01: Nouns

This is Lesson #1 of a unit of 10.

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Teacher Slide

Objective: grammar

To understand that nouns are words that represent people, places and things, to understand how they are formed, and to understand what some of their grammatical characteristics are.

Please read the lesson plan in the Manual before delivering this lesson.

Objective: writing

To explore what role nouns play in writing, and to apply this to the pupils’ own writing.

Terminology for pupils:

noun, singular, plural, possessive, suffix

What kinds of things do these words represent?

All of these words represent nouns.

Nouns represent people, places and things.

• A rabbit is a noun because it represents a ...?
• London is a noun because it represents a ...?
• Harry is a noun because it represents a ...?
• What other nouns can you think of?
• How do we know when a word is a noun?
• Why is happy not a noun?

What are nouns?

1. Nouns can name one thing, person, animal, etc. or more than one thing.
   When a noun names one thing we call it a singular noun (e.g. table). When it names more than one thing we call it a plural noun (e.g. tables). To make a noun into a plural, we normally add an –s on the end. Can you think of another example? Can you think of some exceptions?
2. Nouns can come after a word such as the, a, an, some, and your.
   These words identify the noun that comes after them. For example, the weekend; a dream; your pencil case; some fruit. Can you think of another example?
3. Nouns can show belonging.
   These are called possessive nouns. For example, the noun Billy can be changed to Billy’s as in Billy’s coat. Possessive nouns usually take an –’s ending. Can you think of another example?

Quick check: what are the three things we have learnt about nouns?

Which words do you think are nouns, and why? You can move the boxes around on the screen.

Now let's think about nouns in writing.

Can you identify the nouns in these extracts?

• Taller than a house, the Iron Man stood on the cliff, on the very edge, in the darkness.
• Taller than a house, the Iron Man stood on the cliff, on the very edge, in the darkness.

• Passengers travel down to the platforms on escalators. They travel around the city speedily in trains, through tunnels that are deep under the ground
• Passengers travel down to the platforms on escalators. They travel around the city speedily in trains, through tunnels that are deep under the ground.

• It was Monday, it was pouring with rain, and it was the first day back at school after the holidays. That’s why the class were in a bad temper.
• It was Monday, it was pouring with rain, and it was the first day back at school after the holidays. That’s why the class were in a bad temper.

• Which word tells us what day it was?
• What was the weather like, and how do you know?
• How were the pupils feeling, and how do you know?
• Do the nouns tell us about people, places or things?

In writing we can always make choices. How could the writing have been different?

• It was Monday, it was pouring with rain, and it was the first day back at school after the holidays. That’s why the class were in a bad temper.

• How can some of these nouns be changed by giving extra information? For example: It was pouring with cold rain. Can you change some of the nouns?
• Why would a writer want to add extra information to nouns?

Choosing one example of the nouns you changed, which do you prefer? Why do you prefer it?

Now write a short text of your own. This should be the opening to a story, about the first day back at school after the summer holidays. You should:

1. Use nouns in order to fill the story with people, places and things.
2. Circle the nouns in your writing.
3. Share your writing with a partner, and discuss the nouns used in each other’s writing, and what they do in the story.

What three things have you learnt about nouns today?

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