Try saying, “Good morning, KEVIN! I really like that SHIRT!” You can also do this while taking attendance: “Is JILL here? How is your new PUPPY, JILL?”
Tell them that we use nouns to name people, places, ideas, and things. You can give examples like teacher, school, freedom, and pencil.
If your students are already familiar with basic nouns, you can make this more advanced by having them tell the difference between basic and proper nouns. Tell them that proper nouns refer to specific people, places, and things. They must be capitalized, while common nouns refer to general people, places, things, and ideas. Ask them to help you turn the sentence, “My sister went to a movie yesterday. " into a sentence with proper nouns, i. e. , “Mary went to see Abominable on Tuesday. "
Use your favorite search engine to look for songs about nouns. You can also check out popular song sites like School House Rock. After you listen to the song, ask students what they learned. You can also play it again and let them sing along.
Say, “Max, what is your word? Is it a noun?” You can then place the notecard (or write the word) in the correct column. You can use any words that are appropriate for your students. If they’re still learning to read, basic words like “cat” and “happy” are fine. If you’re working with older students, you can also use this as a way to introduce more sophisticated vocabulary words.
You could create a worksheet that has columns for common nouns, proper nouns, abstract nouns, and collective nouns. Include a word bank with lots of words at the bottom of the page. Collective nouns name a group or collection of things, like animals. For example, you could say, “an army of ants” or “flock of birds. " Abstract nouns describe items that are non-tangible. For example, you could use love, charity, or generosity to help students understand. Explain the different types of nouns to students, using examples. Then let them work in pairs to fill out the worksheet. If you want to work as a class, you can draw a chart to help students sort nouns into categories.
If you’re working with middle-schoolers, you can make this more advanced by having them write their own story about what’s going on in the picture.
Popular variations of this game include basing the words on a grocery list or a list of things they might take on a trip.
Game board Dog Cards Dice
To make this more challenging, you can require students to identify nouns for each category (proper, common, etc. ) Consider giving a small reward to the winning team. This will make students even more engaged.
