in the poem?
Does it still describe the sky?
What happens if we also use the adjective blue in the line?
Does the new adjective help, hurt, change the meaning of the poem?

If we use the new adjective and the adjective blue, we now have 2 adjectives describing the noun
sky. Now that we have two, can we add another one? Does it help to have 3 adjectives instead
of 2?

There isnt a rule as to how many adjectives you can use to describe something, however, the
adjectives you choose, and use, should make sense and help, not just be words added to make
your sentence longer.

Transition to Phase II:

The poem has 6 more lines that I would like each table to work on. Ive taken out the adjectives
in each line. Choose a scribe for your table, and one person that is willing to share at the end of
this exercise. Each table should make a list of adjectives that could be used to describe your
word. After youve made your list, re-write you line of the poem with the new adjectives where
the original word was in the line. Ill give you 6 minutes to make your list and write your new
line. Does anyone have any questions about what each table needs to do? Could someone tell
me what we are going to do next?
Phase II:

Lines for student work:

Original line
Line without the adjective
Spikes of green spring
Spikes of
spring
A circle of yellow sun
A circle of
sun
Triangle flames of orange and red
Triangle flames of
It has the lime caterpillar
It has the
caterpillar
Inching on a brown branch
Inching on a
branch
The shadow black in the center of a grove of The shadow
in the center of a grove of
trees
trees
I will give them a 2 minute warning at 4 minutes. (I will also have a timer on the board going.)
After the 6 minutes, I will ask the students to wrap things up and get ready to share their line.

Lets rewrite the poem, one line at a time, and see what we can come up with.

I will write the first sentence on the board that we did as a class (if it has not been erased).
Each scribe will then come up and write their sentence/line on the board.
After all of the new lines are put on the board, I will read the poem out loud to the class.

Is there a difference in the mood or feeling of the poem?

What change did you observe?
Has the meaning changed?
How has it changed?
Do the extra/different adjectives help or take away from the flow or rhythm of the poem?
Why?

Transition to Phase III:

Now that weve looked at Crayons: A Rainbow Poem, I am going to give each of you a copy of
another poem called Two Funny, Little Red Apples. There are two things I would like you to do
with this poem:
#1.

Underline all of the adjectives you can find

#2.
Try to come up with another adjective that you could use in the poem, and then
write that word under the original, underlined adjective.

Do you have any questions about what I would like you to do with the new poem? Could
someone please tell me what they are supposed to do?
Phase III:
Students work on the new poem identifying adjectives, and coming up with a
different adjective to replace the original adjective.

Two funny, little red apples

Fell from a treeone day
Both small apples rolled and rolled
Till they got far away.

They rolled into a big, green yard,

Right past three white dogs.
They rolled right past a cold, blue
Lake, And over four brown logs

They didnt stop. They kept on going.

Fast as a speeding train.
Until they fel some small, wet drops
Fall from the dark sky as rain.

They rolled into a pretty, new house.

Where a kind lady made them dry.
They she put the two clean, red
Apples into her apple pie!

Crayons: A Rainbow Poem

By Jane Yolen

This box contains the wash of blue sky,

Spikes of green spring,
A circle of yellow sun,
Triangle flames of orange and red.

It has the lime caterpillar

Inching on a brown branch,
The shadow black in the center
Of a grove of trees.

It holds my pink
And your chocolate
And her burnt sienna
And his ivory skin.

In it are all the colors of the world.