Teaching Adverbs, Noun of Direct Address, and Appositives
One of my favorite ways to teach is to build a sentence.
We began my class with a simple imperative sentence and then added the pieces we are practicing today.
We started with “Sing a song,” which is a simple imperative sentence.
I asked my class, “Who are we asking/commanding to sing a song?”
Someone suggested Lucy, so I added that to the sentence, and we as a class noted that it was a noun of direct address. Someone added, “Can it be Lucy the dog?” Sure, I said. We need an appositive.
Then, I asked the students to add an adverb (an -ly adverb) that answers the question how. Someone suggested “loudly.” Then, I asked for a prepositional phrase that is adverbial – that is, it must answer a “where” or “when” type question. I had several suggestions – such as “at the park,” “near the river,” or “after dark.” Students wrote down their own ideas on their boards, and I wrote “at the park” on my board.
We also decided to change the verb to “howl” because we were addressing a dog.
Then, I had students take turns coming to the board, and each student added one piece to the diagram. They knew the words and phrases were adverbs because I had asked them to come up with adverbs – no guesswork.
Students had freedom to vary their sentences on their own boards, but knew how to diagram their own sentences because they fit the patterns on the board.
Here’s a video of the process:
You may also be interested in the Adverb song:
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