Lesson 1
Nouns
Start by following the instructions in the Online Lesson.
Abstract nouns —ideas, concepts, or qualities—can be tricky compared to identifying concrete nouns that are seen, touched, or measured directly. This lesson may be your students’ first lesson in abstract thinking and language! Give them lots of support with locating abstract nouns.
Day A
circle-play Video 1: Nouns
Use your notes to follow along with the video in the Online Lesson.
A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.
|
Definition |
Examples |
|
|
Person |
An individual or group of humans |
Barty, friend, Team USA, bakers |
|
Place |
A location or area |
Main Street, playground, the Southeast, shop |
|
Thing 1 |
A thing you can touch |
WWII Memorial, cereal, the Ohio River, zebras |
|
Thing 2 |
A thing that can be done |
go on a hike, a cheer, in a flash, a loud laugh |
|
Idea |
A thing you cannot touch |
happiness, anger, curiosity, friendship |
There are two main types of nouns.
A common noun is a non-specific name for a person, place, thing, or idea.
It is one word.
It always starts with a lowercase letter.
skater city rabbit dream
A proper noun is a specific name for a person, place, thing, or idea.
It can be more than one word.
Each word starts with a capital letter.
Ira Jonston New York City Fluffy The American Dream
square-check Check-In
Circle the Nouns. Add a star over proper nouns.
rat flower handsome Thursday jogging Darcy very sadness student
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circle-play Video 2: The Process
Use your notes to follow along with the video in the Online Lesson.
The Process is a specific set of steps you follow to parse and diagram sentences.
To parse is to identify and label words as their parts of speech:
proI hvcan avcurl advuppp(with arta adjgood nbook) advanytime!
To diagram is to map the sentence to see how the words work together:
The Process
Step 1: Parse all common and proper nouns.
How do I find nouns?
As you read, ask yourself, “What are the people, places, things, or ideas in this sentence?”
Jill told Jack that a hungry gopher ate the vegetables in the garden.
How do I label nouns?
Write n above common nouns, and pn above proper nouns:
pn Dr. Rue Bazil gave her nneighbor the longest ncarrot of the nbunch.
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Follow The Process to parse this sentence.
pn Fluffy McFluff could barely fit through the ndoor of her ncage.
Reinforce the use of “wings” when a proper noun is more than one word long. The wings need to clearly include all of the words that make up the proper noun.
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pencil Exercise 1A
Use your notes to complete each sentence.
A proper noun begins with a capital letter and can be more than one word.
A noun can be a person, place, thing, or idea .
Follow The Process to parse each sentence.
Example:
Our nclub voted on the greatest nfable of the nyear.
pn Mr. Charm read our ngroup a short nstory called pn Fields and Dreams.
My ncousin loved the ntale and the main ncharacter, adj Mikey Mikal Michaels.
This nmyth brought njoy to the other nkids in our ngroup, too.
user-check Before stopping, have your instructor check and correct your work.
circle-pause Pause here today and resume your work tomorrow.
Day B
pencil Exercise 1B
Use your notes to complete each sentence.
A common noun begins with a lowercase letter.
To parse is to identify and label the words in a sentence.
Follow The Process to parse each sentence.
Example:
Our ntroop is planning a nhike in the pn Washington National Forest.
pnAlex got the nidea for an overnight ntrip from a nmovie about ncampers in pn Acadia National Forest.
Every nscout was filled with nexcitement at the nthought of nadventure.
Great nfriendships grew from this njourney into the nwilderness.
user-check Before stopping, have your instructor check and correct your work.
circle-pause Pause here today and resume your work tomorrow.
Day C
circle-play Video 1: Singular and Plural Nouns
Use your notes to follow along with the video in the Online Lesson.
A noun can be singular or plural.
A singular noun is one person, place, thing, or idea:
a dog an arch this goose that bunny
A plural noun is more than one person, place, thing, or idea:
a few dogs some arches these geese those bunnies
circle-play Video 2: Regular Nouns
Use your notes to follow along with the video in the Online Lesson.
A noun usually changes when it goes from singular to plural.
A regular noun follows the most common rules for forming plurals:
For most regular nouns, just add an -s:
cat → cats book → books table → tables
For regular nouns ending with s, ss, sh, x, z, or zz, add -es:
glass → glasses wrench → wrenches mix → mixes
circle-play Video 3: Irregular Nouns
Use your notes to follow along with the video in the Online Lesson.
An irregular noun doesn’t follow the regular rules for forming plurals:
|
Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
||
|
person |
people |
foot |
feet |
leaf |
leaves |
||
|
child |
children |
tooth |
teeth |
wolf |
wolves |
||
|
woman |
women |
goose |
geese |
scarf |
scarves |
||
|
man |
men |
mouse |
mice |
life |
lives |
||
|
ox |
oxen |
die |
dice |
loaf |
loaves |
You may want to point out how this chart is organized to help your students locate the information needed to complete their exercises.
Other irregular nouns name both the singular and the plural, like: sheep & sheep
deer moose series species fish tuna
For these nouns, look at the other words in the sentence to know if it’s one or many:
We saw deer running toward the creek. (plural)
We saw a deer running toward the creek. (singular)
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Use your notes to change these singular nouns into their plural forms.
wolf → wolves
bush → bushes
tusk → tusks
cue → cues
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pencil Exercise 1C
Use your notes to complete each sentence.
A regular noun just needs -s or -es to form its plural.
The plural form of box is boxes.
Change the singular nouns to their plural forms.
Then, follow The Process to parse each sentence.
Example:
Our nclasses(class) went on two nhikes(hike) together.
On the first nhike, pnStewart saw a nflock of ngeese(goose) some nfish(fish), and a nscurry of nchipmunks(chipmunk).
On the second nhike, some nstudents(student) saw ndeer(deer), nfoxes(fox), and noxen(ox) before reboarding their nbuses(bus),
Though the nteachers(teacher) did see a nfamily of nmice(mouse), the nhighlight of their nhike was collecting a nbounty of beautiful fallen nleaves(leaf) to use as ndecorations(decoration) around their nclassrooms(classroom).
user-check Before stopping, have your instructor check and correct your work.
circle-pause Pause here today and resume your work tomorrow.
Day D
pencil Exercise 1D
Use your notes to complete all parts of this exercise.
Part 1
Fill in the blank to complete each sentence.
A singular noun is one person, place, thing, or idea.
An irregular noun doesn’t follow the regular rules for forming a plural.
Part 2
Follow The Process to parse each sentence.
pnAlvaro, the nboy who lives on pn Maple Tree Lane, has a new nfish named pnRaffa!
His ndad adopted pnRaffa from the pn Loving Homes Animal Shelter last pnSaturday.
Part 3
Change the singular nouns to their plural forms.
Follow The Process to parse each sentence.
The ncaretakers(caretaker) at the nshelter said pnRaffa should not eat the same nfood as older nfish(fish).
pnAlfaro takes pnRaffa on nwalks(walk) to the npark to sit on the nbenches(bench) and watch npeople(person) stroll by.
user-check Before stopping, have your instructor check and correct your work.
circle-pause Pause here today and resume your work tomorrow.