Adverb

Age

6-9.

Materials

• Strips of paper
• Pens
• Grammar symbols previously used and the symbol for adverb
• An orange sphere
• A red sphere
  

Presentation

1. The directress writes a simple command in black ink.
2. The child reads and executes the command.
3. The directress then adds an adverb in red.
4. The child reads and executes the command.
5. It is observed that the two actions were different.
6. Why? The verbs stayed the same, but something was added, i.e. walk//walk slowly.
7. This word that changed the way you walked is called an adverb. (adverb: from Latin adverbium - ad, to, beside, and verbum, a word, a verb)
8. The adverb is always near the verb just as the adjective is always near the noun.
9. Symbols: We recall the verb was symbolized by a red ball.
10. The adverb also is symbolized by a ball, only smaller and orange.
11. Only the verb is red, because the verb is energy, like a fire.
12. Since the adverb stays near the verb, it gets some of the heat of the fire and it is orange.
13. The verb is larger than the adverb because it is more important, just as the noun was larger than the adjective.
14. For the adverb we use a small orange circle.
15. The child places the symbols on the slips above the corresponding words.
16. The child then tries to change the positions of the words by tearing the strip, but finds that it usually sounds right when the adverb follows the verb.
17. Using the simple one word commands, the children may write their own, adding adverbs.
18. These are then executed and written in their journals with symbols.