Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, K-3

In the BrainPOP ELL movie, Friends are Fair! (L1U3L2), Ben and Moby watch an exciting basketball game on TV, inspiring them to go outside and play, too. In this lesson, students are introduced to regular and irregular plural nouns, and review adjectives. This lesson plan, adaptable for grades K-8, provides opportunities for students to illustrate words, describe situations, and create games using adjectives.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:

  1. Collaborate on a written summary of the movie, emphasizing descriptions and adjectives.
  2. Create their own game by finding and illustrating adjectives.
  3. Take turns adding adjectives in collaborative sentences.

Preparation:

  • Make flash cards of nouns the students know, or write them on the board.
  • Lesson Procedure:

    1. Add Adjectives. After watching the movie Friends Are Fair (1.3.2), do a Shared Writing activity with the class. Ask students to think of sentences that summarize the movie in one paragraph. You might want to project the word side of the Flash Words feature, to remind them of words from the movie. But as you write the sentences on the board, interactive board, or chart paper, omit all adjectives; write the paragraph without adjectives. When the paragraph is finished, ask the class what's missing. What can make the sentences better? Then, in pairs, have students work on the paragraph, adding adjectives to the sentences. When they have finished, have them share and compare their paragraphs with the class, as you make a list of adjectives they used on the board. Ask what the purpose of adjectives is. What do they add? Why do authors use them?
    2. Make Your Own Adjective Game. Give each student ten blank index cards. For homework, they must think of five adjectives, write them on five of the cards, and illustrate them on the other five cards. They may draw the pictures, find them in magazines, or print them from the computer. To differentiate, you can specify how the students find the adjectives: use the adjectives from the movie Friends Are Fair (L1U3L2) or other BrainPOP ELL movies; use the BrainPOP ELL Word Lists; or research and find new adjectives. The next day, have partners or small groups play matching or memory games, taking turns with the different sets of cards.
    3. Add an Adjective Game Show. Invite six volunteers to be game show contestants, and seat them in front of the room in two teams of three students each. Show the teams and the class a noun flash card or write the word on the board. Each team member must take a turn, adding an adjective each time. They may use any adjective, including numbers and colors. Team members continue taking turns until one of them can't think of another adjective. Then move to round two with a new noun. Change the six contestants after three rounds.
    4. Describe the Picture. In the movie Friends are Fair! (L1U3L2), Ben says many descriptive sentences with adjectives and nouns. For example: Four tall men are running. Use the At the Park Action Image or any picture with lots of activity, for students to describe what's happening, just like Ben does in the movie. For example, "Two small children are playing."

    Related:
    BrainPOP ELL Movies:
    Under the Big Desk (L1U1L4)
    BrainPOP JR Movies:
    Adjectives and Adverbs
    BrainPOP Movies:
    Adjectives