LESSON PLAN BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

SETTING
School: Pierce School
Grade level: 5th
Classroom: 5A

Date: 4/14/15
Lesson duration: 45 min.
Number of students: 25

FRAMEWORK
Objective: Students will be able to identify, define, and demonstrate correct usage of adverbs.
Rationale: In the English language, there are eight main parts of speech in total. As students
develop as writers, it is important that they understand these parts of speech and how they can
use words to improve their writing.
IEP objective(s): [Student] will expand her sentence length and complexity by using a
variety of adjectives and adverbs in order to provide description in her writing, given
faded verbal cues, in 8 out of 10 observed opportunities
State/Common Core standards: According to the Common Core State Standards for
language, students should be able to Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences
(CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1.A).
Prerequisite knowledge and skills: Students can define nouns, adjectives, and verbs
and can identify them in a sentence. As verbs and adverbs are so closely related, this
knowledge will aid students in understanding the function of adverbs.
Learner factors: When invited to work in partners, students often spend time off-task.
As a result, partners will be assigned.
Access: Some students will be provided with a large list of adverbs to refer to during the
unprompted practice activity.
Materials: Word list sheet; adverb practice worksheet; word list
Possible Adjustments:
Extension: To make the independent activity more challenging, students can place the
word in alphabetically order or by category (how/when/where).
Adjustments: Students who appear to struggle will receive a list of adverbs to refer to
during the unprompted practice activity and may work in pairs, if needed.
Instructional follow-up: Students who do not meet the lesson objective will continue identify
adverbs in writing, and then they will revisit adding adverbs to writing. Students who have
mastered the concept will move into adverbial phrases.
EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to identify, define, and demonstrate correct usage of
adverbs.
OPENING
Gain students attention: Students talk with the people around them for approximately 2 min.
about what part of speech the word upstairs belongs to. This will lead to a brief discussion
about the importance of the relationships between words because upstairs can be an adverb,
adjective, or noun.
Student-friendly statement of the lesson objective: Today you are learning to identify and
define adverbs and use them in a sentence.
Student-friendly statement of the relevance of the lesson objective: As writers, we can use
adverbs to help us strengthen our writing. During this lesson, you will see how the addition of adverbs
makes writing more specific and adds detail.
Review of critical prerequisite skills: Adverbs are parts of speech, just like nouns, adjectives, and
verbs. Who can remind what nouns, adjectives, and verbs are?
BODY OF THE EXPLICIT LESSON
Clear explanation of key concept: Parts of speech tell us the category that a word is in and the
function, or job, of that word. The part of speech we will be talking about today is adverbs. Some of you
may have already heard of the word adverbturn and talk to the person next to you about what you
already know about adverbs; try to give examples. [Summarize definitions provided by students
during turn and talk].
Modeling/I Do: Adverbs describe verbs. They answer questions about verbs, such as when? where? and
how? I am going to show you examples of adverbs in sentences and we are going to discuss what makes
them adverbs and which question they answer.
1.
2.
3.
4.

The bus stopped abruptly at the red light.

It will be too dark to play outside soon.
The boy dramatically slammed his door.
I never buy lunch from the cafeteria.

As I mentioned earlier, adverbs make our writing more specific and add detail. I am going to cover the
adverb in each of these sentences. The first sentence becomes the bus stopped at the red light. Think,
pair, share what is different about this sentence? Can you think of any other adverbs that we can use
instead of abruptly?
Criterion for moving to prompted/guided practice: Monitor student responses during the
think, pair, share. Revisit the explanation, if needed.
Prompted or Guided Practice/We Do: Now that we have explored adverbs together, you are
going to work with a partner to practice identifying adverbs. First, I want you to underline the adverb in
each sentence. Then, I want you to write which question about the verb, each adverb answers. [Provide
students with adverb worksheet].

Criterion for moving to Unprompted Practice: As students work in pairs, I will monitor
responses. We will review the correct answers before moving on to the next activity.
Unprompted Practice/You Do: As we already saw, adverbs can often help make writing stronger.
Now that you have had practice identifying and understanding adverbs, you are going to create a word
list of adverbs to refer to when you write. This is going to be independent work. Everyone will receive a
word list sheet. At the top, I would like you to write a short definition for the word adverb. Then, take
a few minutes to write down some awesome adverbs! If we have time at the end, volunteers will have the
opportunity to share some of the adverbs from their lists!
CLOSING
Review critical content: Ask student volunteers to provide a definition for adverbs, with
examples.
Preview the content of the next lesson: Today we explored adverbs as single words to tell us
when, where, and how something happened. There are also parts of sentences called adverbial phrases,
which answer these same questions, but with more than one word, in a phrase. We will look at adverbial
phrases in the future.
Assign independent work: As you go through the school day, make a list of adverbs that describe
where, when, and how you did things. For example, this morning I rushed hurriedly out the door. On my
list, the adjective I would write down is hurriedly. This tells me how I rushed out the door.
STUDENT EVALUATION
Assessment plan: Student work, both from the guided practice and the unprompted practice,
will be collected at the end of the lesson. This will provide concrete evidence as to whether or
not specific students met the lesson objective.
Criteria for mastery: In writing, students will define adverbs and will provide at least five
examples to support their definition.