1. Adverbs Do?

 To start your adverb lesson plan, write the sentence “Mary ran quickly" on the board.
 Ask students to find the noun and verb in the sentence (Mary and ran)
 Then ask them to describe what the word “quickly" is doing, and which word it is modifying,
or describing. Make sure that students understand that it is saying how Mary ran, and that it is modifying
the word ran.
 Explain that “quickly" is an adverb, and that an adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or
another adverb. Write these three parts of speech on the board the verbs, adjectives, and other
adverbs that they modify. Write the following list of questions on the board:
 How?
 When?
 Where?
 To what extent?
Remind students that in the sentence “Mary ran quickly," the adverb quickly answered the question “How?" Have
students replace the word “quickly" with another adverb that answers the question “When?" (Possible answers
might be “yesterday" or “then.") Then have them replace it with an adverb that answers the question “Where?"
(Possible answers might be “home" or “far.") Explain that adverbs that answer the question “To what extent?"
usually modify adjectives, not nouns. Have them add an adverb to this sentence that answers the question “To
what extent": “The sky was blue." (Possible answers might be “very" or “light.")

Adverbs vs. Adjectives

Draw a Venn diagram on the board, and ask the class to help you use the graphic organizer to compare and
contrast adverbs and adjectives. They might say that the two parts of speech are similar because they are both
modifiers, but that they are different because they answer different questions and modify different parts of
speech.

Table of Questions
Have students draw a four-column chart with the headings “How?" “When?" “Where?" and “To what extent?" Then have
them skim through a story and pick out a list of adverbs that they find. Encourage them to insert the adverbs into the correct
place in the chart. Then ask them to share some of their adverbs with the class.

This adverb lesson plan should ensure that students understand the definition of an adverb and its uses.

2. Act It Out!
Begin with grammar activities that make sure that students understand how to use adverbs.

On your desk, place a pile of notecards with adverbs on them, as well as a pile of notecards with verbs on them.

Have students take turns picking a notecard from each pile and acting out the action that the cards show. For
example, if the cards are “walk" and “stealthily," the student might tiptoe carefully around the room, looking
around to make sure she’s not being followed.

Then have students guess the verb and the adverb that were chosen, and reveal the notecard as students guess
correctly.