How, how often, where and when? If you are asking these questions you are most likely using adverbs. This part of speech can be more difficult for kids to recognize and can leave them feeling frustrated.
Image courtesy of CGP Grey at flickr.com (scaled and text added)
An adverb is a word or phrase that modifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb. Adverbs express relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, and degree. I don’t know about you, but that makes my head spin a little. Imagine being a kid and being given that definition and then a work sheet. I think it would be a little overwhelming for the average kid. So how do we teach adverbs in a more engaging and relatable way?
One of my favorite ways to teach is through mixed media. Kids eat this stuff up. Schoolhouse Rock has some adorable videos that teach the parts of speech. I have provided a link to the one that deals with adverbs but I recommend checking them all out. My daughter couldn’t get enough of these silly educational videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14fXm4FOMPM
Music is also a great way to engage children and help them retain information. I love the following two songs for teaching adverbs. Fair warning, Rock and Roll Verbs is very catchy. You may find yourself singing it ALL DAY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQPDk_fMcs0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Elj6pJXLEA
If your kids are anything like mine than they would be all in for cooking or baking up a tasty treat. This is another fantastic way to teach adverbs. You can have them discuss things like how it cooked (slowly, quickly). You could also review adjectives and discuss the smell and taste of the item you are cooking or baking. You can also discuss when it will be done: soon, before, after, today and so on.
Acting things out is always a fun way to learn and teach. Start by writing sentences. Some examples are:
The boy plays the drums.
The girl sings.
The man ran.
The teacher jumped.
Place the sentences in a basket. In a separate basket have a variety of adverbs written out such as loudly, quietly, quickly, slowly and so on. The student will pick a sentence and an adverb and either act them out or draw them. To make it easier you could read the sentence only leaving out the adverb. For example, read the girl sings and have them act out the quietly part.
It is also important that students understand that adverbs express relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, and degree. Place tells us where something happened. Cameron put his toys away. Ask “Where did he put the toys?” He put them away. This helps identify the adverb of place. Time tells when it happened. Yesterday Loopy jumped on the table. Ask “When did Loopy jump?” She jumped yesterday. This helps identify the time. Manner shows how something happened. The girl sang loudly. Ask “How did she sing?” She sang loudly. This helps identify the adverb of manner. Adverbs of degree show intensity. Claire ran quickly. Ask “How did Claire run?” She ran quickly. Asking how helps to identify the adverb in the sentence. Time, manner and place are collectively known as circumstance adverbs. Teaching your students to ask these questions will make identifying adverbs a breeze.
Books are always a great way to teach grammar. Here are a few of my favorites for teaching adverbs.
If You Were an Adverb by Michael Dahl
Dearly, Nearly, Insincerely What Is an Adverb by Brian Cleary and Tillie’s Tuba
Grammar Tales Series by Maria Fleming
You can read these books together and write the adverbs as you hear them. Challenge your child to find more than you. This is a great way to get them thinking and moving.
What methods have you been using to teach adverbs?
Image courtesy of Lachlan Hardy at flickr.com (scaled and text added)
How Fun! I will need to pin and save this to use with the Kiddies for sure. I love finding ways to make learning fun and effective…thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you!
I really like the sentence basket idea. Neither of my sons can read yet, but I think we could use picture flash cards and work on using and recognizing adverbs. I love your language activities, by the way. Great ideas!
Amazing! I’m just a little bit of a grammar nerd, so I’m loving these posts!
Such a great resource to help my kids learn adverbs. These are some great ideas & fun ways to teach them so they get more involved. I am bookmarking those YouTube videos right away.
I love the idea.. These are such fun ways to teach them