For the last few weeks, our class has been studying adjectives. Before we could comfortably use adjectives in our writing, we needed to have plenty of knowledge of and practice using adjectives.
We began studying adjectives by focusing on our five senses. On Monday, we used our eyes to describe different objects around our classroom. First, we played eye spy. Mrs. Dantin used adjectives to describe a mystery object and we tried to guess what she was describing. Then, we worked in groups to find and describe our own mystery item in the classroom. After, we discussed different adjectives that could be put on our class chart.
Our word bank of adjectives that describe what we see.
On Tuesday, we used our senses of taste and smell to describe different foods. Mrs. Dantin brought crackers, M&M's, and oranges to make sure we had a wide range of flavors and smells. First, we smelled each piece of food and named adjectives to record on our class chart. Then, we ate them and described how they tasted!
Jarquavius tasting his cracker.
Our word bank of adjectives that describe how things smell or taste.
On Wednesday, we focused on how things feels. Mrs. Dantin broke us up into small groups and gave each group bags containing different items. Again, all the objects felt very different so we could create a wide adjective vocabulary.
Some of the different items we found in our bags!
Jell-o was our favorite thing to feel!!!
The awesome adjectives we thought of to describe our objects! Mrs. Dantin was so proud!
On Thursday, Mrs. Dantin played a tape of different music and sound effects. We had so much fun trying to guess what each sound effect was. After each clip, we discussed different adjectives to describe the sounds we heard.
Our very full list of adjectives that help us to describe how things sound!
On Friday, we worked in small groups to use our adjective word bank to describe different objects.
A pink pipe cleaner is soft, flexible, fury, light, and curly.
Now that we understood adjectives, we were able to complete different independent activities in our literacy centers. Below are some of the different activities we did.
Cut and paste picture sort of nouns, verbs, and adjectives
Shemar sorting word cards as nouns, verbs, or adjectives. Micheal completing the same activity.
Ri'chard and D'Aviance creating sentences using adjective, noun, and verb picture/word cards on a labeled placemat. D'Aviance's sentence reads: The bad monkey eats.
We were also ready to start focusing on descriptive writing! Mrs. Dantin had been looking for adjectives in our morning journals all week. Our favorite journal prompt was: 'Describe your halloween costume. Don't tell us what you will be because we want to guess! Remember to use adjectives!'
We read the story, With The Fish. Once we finished the story, we each picked a fish pictured in the story and wrote descriptive sentences about it.
Kadarius reading aloud to his small reading group.
Avery and Jaliyah creating descriptive sentences about the fish they picked from our story. Mrs. Dantin is so proud that Jaliyah is using her finger to make sure her words are spaced properly!
Areesia providing peer tutoring for Destiny as she creates her descriptive sentences.
MacKenzie working hard on her handwriting.
MacKenzie's finished product.
Finally, we were confident to create our own independent descriptive writings. We all brought our favorite toys or items to school. Fist, we used word webs to brainstorm adjectives to describe our object. Next, we created sentences using the adjectives we recorded. Then, we conferenced with Mrs. Dantin to make corrections. Finally, we wrote the final drafts of our descriptive writings!
Areesia using her word web to compose descriptive sentences about her trophy.
Armon pausing to re-read his rough draft.
Christian focusing on using the adjectives he recorded on his word web.
We have only just begun to use adjectives in our writing. The more we practice our descriptive writings, the easier it will become and our writings will continue to improve!
Avery read Kitten's First Full Moon for his Reading Fair project.
Avery listening to a story on tape then completing a follow-up comprehension activity.
T'Marcio matching naming and action parts to create sentences at an independent exploration station.
Yolanda brainstorming for a spooky Halloween story with Mrs. Dantin. 
Keshawn and Shemar identifying short vowel sounds at an independent exploration station. 
Christian changing the beginning sounds of words to create rhyming lists at an independent exploration station.
Micheal illustrating an addition problem.
