Before you teach — read this first

Grade 1 · Lesson 29 — Adjective or noun?

U1 · Level One — Parts of Speech · Adjectives (6 of 6) · 10–15 minutes · 18 slides · Launch → I do → We do → You do → Closure
The grammar behind this lesson — read this before you teach it.
Adjectives
What it is. An adjective tells more about a noun — which one, what kind, how many.
Why our test works. 'Which noun does it tell me about?' works because an adjective cannot float free: it is always attached to a noun, usually just before it or just after a linking verb. No noun, no adjective.
Leans on. Nouns. The adjective is defined by what it modifies, so the noun has to be found first.
Watch for. Words that look like adjectives but are naming things — the poor, *the young*. Ask what the word is telling us about; if the answer is nothing, it is the thing itself.

What this lesson is

Lesson 6 of 6 on adjectives. The single idea is: Some words can be either, and the noun after them decides. The tool the children are handed is the question “Which one? What kind? How many?” — by the end of the topic that question, not the teacher, settles every case. Held constant today: Border work, last, once both concepts are secure. The worked example is built on Gradually he saw that they were adjectives—three!, ringing that.

Why it matters — say this in your own words, about ten seconds.
“Allah taught Adam — peace be upon him — the names of everything.”
A different reason every lesson, on purpose. It is not on a slide and it is not a script — if you have a better reason today, use yours. What should land is the idea, not a sentence they can recite.

Recall — sixty seconds, before anything new

Retrieve: Nouns + Pronouns · Pronouns. Ask for it before you introduce anything, take the answers from boards rather than from hands so you see all thirty, and do not re-teach — note who has lost it and carry on. This is the middle of the launch: context, then this, then why it matters. Only what today leans on — a minute spent retrieving something unrelated costs the same and buys nothing, and the child who cannot recall the prerequisite is the one you will lose in the I-do.

How it goes

  1. Sixty seconds of retrieval opens it: “Yesterday: more than one adjective on one noun. Quick — one together.” Same language as when it was taught, a new example. If the class cannot do this, that is today's real work — stop and reteach.
  2. Ten seconds on why it matters — “Allah taught Adam — peace be upon him — the names of everything.” Your words, not those; it is a different reason every lesson so what lands is the idea rather than a sentence they can recite.
  3. You name the one idea: Some words can be either, and the noun after them decides. Then the plan — what it is, the question we ask, and that we will find them together.
  4. Then you do one yourself, on screen, one click per move: Gradually he saw that they were adjectives—three! · the question · ring that · name it an adjective. Do it exactly the way you want it done — this is the task they are about to do on their boards, not an easier one.
  5. You build the same thing on the board and leave it up for adjectives. The four steps are identical in every lesson of this unit — sentence, question, test, answer — so the children read the method rather than the layout, and today's board shows Gradually he saw that they were adjectives—three! still marked when they start work.
  6. The We-do runs 4 items on whiteboards — Adjectives, Poodle recalled, modify nouns or pronouns. (p.29), Gradually he saw that they were adjectives—three! (p.32), beautiful, careful. You are scanning for who applies the question and who is guessing from meaning; those look identical on a right answer and completely different on a wrong one.
  7. Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves — Sheet and pencil · Ask the question on every item · Find the adjective in each one. Then they work alone, with the same worked example printed at the head of their sheet.
  8. Close on Notice that the linking verb slants down. — an item they have not met, so it measures rather than reminds — then the line they leave with: “An adjective tells more about a noun.”
  9. Watch for: Marks the noun as the adjective — They sit side by side and only one has been named so far. If you see it: “Which one is the THING? Then the other one is telling you about it.” (Remedial sheet 10.)
As-Suffah Academy · Language Arts · Narrative brief Then open the run sheet