Sentence Parts Today

Overview

Today students will learn how key word types (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) help sentences make sense. They will practice building and revising simple sentences and check for correct subject-verb agreement.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• Identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives in sentences and explain their functions.
• Identify pronouns and understand how they replace nouns in sentences.
• Use simple sentence structure to create sentences that communicate a clear idea.
• Form correct simple verb tenses and use subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement in their own writing.
• Produce simple, compound, or complex sentences using appropriate punctuation.

Success criteria

• I can label nouns, verbs, pronouns, and adjectives in a sentence.
• I can write a sentence that has a subject and a verb that match.
• I can add an adjective to make my sentence more specific.
• I can revise my sentence to fix tense and agreement errors.

Curriculum links

• Language: Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and in particular sentences (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1a).
• Language: Form and use simple verb tenses (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1e).
• Language: Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1f).
• Language: Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1i).

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Warm-up (Word Sort). Teacher displays a short sentence on the board and reads it aloud: “The small dog runs fast.” Students turn and talk to identify one word type they notice (noun, verb, or adjective) and share one answer.

2. 5–12 min · Mini-lesson (What each word does). Teacher charts sentence part functions with quick examples:

• Noun: names a person/place/thing/idea (dog, park, kindness)
• Verb: shows action or being (runs, is)
• Adjective: describes a noun (small, blue, brave)
• Pronoun: replaces a noun (he, she, it, they)
• Adverb: describes a verb (fast, quietly) Students chorally repeat labels and point to the word in the displayed sentence as the teacher calls it out.

3. 12–20 min · Guided practice (Label and justify). Teacher gives 4 sentence strips (projected or on paper):

• “Maya paints a bright picture.”
• “The cat sleeps on the couch.”
• “She laughs loudly.”
• “We walked to school yesterday.” Students work in pairs to underline the noun(s) once, circle the verb(s), box adjectives, and add a small note for pronouns/adverbs when present; they then choose one sentence and explain which word shows the action and which word describes it.

4. 20–30 min · Skill focus (Agreement + tense). Teacher models two quick revisions using think-aloud:

• “The dogs runs in the yard.” → “The dogs run in the yard.” (subject-verb agreement)
• “He walk to the store.” → “He walks to the store.” (simple present tense) Students complete a short “Fix It” on their paper:
• “My brother (like/likes) pizza.”
• “The birds (fly/flies) in the sky.”
• “I (walk/walked) to the library yesterday.” Teacher circulates and asks: “What word tells you the sentence’s subject? What ending should the verb have?”

5. 30–41 min · Sentence construction (Make it clear and complete). Teacher provides a sentence frame and word bank:

• Frame: “___ (noun/pronoun) ___ (verb) ___ (adjective) ___ (noun) ___ (adverb).” Word bank examples: Maya, they, hamster, runs, is, small, yellow, slowly, loudly, bright, park, quickly. Students write 2–3 original sentences: one simple sentence and one compound or complex sentence. Teacher reminds students to use commas appropriately in compound sentences and to keep complex sentences understandable (for example, “Because…, …” or “When…, …”). Suggested target sentence models:
• Simple: “Maya runs quickly.”
• Compound: “Maya runs quickly, and the dog barks.”
• Complex: “When the music starts, they dance.”

6. 41–45 min · Exit ticket (Check for parts). Students complete a final task on one sentence:

• “The brave boy rides his bike fast.” They must: (1) circle the verb, (2) underline the noun, (3) box the adjective, and (4) write whether “fast” tells how the verb happens (yes/no with one word: “how”).

Resources

• Sentence strips or projected sentences
• Student worksheet: Label + Fix It + Sentence writing templates
• Word bank cards (nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs)
• Colored pencils or markers for underlining/circling/boxing
• Chart paper for mini-lesson anchor chart
• Timer for pacing

Assessment

• Formative during pair label activity: teacher listens for correct identification and reasoning (“Why is that word a verb?”).
• Formative during “Fix It” practice: check for accurate subject-verb and simple tense choices.
• Exit ticket: verify word-type identification (noun/verb/adjective) and adverb function (how/when/where).

Differentiation

• Support: Provide sentence starters and a partially completed example (“The ___ (noun) ___ (verb) ___ (adjective) ___ (noun).”). Offer a word bank with fewer choices first.
• Support for EAL/SEN: Use color-coding labels on the board consistently (blue=noun, red=verb, green=adjective, purple=adverb) and allow oral rehearsal before writing.
• Extension: Challenge students to add an adjective and an adverb in their second sentence and to underline the subject once and circle the verb once in each sentence they write.
• Language scaffold: Provide a mini “agreement checklist” at the top of the Fix It page (Subject? Verb match? Tense matches time word like yesterday?).