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Here is a great activity to strengthen your students' ability to use adjectives to describe items. It can be used at any time of the year. I introduced it to my students right before Christmas break. It is, however, not exclusive to the holiday season.
My first graders have been working hard on using descriptive words in their writing, in writing to describe an item or describe the events in their personal narratives. I thought this activity would 'bring home' the idea of using adjectives to describe something. This is a low-prep activity, with the main part of the activity being provided by parents! The parents sent in an anonymously wrapped, at-home item. As my students took turns holding and examining each object, they provided descriptive words for it.
Getting Ready
To start, let your families know your plans for the activity. Send a note asking them to wrap an everyday, at-home item. As much as possible, they should wrap the item itself-instead of putting it in another box before wrapping. Be sure that they don't tell their student what the item is!
Prior to this activity:
Let your students know what an adjective is. You can use this poster!
Review the five senses with your learners. Make the connection with using our senses to describe how something looks, smells, sounds, feels, or tastes.
Review other categories of adjectives, such as size, shape, color, quantity, taste, and smell.
Let The Guessing Fun Begin!
For in class learning:
Allow your students to take turns showing their mystery item. Remember, do not let them tell what it is (their parent should not have told them either!).
Let students take turns describing the shape, feeling, smell, and sound of the item. Encourage them to use sentence starters such as "It feels..."; "It looks..."; It sounds..."
Let students guess what the item is, based on the adjectives they used.
Have students record their observations using this Guess My Mystery Item Recording Sheet.
Record your students' descriptions and guesses on chart paper. I sectioned my paper by: the item number, descriptive words, and guesses.
Before the big reveal, read the descriptions and guesses.
Student unwraps the mystery item!
Students check their guesses with the actual item.
For online learning:
Allow your students to take turns showing their mystery item. Remember, do not let them tell what it is (their parent should not have told them either!).
Let students take turns describing the shape, feeling, smell, and sound of the item. Encourage them to use sentence starters such as "It feels..."; "It looks..."; It sounds..."
Record your students' descriptions and guesses on chart paper or a Google Slide.
Since students are not in person to see the item up close, have them ask questions, such as: "What does it sound like? Can you shake it? Is it soft or hard? Is it squishy? Does it feel rough or smooth?
Before the big reveal, read the descriptions and guesses.
Student unwraps the mystery item!
Students check their guesses with the actual item.
Wrapping Up
It was fun watching the students' light up, as they saw for the first time the item their parents wrapped up and sent in to class! It was also great to hear the words they came up with to describe the item. This activity also pairs well with the skill of inferencing, since students use what they think they know about the item and the adjectives that describe it to come up with the item name. Students will continue to practice using adjectives in their oral responses as well as their writing.
I found that this activity worked better in person. I teach at a hybrid school, which offers in person and online teacher instruction. Of course, being in person, you can see the item up close, and it was easier to record their responses. Recording their responses while online was a little challenging, as I had to navigate the Google Meet, listen to the students' responses, ask the student presenting questions, and try to type in the responses. It was also hard to remember to share my screen with them so they could see the responses--as I was eager for the big reveal!
How about you? Have you tried using a mystery gift to help your students use adjectives? What other adjective activities have been helpful for you and your students? Let me know in the comment section!
Free Downloads
There are several free downloads available in this post. Feel free to use them with your kiddos! For the Google Slides downloads, you will be asked to make a copy of the slide deck in your Google Drive, so be sure you are logged into the Google account where you wish the download to be placed. I hope you find these downloads useful for your kiddos!
Free Subscriber Downloads
As a subscriber to the My Lesson Designer Resource Library, you will receive these additional worksheets and google slides to help your learners with adjectives. They will practice adjectives to describe color, number, size, shape, taste, and touch. The Google Slides offer the same questions as the worksheets. They are self-checking, as they provide immediate feedback to your students' responses. As a subscriber, you will also receive email updates from My Lesson Designer.
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