Parts+of+Speech+Charades

Lesson plan rough draft 10/14:

Parts of Speech Charades

Context: (I’d probably assume here that my students are having some trouble with parts of speech, or just need a brief refresher in a manner that is different from the regular pen and pencil activities.) For this activity, I’ll be reviewing four parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. I’m not sure what larger context this could go into…maybe a precursor to writing poetry? Or even drafting a descriptive piece perhaps…I would emphasize to students to use strong verbs and adjectives in their writing.

Materials: small pieces of paper with pre-chosen words written on them, a bag or some sort of large container for students to draw papers out of, matrix hand-out, pencils, overhead projector/doc-cam

Time: 50 minute class period. 15 minute mini-lesson.

Instructional Procedures: I’d start the class off by briefly going over what each of the 4 parts of speech used in the game are; I’ll ask for examples from students and fill in a matrix-like chart on the doc cam. Each student will have this hand-out and fill in accordingly as we go along.

Next, I’ll divide the class into two teams and begin to explain that we will be playing Parts of Speech Charades! (YAY) Modified: divide the class into small groups instead, then each team will take a turn going, this way there isn’t 15 kids yelling at once trying to guess the word. They will nominate who is going to act the word out, but at the end of the game everyone should have had a turn.

There will be a bag with small pieces of paper in it, and on each piece of paper will be a word that is either a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective.

One student from the team comes up and chooses a word from the bag. There will be a specific symbol for each part of speech. The student will show me the word before beginning to act it out.

If the word is a noun, the symbol the student will first use to describe it is pointing. If the word is an adjective, the student will cross their arms. If the word is an adverb, the student will make an “A” shape with their first and second fingers turned upside-down, the rest folded down. If the word is a verb, the student will make a “V” shape with their first and second fingers turned and pointed upwards, the rest folded down.

There is no talking from the actor in charades. Their group members will call out their guesses until the correct word is described. There will be a time limit (90 seconds maybe?). Students will be awarded points for each word guessed correctly. If they do not get it correct, the student will tell the class the correct word and its part of speech.

While students are playing charades, they will be responsible for recording the words used in the game in their correct places in the worksheet matrix. This will hopefully serve as a means to have the kids pay attention further as well as be something they can keep in their binders for further reference.

Evaluation: I will have copied off Mad-Libs for the kids to do in partners (stories with words omitted and blanks left to fill…example: The (NOUN) is purple…and the individual picks any noun to put in the space); one partner asks the other to fill in the blank without knowing the plot line, then they exchange and read it…and then the other partner takes a turn. These will be collected so I can see if each student learned the parts of speech we practiced that day.

Accommodations: This could be difficult for students that are physically disabled. There could be more remedial words in a separate bag for students with severe learning disabilities or other special needs. Visually impaired students may also have difficulty.

In retrospect:

Appendix of materials needed: