Choose the Strong Verb That Fits Each Sentence

Pick one tool a week and look for it together in a book your child is reading. Then have your child use it in a planner and write a short paragraph from the plan. Read the paragraph aloud and point out the strongest word.

Circle the strong verb like trudged or soared in 6 sentences, then write 2 with tiptoed or gobbled. A strong verb, or vivid verb, shows exactly how someone acts. The directions on the page read: Read the Example. Then, in Part A, circle the verb that fits the clues in each of the 6 sentences. Then, in Part B, write 2 sentences, each with a different verb from the list. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 4th Grade writing process, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with descriptive language. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Descriptive language is word choice that lets a reader picture what is happening: exact nouns, vivid verbs, sensory details, figurative language and words that show feelings. CCSS W.4.3.D asks 4th graders to use concrete words and sensory details in their stories.

A simile compares two things with like or as, as in the mist was as soft as a blanket. A metaphor says one thing is another, as in our classroom was a zoo. Personification gives a thing a human action, as in the old maple tree waves its long arms. The sheets have children find each one in a short description and then write their own (L.4.5).

Telling names a feeling, as in Ava was tired. Showing lets the reader see it through actions, as in she yawned and rubbed her eyes. One page matches 6 telling sentences to their showing sentences, and a planner has children build a scene about feeling jealous or proud from body clues and actions.

18 of the 26 sheets have an answer key, with a sample answer for the sentences children write. The 8 planners, such as the character sketch, the animal in motion and the slow motion moment, have no key, since each child describes their own.