1st Grade · Grammar · L.1.1.B, L.1.1.F

Parts of Speech Lesson Plan for 1st Grade

A ready-to-teach parts of speech lesson for 1st Grade. Everything below is classroom-tested structure: an objective, a 45-minute sequence, a way to check who got it, and 6 printable practice pages.

Approximately 45 minutes

Learning objective

Identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives in sentences
Sort words into the correct part-of-speech category
Understand the role each part of speech plays in a sentence

Materials

Noun or verb - Piano
Nouns, verbs & adjectives - Beach
Choosing Adjectives - Fruit Basket
Capitalizing Proper Nouns - Sunflower
Identifying Nouns - Lion
Identifying nouns in a sentence - Parrot
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Notice it first (5 min)
Put two sentences on the board, one that uses parts of speech correctly and one that does not. Ask students which sounds right before you name any rule. Noticing comes before naming.
2. Name the rule (I do) (8 min)
Now name parts of speech and state the rule in one sentence. Write it where it can stay all week. Model correcting the broken sentence from the warm-up.
3. Fix them together (we do) (12 min)
Work through four or five sentences as a class. Mix in one that is already correct, because students who are pattern-matching rather than thinking will "fix" it anyway and reveal themselves.
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Noun or verb - Piano". Students work independently. Circulate and watch for the students who can do the exercise but cannot explain the rule, since that gap shows up later in their writing.
5. Apply it to real writing (5 min)
Students find one place in their own writing folder where parts of speech applies, and fix it. This is the step that moves the rule from worksheet to writing.

Check for understanding

Read the last two sentences of each student's independent work. Applying parts of speech correctly in their own sentence matters more than getting the exercise items right.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild parts of speech with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own parts of speech problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand parts of speech.

Skills covered in this lesson

Parts of speech · Nouns

Questions teachers ask about teaching parts of speech

What parts of speech do first graders learn?

First graders are introduced to nouns (people, places, things), verbs (action words), and adjectives (describing words) as the core parts of speech (CCSS L.1.1). They learn to identify these in sentences they read and use them in their own writing. Pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions are introduced but mastered in later grades.

How do you teach parts of speech to first graders?

Use concrete, hands-on categorization activities: noun sorts (Is it a person, place, or thing?), verb charades (act out the action word), and adjective sensory descriptions (describe an object using color, size, shape). Worksheets that ask students to identify and label words in context sentences reinforce the concepts more than isolated definitions.

When should first graders be able to identify nouns vs. verbs?

By mid-year in first grade, most students should reliably identify common nouns and action verbs in simple sentences. CCSS L.1.1a requires use of common, proper, and possessive nouns, and L.1.1e requires use of verbs. Being able to label parts of speech supports both reading comprehension and the revision process in writing.