Lesson

= = **Lesson Plan: Writing Mini-lesson—Strong Verbs ** **Grade**: 5 **Time**: 25 minutes

**Standards**: 3.2.5 A. Writing as a Process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, postwriting)  7. Make decisions about the use of precise language, including adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and specific details, and justify the choices made.

 3.2.5 C. Mechanics, Spelling, and Handwriting  2. Use increasingly complex sentence structure and syntax to express ideas.

**Objective**: The students will differentiate between verbs and strong verbs and demonstrate understanding of their use by creating posters of strong verbs and then circling and replacing verbs in current writing projects.

**Materials**:
 * Smartboard
 * Chart paper with headings: RUN, LOOK, TALK, WALK
 * Markers
 * 2nd draft of writing
 * Homework worksheet

**Lesson Sequence**: **Anticipatory Set (Engagement)**- > > > >
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Boys and girls, today we are going to discuss a way that we can thoughtfully and deliberately use language in our writing by focusing on strong verbs.”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Let’s do a quick review of verbs…who can tell me what a verb is?” [A verb tells what the subject of the sentence is doing]. Yes.”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Now, let’s review linking verbs and action verbs. I would like everyone to stand up…let’s do a very quick game of charades: without talking, I want everyone to show me the action verb ‘running.’ Do this in place at your desk. [student’s run in place]. Very good. OK…now…everyone show me the linking verb ‘is’…What’s the problem? Are linking verbs different than action verbs? How? [Call on student]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">Linking verbs join the subject and the predicate of a sentence, such as: is, am, are, was, were [She was happy].
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">Action verbs tell the action that the subject of the sentence is doing, such as: run, hop, ate [The man ate his lunch].

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">**State Objective and Purpose**-
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Today you are going to learn how to use strong verbs to make strong writing. Strong writing helps paint a clearer and more vivid picture in the mind of the reader. We are going to focus on four specific action verbs: RUN, LOOK, TALK, and WALK.”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">**Teach and Model**- > <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;"> The young man ate his lunch and went back to the office.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“First, let’s look at a sample sentence I wrote on the Smartboard.”

> > <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;"> The young man devoured his lunch and jetted back to the office. > > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Did your mental picture change? [students respond] So did mine. I picture a man taking huge bites of his sandwich and rushing out of a restaurant. Strong verbs are important tools for a writer because they help create a more vivid picture in the mind of a reader.”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“What are the action verbs in this sentence? [ate & went]. Yes. Now, I want you all to read the sentence to yourself and then make a mental picture in your head of what this sentence is describing…imagine the man eating lunch and then going back to work. [wait a few seconds]. Does everyone have a picture in his or her head? [wait] Turn and share your mental picture with a neighbor. [Wait]. Now, as the writer, I wanted you to have a picture in your head of a man that is running really late. Did you all have a mental picture of a man hurrying through lunch and back to the office? [students respond-No] Why didn’t you see that in your head? [students respond]. The verbs ‘ate’ and ‘went’ tell you what he is doing but they convey a weak picture, not a strong one. So, I’m going to replace these verbs with strong verbs so that you have a clearer picture of what I wanted to convey to you….”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">**Guided Practice**- > > > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Who can tell me what you will do with the poster when I call time in one minute?” > > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Who can tell me how long you have to review the words before you add your teams’ strong verbs?” [Place a poster on each table]. > >
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Now, I have four large sheets of white paper that we are going to make into posters for the classroom. Each poster has a regular verb written at the top of the paper. [Show students posters: RUN, LOOK, TALK, WALK]. I’d like you to work in teams at your table to come up with strong verbs that would replace the word at the top of the paper. [MODEL: Hold up paper, point to the verb RUN and point to area below where they will write their strong verbs]. I’ll give you one minute to write the verbs on the poster and then we’re going to pass the poster clockwise to the next table [MODEL: moving the paper to next table clockwise]. When the poster comes to your team, you have 10 seconds to look over the list and then your team has to add to the list that was started without repeating words. After one minute, you’ll pass the posters clockwise again and repeat the process. We will do this until every team has had a chance to add strong verbs to each poster.”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Who can tell me the first thing your team will do when I place a poster on your tables?”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">Students work on posters. Teacher moves around the room, facilitating rotation of posters.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">[After last rotation] “OK, where is the RUN poster? Someone from the RUN table, share with us your top four strong verbs. Someone from the WALK table? Someone from the TALK table? Someone from the LOOK table?”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“These are great strong verbs. Let’s hang these posters on the wall in the classroom so that you can refer to these strong verbs when you are writing. Throughout the year, you can add more strong verbs to the list as you come across them in your reading.”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">**Independent Practice/Assessment**- >
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Ok boys and girls, now take out your 2nd writing drafts. For the next five minutes—no walkie, no talkie. I’d like you to go through your draft and circle every verb, then replace it with a stronger one.”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">[After 5 minutes]. “Boys and girls, please continue working to improve your writing but you may now walk (to sharpen pencil, use resources, etc.), however, still no talking.”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">**Closure**-
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">“Can someone tell me why we want to use strong verbs in our writing?” Strong verbs are important tools for a writer because they help create a more vivid picture in the mind of a reader.”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">**Assessment** (How will you know the lesson has been successful?)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">The students will complete a homework assignment to assess their knowledge. Through review of rough draft of writing, teacher can also monitor use of strong verbs beyond the lesson.