• Students use nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs to add clarity and variety to their writing. 

• Students recognize that using more clear and precise nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs will increase the understanding and enjoyment of their readers

• Teachers review and explain how to use nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs in sentences. 

• Teachers  explain that using more precise or clearer nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs adds to the understanding and enjoyment of an author’s writing. 

• Teachers  model how to use different nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs in order to provide clarity or add variety to sentences. 

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to use nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs in sentences. 

• Teachers  monitor and provide opportunities for feedback when students use nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs in sentences. 

When students use imprecise nouns in their sentences, teachers can… 

• have anchor charts in the room displaying examples of more precise nouns. 

• have the students highlight nouns in their own writing or in text, and have the students brainstorm alternative nouns to use.  

• create a chart where students practice taking a noun from its most general form to increasingly more specific (e.g., spot → place → state → Oklahoma or girl → neighbor → friend → Katie). 

When students use imprecise verbs in their sentences, teachers can.. 

• have anchor charts in the room displaying examples of precise verbs for students to reference. 

• have the students identify verbs in their own writing or in text and have the students brainstorm alternative verbs to use. 

• have them select an activity or behavior that needs precise strong verbs. Then have them create a “Verb Bank” appropriate for that situation. Next have them create a sentence about the activity or behavior using the verbs they have thought of. 

When students do not use adjectives to add variety to their writing, teachers can…

• have anchor charts in the room displaying examples of precise adjectives for students to reference. 

• have students highlight nouns in their writing and brainstorm adjectives that will successfully modify the highlighted noun.  

• start by writing a simple sentence on the board. Ask the students to add adjectives to the sentence you have on the board, one at a time, to make a more interesting sentence. As they add adjectives, point out the correct order in which to place them. Once students are familiar with the process, put them in pairs and give them some additional simple sentences. Give students a few minutes to expand their sentences as creatively as possible and then come back together as a class to share what students have written.

When the students do not use adverbs to add variety to their writing, the teacher may….

• have anchor charts in the room displaying examples of precise adverbs for students to reference. 

• have students highlight verbs in their writing and brainstorm adverbs that will successfully modify the highlighted verb.  

• have a small group where children are in pairs.  Students take turns choosing adverbs from a prepared list.  They brainstorm a verb to go with their chosen adverb.  They then both write a sentence with their adverb and verb combination. 

• An extension of this activity would be that the students act out the sentence of their partner with and without the adverb.  With this, they discover how using adverbs adds meaning to the sentence.

• Action verb: a verb that expresses physical or mental action of the subject.

• Adverbs: a word that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or other adverb. Adverbs tell when, where, how, how often, how much, to what extent. Common adverbs end in –ly.

• Noun: a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.

• Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases: a word or group of words linked to a noun or verb to describe direction or condition.

• Verb: a word that expresses action or state of being

• 4.5.R.2:  Parts of Speech