Noun Phrase Grammar Lesson Plan

Grammar Lesson Plan: Noun Phrases

Overview

Learning Target: SWBAT use noun phrases with concise language to to make their

writing more descriptive which helps the audience visualize convey specific meanings
and feelings and connections toaspects of characterization in characters that can either be
stand alone or used in their later narrative interpretations of the core text.
Corresponding CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.1.B
Use various types of phrases (noun, verb, adjectival, adverbial, participial, prepositional,
absolute) and clauses (independent, dependent; noun, relative, adverbial) to convey
specific meanings and add variety and interest to writing or presentations.

Scaffolding: The lesson is accessible to all my students because the video provides both written
and audio support so that students can make use of the multiple means of representation. Students
who are blind or visually impaired can hear the instructions or topics being covered, while
students who are deaf or hard of hearing can read the built in captioning in each video. As each
portion is discussed that section is focused on and made larger so that its easier to focus on. The
lesson also has an accompanying PowerPoint presentation that I will make available on the class
Edmodo site after class. The size of any handout can be made larger as needed on a student by
student basis. The Kahoot quiz also allows students to choose their answer in terms of picture
shapes which make it easier for ELL students

Procedure
I. (Hook) Introducing the Grammatical Concept
10 min.
A. Have students sign into the classroom Edmodo/ Wikispaces and pull up todays PowerPoint so
that they can follow along.
a. Say that today we will be discussing how to be more descriptive in our writing so that we
can help the audience visualize the characters
B. First things first we are going to do some mad libs to practice and review what we know about
parts of speech
a. Click the link to todays Padlet for further instructions warm up
b. Take 3-5 minutes to work on your mad lib
c. Lets compare here is the original prologue
i. How do the mad lib changes in the warm up compare to the original passage?
ii. Can you think of different things you can do in your writing to be more
descriptive?
A. Share the following paragraph with students. Ask them to consider the question: How does this
passage make you feel?

Where you see Lila you see Tron thats what everyone says. This type has more ink than
a fountain pen and less words than a mime but when it comes to having someone by her
side when committing her protests against the youth theres no one better Lila would
rather have by her side. Because even though everyone believes Tron to be the muscle
between Lilas schemes with his frame and his penchant for a wardrobe made up of tanks
and jeans with shoes
As students discuss their reactions, prompt with the following questions:
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Noun Phrase Grammar Lesson Plan

Is there anything you are curious about in this piece?

Would you like to add any information? If so how?
What does this passage make you think of?

Show students this version of the paragraph (from Ms. Gittens, Untitled). Ask them to consider
the question: How is the following passage different?

Where you see Lila you see Tron thats what everyone says. This tatted up silent type
has more ink than a fountain pen and less words than a mime but when it comes to having
someone by her side when committing her protests against the hierarchical and sheep
like nature of societys youth theres no one better Lila would rather have by her side.
Because even though everyone believes Tron to be the muscle between Lilas schemes
with his 6 foot 10 inch well defined frame and his penchant for an all black wardrobe
made up of muscle tanks and black jeans with black and white converse tennis shoes
As students discuss the differences, prompt with the following questions:
What did you learn from this passage?
Which passage do you have more heat around why?
Which passage is more effective?
What is that passage doing that makes it more effective?
II. (Instructional Explanation) Describing the Concept

10 min.

A. Today in class We will

1. Discuss how , when and why we want to be more descriptive in our writing
2. Use technology to make being more descriptive in writing more authentic in the age of
digital literacy.
3. Work on our character sketches that we started last class.
B. Note the passage Note that the second of the two passages contains noun phrases. Lets talk
about how we can tell the difference between nouns and noun phrases , and when and why, as
writers, you should use noun phrases.
C. A noun represents a naming word and names a person, place, thing or idea and fills in the
sentence roles of subject, object or object of the preposition.
D. A phrase is two or more words that may do not contain a subject orand a verb, but not both, that
would make it a clause, and add more information to the sentence.
Why are noun phrases important? In most cases, noun phrases make your writing stronger and
clearer because (1) we extend the subject (i.e., who or what is doing the action) and (2) make the
audiences vision of the subject clearer and sharper. As a result, the use of noun phrases can make
your essays more exacting and concrete and your stories more vivid. The use of nouns can be
more compelling in situations where its important to be direct or better for the audience if there
are few words (like in a recipe).
What does noun phrase mean? In a noun phrase is a group of words that does one of the
functions of a noun, a subject, object or prepositional object
(Demonstrate) The bright orange pick up truck stopped at the light. (or) The man is
driving a bright orange pick up truck. (or) He is the driver of the bright orange pick
up truck
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Noun Phrase Grammar Lesson Plan

With a noun phrase, the words that describe and extend the noun usually come before the noun,
but doesnt always have to. Share and draw attention to the descriptive verb/ modifier in front of
the noun format of this sentence:
Ex: The bright orange pick up truck stopped at the light.
Heres an example from Storks Marcelo in the Real World
Moving around the office with a cart full of mail or paper for the
copying and printing machines is my least favorite task
Contrast that sentence with its noun only version:
Ex: The Ttruck stopped at the light.
Ex: Moving is my task
Which sentence d you find more effective and why?
E. (If needed) Review nouns.
A noun represents a naming word and names a person, place, thing or idea and fills in the sentence
roles of subject, object or object of the preposition.

When wondering whether a word is a noun consider the questions: who and what
Person the man
Place Baltimore
Thing: cookie
Idea: Love

F. Any questions?
III. (Modeling) Modeling the Concept

10 min.

1. (Modelling) This afternoon in the second half of class you will be looking at your character
sketches and searching out sentences where there are nouns and make the choice of whether or
not a noun phrase would be better suited for that sentence. So that your audience will be able to
get a better picture of what the character looks like and furthermore who the character is in real
time. But right now lets make sure we all know how to be successful with this. Im going to
model how I go about deciding whether a sentence should contain just a simple noun or a more
descriptive and perhaps effective noun phrase. Then if I choose to revise it. As I model, I want
you to watch what I do and make notes so that when Im finished we can discuss it as a class.
So Ladies and Gentlemen this first example is from a character sketch I am working on for a
piece of flash fiction. I am attempting to give the audience an indepth look at Jacks hobbies.

Example 1: Jack plays an instrument

o When I see a sentence how do I know whether a sentence should use a noun or noun
phrase?
o What is the noun in question Jack or instrument?
Which noun needs more fleshing out?- instrument because by using his name
directly I have already fleshed/expanded on the word Jack
o First I consider what is the noun in question. Jack plays an instrument.
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Noun Phrase Grammar Lesson Plan

o

o
o

Then I consider what is the purpose of the noun (here instrument)and ask myself some
questions Can I be vague, does it support something later on in the story to be mysterious
here? Or do I want to be specific? Is describing Jacks instrument going to help my
audience get more out of Jack, make him less of a blurry figure.
Based on my answers to these questions and the fact that I want to be very specific about
Jack. I have to answer some questions
What kind of instrument does Jack play?-drums
What color are Jacks drums?- blue
Is there anything else special about Jacks drums? they have 3 cymbals
here is my resulting sentence Jack plays a blue drum set with three cymbals If the
noun is unclear or the noun is the focus of the sentence then it is possible that a noun
phrase would be better suited.
To come up with my specifying questions I considered:
How do I make the broad noun (instrument) more specific?
Once Ive made it more specific how do I make it easier for the audience to
visualize?
Is there anything special about the noun (drum set) that I want to emphasize?

Example 2: Melt the butter.

o Sometimes there is a need for the simplistic nouns but how do I know?
o Again 1st I look at the purpose of the noun in the sentence (here butter)
o Then I look at what the entire sentence is doing? Here the sentence is giving a direct
command
o Next I consider would I gain anything from making the noun more descriptive? My
answer here is no.
o So I decide to leave this sentence as it is with a simple noun
Thats the end of my model.

2. Ask students to share aloud what they noticed about the model. Push them to recount their
understanding of the steps, and clarify as needed.
3. Before we move on lets test our knowledge with a quick Kahoot quiz about identifying noun
phrases
a. Please go to Kahoot!, enter game pin 132493 and lets test our knowledge as a class
b.
4. Have a volunteer apply his/her understanding of the steps (for determining whether a sentence
should have a noun or noun phrase in their naming roles, and how to revise it) to the following
sentence: With hair that is cropped at his ears and eyes with a gem like shine, Jake is a heart
throb . Push students to explain their thinking and respond to one another.
IV. (Guided Practice) Structuring Opportunities to Collaboratively Try it Out

10 min.

(Guided Practice) Ask students to, with partners:

a. Create a context for the following sentences
b. , (1) Decide whether the following sentences have nouns or noun phrases.
c. (2) Change any noun sentences to the noun phrase if necessary. Be prepared to discuss
how and why you chose to change a sentence..

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Noun Phrase Grammar Lesson Plan

There are days when I dont want to get out of bed
Occasionally I find that a vase of fragrant multicolored roses to be inspiring

Use the attached guided practice worksheet if needed

V. (Independent Practice) Structuring Opportunities to Individually Try it Out

10 min.

Circulate Independent Practice worksheet

VI.

Ask students to revamp the nouns into noun phrases and make the modern Shakespeare more
descriptive. Let them know that this will be collected
Heres the edited passage in the Powerpoint;
o My heart is being hunted. When I first saw Olivia, I thought the air around her was
different. In that moment I was changed into a deer and my desire for her hunted me like
a dog.
o Thats what Im doingonly its my heart thats being hunted. Oh, when I first saw
Olivia, it seemed like she made the air around In that instant I was transformed into a
hart, and my desire for her has hounded me like a pack of dogs.
Heres the original:
o Thats what Im doingonly its my heart thats being hunted. Oh, when I first saw
Olivia, it seemed like she made the air around her sweeter and purer. In that instant I was
transformed into a hart, and my desire for her has hounded me like a pack of vicious
dogs.
No Fear Shakespeare Twelfth Night I.I.20
Ask students to revamp the nouns into noun phrases and make the modern Shakespeare more
descriptive.
o First underline all the nouns
o Then annotate any questions you ask in making the decision of whether or not the noun
should become a noun phrase on the worksheet.
o Any noun that you decide should be a noun phrase cross out the noun insert the noun
phrase with an arrow
o If you choose to leave a noun a noun be sure to explain why.
Let them know that this will be collected
20 min.
Allow students to look through their character sketches that they have already created to find a
way to make it more descriptive and the vision for the character clearer. I will have students use
the track changes mode on their word processors so that I can see if/how they have made changes
and they can add comments explaining the reasoning behind the changes If the student uses a
noun instead of a noun phrase, ask student to explain their reasoning. Remember here there is no
right answer as long as they can explain the reasoning behind it. CCSS note: why not how!
Extension Activity

5 min.

Note that usually noun phrases are used to create a clearer more descriptive picture of whatever is being
described in the sentence.
At this point in the lesson plan I would use the noun phrase and a Tip Hero recipe video to help
to reinforce what we have discussed in our lesson today
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Noun Phrase Grammar Lesson Plan

VII.

noun phrase video

recipe video
If we dont get to watch the video in class I will post it on the class Edmodo site along with the
Powerpoint so that the students have it for reference
Assessment

I plan to assess students mastery of the learning target in the following ways:
I will assess how well students use noun phrases in their summative assessment plays that the
students have already begun working on character sketches. This is an opportunity for students to
be more descriptive and create a clearer picture for the audience to be able to see what they as the
author really anticipated. This assessment will also include revision and drafting using the track
changes function on their word processors as apart of the writing process. I will also make sure to
include a peer editing sheet for this portion of our work days.
I want to make sure that my students can determine noun phrases in the real world so I either
want to create a poster space with post-its that the students can add their own noun phrases from
real life. We can use these real world examples to gives us inspiration or when we need to start
somewhere.
I will collect students revamping of the modern text from Twelfth Night and use it as an exit slip
so that I can get real time feedback and know if theres revision or reinforcement that needs to be
done in a follow up lesson.

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Noun Phrase Grammar Lesson Plan

Creating and Finding Noun Phrases Worksheet

A noun phrase is a noun with modifiers. Noun phrases act as
adjectives, or as participle, infinitive, prepositional, or
absolute phrases.
A noun phrase includes a noun and the modifiers which
distinguish it.
Directions: Add modifier words to each noun given below to
create a noun phrase.
Example A: My ___________________ coach gave me an award.
Answer: My basketball coach gave me an award.
1. The _____________________ child was disruptive at the
restaurant.
2. The _____________________ horse galloped around the track.
3. I took the ball from the _________________________ child.
4. We walked to the ______________________ farm on the
weekend.
5. The _______________________ park was open until the
afternoon.
Directions: Circle the noun phrase in each sentence given
below.
Example A: The basketball coach was happy with his teams
effort. Answer: basketball coach.
6. Has anyone seen the little, green, parrot?
7. The football coach got very upset with his team.
8. She is my favorite English teacher.
9. The kids were surprised by the summer rain.

*worksheet found at: http://englishlinx.com/cgi-bin/pdf_viewer_5.cgi?script_name=

%2Fpdf%2FCreating-Finding-Noun-Phrases-Worksheet.pdf&x=76&y=3

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Noun Phrase Grammar Lesson Plan

Name_________________________

Date______________________

Noun Phrase Worksheet

Directions:
1. Use noun phrases to make the passage more descriptive:
2. First underline all the nouns.
3. Then annotate any questions you ask in making the decision of whether or
not the noun should become a noun phrase on the worksheet.
4. If you choose to leave a noun a noun be sure to explain why.
5. Any noun that you decide should be a noun phrase cross out the noun insert
the noun phrase with an arrow

Passage:
My heart is being hunted. When I first saw Olivia, I thought the air around her was
different. In that moment I was changed into a deer and my desire for her hunted
me like a dog.

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