Grade Level: 3rd - 4th Topic: Adjectives (regular comparatives and superlatives - formed by adding -er and -est)

Common Core Standard: L.3.1. Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified Unit/Instructional Background Information: Students will already understand what an adjective is and will have experience using adjectives to describe nouns and pronouns. Following this lesson, or once students have a handle on regular comparatives and superlatives (ex: tall, taller, tallest), they will work on irregular comparatives and superlatives (ex: bad, worse, worst). Lesson Format: This lesson provides students with whole group instruction, guided practice, partner practice, and individual practice time. Depending on the development of the learner, the teacher can choose to provide the students with practice that includes more visual support (for example, using the cards with pictures on them). As students progress, the teacher may choose to have them practice with cards that do not include visual support, and have them come up with their own examples and sentences to provide to the class. Lesson Objectives: After instruction and practice, students will be able to complete a worksheet on regular comparatives and superlatives with 90% accuracy. Materials: - Whiteboard - Dry Erase Markers (green, blue, and black) - Worksheets (adapted for various levels) - Flashcards (adapted for various levels) - Objects around the room to use for examples LESSON (approximately 30-40 minutes) Introduction: We have already learned what an adjective is. Just to review, an adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. An example is, the round ball. The adjective round describes the noun ball. What other adjectives can be used to describe ball? Turn and share with a partner. Today we are going to talk about using adjectives to compare things. By the end of today, you will be able to use adjectives to compare two and three different things. Instruction: - Draw a tree in green on the board. Write 20 feet under the tree. Draw a bigger tree in blue and write 30 feet under it. Tell students that the first tree is tall (and write this above the tree in green). Then tell students that the second tree is taller (and write this above the tree in blue). Say, the green tree is tall. The blue tree is taller than the green tree.

- Ask the students how the word tall was changed to get to the word taller. Prompt them as needed to get to the answer -er. Tell students that when we use adjectives to compare two nouns, we usually change the adjective by adding -er to the end. - Draw a horizontal line on the board in green. Draw another horizontal line in blue (longer than the first line). Tell students, the green line is long, but the blue line is longer. (Write long in green and longer in blue by their lines.) - Again ask the students how the word long was changed to get to the word longer. Prompt as needed, and again explain that many times -er is added to an adjective when comparing two things. - Write base adjective on the board in green. Tell students that the base adjective is the adjective to describe 1 thing, before it is changed. Tall and long are base adjectives. - Write comparative adjective on the board in blue. Tell students that comparative adjectives compare two things and are often formed by adding -er to the base adjective. Taller and longer are comparative adjectives. - Provide more examples based on your students or classroom, and use these in sentences. Have students come up with the words and/or sentences for comparing things. For example, comparing two bookshelves (big, bigger), comparing two noises (loud, louder), comparing two books (thick, thicker), and so on. Do this until it feels like students are ready to move on. (Note- if students come up with irregular comparatives and superlatives, tell them that these adjectives do not follow this rule and that they will be discussing them another day.) - Draw another tree in black next to the first two that are already on the board. Label this one with 50 feet. Write the word tallest in black above this tree. Say, the green tree is tall. The blue tree is taller than the green tree, but the black tree is the tallest tree of all. - Ask the students how the word tall changed to get to the word tallest. Prompt as needed to get to answer of adding -est. Tell students that when we use adjectives to compare three nouns, many times we change the adjective by adding -est on the end. - Draw a black line by the other two on the board (longer than the first two). Label this line longest in black. Say, the green line is long, but the blue line is longer. However, the black line is the longest line of all three. - Again ask the students how the word long was changed to get to longest. Prompt and explain as needed. - Write superlative adjective on the board in black. Tell students that superlative adjectives compare three or more things and are often formed by adding -est to the base adjective. - Go through the other examples that were previously used from the classroom. Have students come up with the proper adjectives and the sentences to describe the nouns. Prompt and explain

as needed. Do this until it feels like students are ready to move on. (Note- if students come up with irregular comparatives and superlatives, tell them that these adjectives do not follow this rule and that they will be discussing them another day.) - Pass out flash cards to individuals, pairs, or groups (depending on the number of students). (Note- these consist of an adjective and a picture for students who need visual support) There are also three cards in each set that say base adjective, comparative, and superlative. Tell students to place these labels as headings for three columns on their desks. Model on a projector if needed. Instruct students to sort the cards by their appropriate heading. (Example - tall would go under the heading base adjective, taller would go under the heading comparative, and tallest would go under the heading superlative) Tell students to make sure that the adjectives match horizontally as well, modeling if needed. (Example, from left to right the adjectives would read tall, taller, tallest NOT tall, shorter, longest) - Give students time to sort their cards. As they finish, have them check with a partner or another group. - Go through the completed sort as an entire class. Conclusion: Today we talked about comparative and superlative adjectives. What is a comparative adjective? (student responses) How can we create a comparative adjective? (student responses) What is a superlative adjective? (student responses) How can we create a superlative adjective? (student responses) Now that we have a good understanding of what comparative and superlative adjectives are, I want you to do a practice page for homework. I also want to remind you how important adjectives are when we are describing nouns, and I am going to start expecting you to use comparative and superlative adjectives in your writing. Assessment: - Give students an appropriate practice page to complete (based on their level). Adaptation for Students at Various Levels: - For students who need more support, make sure to spend more time with them during the individual or group work parts of the lesson. If appropriate, pair them with a more advanced student (I learned in a class that when higher-ability students have to teach others, it reinforces their own learning). Also, these students can be given flashcards that have pictures to help them. - For students who need more of a challenge, have them work with a partner or group to develop their own examples of comparative and superlative adjectives to share with the class as well as example sentences. If appropriate, pair them with a lower-ability student. - Make sure to use really concrete examples for less proficient ELLs and more abstract examples for higher ability students. References: Carreiro, H. (2008, November 20). Esl lesson plan: Comparatives and superlatives. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/esl-lesson-plan-comparatives-superlatives-2194272.html

Maxwell, K. G., & Clandfield, L. (n.d.). Comparative and superlative adjectives - tips and activities. Retrieved from http://www.onestopenglish.com/grammar/grammarreference/adjectives/comparative-and-superlative-adjectives-tips-andactivities/144844.article Google Images

SORT #1
With Visuals

Base Adjective Comparative Adjective

Superlative Adjective

Tall

Taller

Tallest

Slow

Slower

Slowest

Long

Longer

Longest

Young

Younger

Youngest

Dry

Drier

Driest

SORT #2
Without Visuals

Base Adjective Comparative Adjective

Superlative Adjective

Tall Tallest

Taller Slow

Slower Slowest

Long Longest

Longer Young

Younger Youngest

Dry Driest

Drier

Name: ______________________ Adjective Worksheet 1 Directions: Fill in the missing

adjectives with the correct base, comparative, or superlative form.
Base Comparative Superlative

1.
Tall Taller ______ ______ Drier ______ _______ Slowest ______ ______ Youngest

2.
Slow

3.
Long

4.
______

5.
______

Name: ______________________ Adjective Worksheet 2 Directions: Fill in the missing

adjectives with the correct base, comparative, or superlative form. Number 1 has been done for you. Create your own for number 10.
Base Comparative Superlative

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Tall Slow Long Young Small ________ ________ ________ ________ ________

Taller ________ Longer ________ ________ ________ Colder ________ Drier ________

Tallest Slowest ________ Youngest ________ Newest ________ Darkest ________ ________