Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, K-3

In the BrainPOP ELL movie, Friends are Fair! (L1U3L2), Ben and Moby watch an exciting basketball game on TV, inspiring them to go outside and play, too. In this lesson students are introduced to plural nouns and review adjectives.  This lesson plan, adaptable for grades K-8, invites students to use plural nouns in interactive games and activities.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:

  1. Match images of singular and plural nouns.
  2. Record examples of plural spelling rules on a chart.
  3. Describe an image with examples of plural nouns.
  4. Illustrate and explain plural spelling rules in a small group mini project.

Vocabulary:

man/men, woman/women, child/children, baby/babies.

Preparation:

  • Gather images that illustrate singular and plural nouns. You may use the Four Images of Plural Nouns, or other resources. If using the Four Images, you will need to cut out the individual people.
  • Create cards with the singular and plural nouns to go with each image.

Lesson Procedure:

  1. Match It! Distribute a card to each student of either the image or word of singular and plural nouns. First, students match the images and words. For example, the student with the word card “man” finds the student with the image of a man. Then, this newly formed matched team finds their matching plural pair. For example, the “man” team finds the “men” team. Tell the teams to think of sentences with the words, and decide on two to share with the class.
  2. Chart It. Make a chart of Plural Spelling Rules to use as a Word Wall, or have students make individual charts in their notebooks. Create five columns: +s, +es, y+s, y+ies, and Irregular. As they watch the movie Friends are Fair! (L1U3L2), students listen for the plural nouns and record them in the correct columns. Remind the students to add nouns to the chart throughout the unit.
  3. Describe the Picture. In the movie Friends are Fair! (L1U3L2), Ben says many descriptive sentences with adjectives and nouns. For example: Four tall men are running. Use the At the Park Action Image, or any picture with lots of activity, and have students describe what's happening, just like Ben does in the movie. For example, "Two small children are playing."
  4. Small Group Mini Projects. Divide the class into small groups and assign one of the four plural spelling rules to each group. Some groups may have the same rule, and some groups may decide to present all of the rules instead of just one. Each group works on a project to illustrate and explain their rule. Brainstorm some ideas with the class, such as a poster, a mini book, a game, a poem, a presentation, etc. They may be as creative as they want. When they are completed, each group presents and explains their rule to the class.

Related:
BrainPOP ELL Movie:
An Egg in an Igloo (L1U3L1)
BrainPOP JR Movie:
Plural Nouns
BrainPOP Movie:
Nouns