Using Adjectives, Adverbs, and Prepositions to Show, Not Tell: A 4th Grade Lesson

📚 Showing, Not Telling: A 4th Grade Adventure!

This lesson will guide you on how to use adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions to create vivid descriptions and engaging narratives. Forget just telling your reader what happened; make them see, hear, and feel the story!

🎯 Learning Objectives

• 🎨 Identify adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions in sentences.
• ✍️ Apply adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions to enhance descriptive writing.
• 🌟 Transform "telling" sentences into "showing" sentences.

📝 Materials

• 📄 Worksheets with sentence examples
• ✏️ Pencils
• 🌈 Highlighters (different colors for each part of speech)
• whiteboard or projector

☀️ Warm-up (5 minutes)

• 🗣️ Quick Review: Ask students what adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions are.
• ✍️ Sentence Starters: Write simple sentences on the board (e.g., "The dog ran.") and ask students to add one adjective, adverb, or prepositional phrase to make it more descriptive (e.g., "The fluffy dog ran quickly toward the park.")

✍️ Main Instruction (25 minutes)

1. 🔍 Understanding "Showing" vs. "Telling"

   • 📖 Define the terms:
     • 🗣️ Telling: States facts in a simple, straightforward way (e.g., "The man was angry.")
     • 🎬 Showing: Uses descriptive language to create a picture in the reader's mind, implying the facts rather than stating them directly (e.g., "The man's face was red, and his fists were clenched.")
   • 🖼️ Example Sentences: Provide several examples of "telling" sentences and their "showing" counterparts.
     

     Telling	Showing
     The girl was sad.	Tears streamed down the girl's face as she stared at the ground.
     The food tasted good.	The savory aroma filled the air, and each bite was an explosion of flavor.

2. 💡 Using Adjectives

   • 🍎 Descriptive Power: Explain how adjectives add detail and create stronger images.
     • 📝 Example: Instead of "a car," use "a sleek, red sports car."
   • ✍️ Practice: Provide sentences and ask students to add adjectives to make them more descriptive.
     • 📝 Original: The house stood on the hill.
     • 🌟 Enhanced: The dilapidated, old house stood proudly on the windswept hill.

3. 🚀 Using Adverbs

   • 🏃 Action Amplifiers: Explain how adverbs modify verbs, adding information about how actions are performed.
     • 📝 Example: Instead of "He walked," use "He walked slowly and cautiously."
   • ✍️ Practice: Provide sentences and ask students to add adverbs to describe the verbs in more detail.
     • 📝 Original: She sang.
     • 🌟 Enhanced: She sang beautifully and passionately.

4. 🌍 Using Prepositions

   • 📍 Location and Context: Explain how prepositions show relationships between nouns/pronouns and other words in the sentence, often indicating location, time, or direction.
     • 📝 Example: Instead of "The book is," use "The book is on the table" or "The book is beside the lamp."
   • ✍️ Practice: Provide sentences and ask students to add prepositional phrases to provide context.
     • 📝 Original: The bird flew.
     • 🌟 Enhanced: The bird flew over the tall trees and across the clear sky.

✅ Assessment (10 minutes)

• ✍️ Transformation Time: Provide "telling" sentences and ask students to rewrite them using adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions to "show" instead. For example:
  • Telling: The pizza was good.
  • Showing: The pizza's melted cheese stretched with each pull, releasing a warm, herby aroma that made my mouth water.

✍️ Practice Quiz

1. 📚 Question 1: Rewrite: "The room was messy."
2. 🌟 Question 2: Rewrite: "The sun was hot."
3. 🎨 Question 3: Rewrite: "The music was loud."
4. 🏃 Question 4: Rewrite: "The cat was happy."
5. 🍎 Question 5: Rewrite: "The game was fun."
6. 🌍 Question 6: Rewrite: "The road was long."
7. ✅ Question 7: Rewrite: "The test was hard."