A child is looking at a picture of a dog, and the teacher has asked her to describe it. "A dog," she says. The teacher waits. "A big dog," she says. "A big brown dog." And then, because the teacher is still waiting, "a big brown fluffy dog." Four words, and the dog is no longer just a dog. It is a big brown fluffy dog, and the child can see it. That is what an adjective does: it takes a plain noun and makes it a picture, and the picture is the point.
The Adjective Worksheets 1st Grade is built for that moment, twenty-six times over. It has 26 leveled adjective worksheets: 13 activities in Level 1 and Level 2 — Find the Adjective, Picture Clues, Which Picture?, Match It, Label the Pictures, Adjective or Not?, Adjectives in Sentences, Pick the Best Adjective, Opposite Adjectives, Sort by Kind, Describe the Picture, Four Describing Words and Write a Sentence. Students circle adjectives, match pictures to describing words, cut and paste labels, complete an adjective sort, pick the best adjective for a sentence, learn opposites and write their own describing words and sentences. The pages are black and white on US Letter paper, and the listing states 40 pages. Answer keys are included for every page with right answers. The set is written for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade; the listing's Highlights field says K–3rd.
What an Adjective Is
An adjective is a word that describes a noun, and the definition is the easy part. The hard part is the noticing: a child who has never been asked to notice describing words will not notice them, and a child who does not notice them will not use them. The set starts with the noticing. Find the Adjective asks the child to circle the describing word in a sentence, and the circling is the noticing. Picture Clues asks the child to match a picture to the word that describes it, and the matching is the noticing again, in a different form.
The posters teach the definition, and they are worth putting on the wall before the first worksheet. What Is an Adjective? says what an adjective is, in words a child can read. The Adjective Word Bank gives the children words to use — big, small, red, soft, fast, happy — and the Opposite Adjectives poster shows the pairs: big and little, hot and cold, fast and slow. A child who can look at the wall and find a word is a child who can write a sentence, and the wall is the reminder that stays up after the lesson.
The definition to teach is the simple one: an adjective tells what kind, how many, or which one. What kind of dog? A big dog. How many dogs? Three dogs. Which dog? That dog. The three questions are the test a child can use on any word: does it tell what kind, how many, or which one? If it does, it is an adjective. If it does not, it is not. The test is the skill, and the worksheets are the practice.
The 13 Activities, in Two Levels
The set has 13 activities, and every activity in the Adjective Worksheets 1st Grade comes in an easier Level 1 and a harder Level 2, so it is easy to differentiate in minutes. Find the Adjective, Picture Clues, Which Picture?, Match It, Label the Pictures, Adjective or Not?, Adjectives in Sentences, Pick the Best Adjective, Opposite Adjectives, Sort by Kind, Describe the Picture, Four Describing Words, Write a Sentence — thirteen activities, and each one teaches the same skill from a different angle. A child who can find the adjective, match the adjective, sort the adjective and write the adjective is a child who knows what an adjective is.
The activities are ordered from finding to using, and the order is worth following. Find the Adjective and Picture Clues come first, because finding is easier than using. Match It and Label the Pictures come next, because matching is the step between finding and using. Adjective or Not? is the sorting page, and the sorting is the test: a child who can say whether a word is an adjective or not is a child who understands the definition. Adjectives in Sentences and Pick the Best Adjective are the using pages, and Write a Sentence is the last one, because writing is the hardest and it comes last.
The two levels are the differentiation. Level 1 is easier: fewer choices, simpler sentences, more support. Level 2 is harder: more choices, longer sentences, less support. The same activity, the same skill, two different amounts of help. A child starts in Level 1, and when the finding is easy, the child moves to Level 2, and the move is the evidence of learning.
Cut and Paste and the Scavenger Hunt
The five cut and paste pages are the ones the children like best, because cutting and pasting is doing something with their hands. Picture labels, two adjective sort pages and a sort by kind — the child cuts the word, reads it, and pastes it where it belongs. The cutting slows the child down, and the slowing down is the point: a child who cuts a word and pastes it has read the word, and a child who reads the word has thought about it. The cut and paste pages are not a craft activity. They are a reading activity with scissors.
The Adjective Scavenger Hunt takes the adjectives off the page. The children hunt for things in the room that match the describing words — something red, something soft, something round — and the hunting is the learning. A child who finds something red in the room has connected the word to the world, and the connection is the point. The hunt works best in pairs, because one child reads the word and the other finds the thing, and the pair has to agree that the thing matches.
Describe the Park is the page that closes the cut and paste set, and it is the one that asks the most. The child looks at a picture of a park and describes it, in sentences, with adjectives. A child who writes "the big green tree" and "the red slide" is using adjectives in their own writing, and the using is the goal. The park is the picture, and the sentences are the child's own.
The Posters: What Is an Adjective?
The three posters are the teaching, and they are worth using every day the set is running. What Is an Adjective? is the definition, and it should be on the wall where the children can see it while they work. The Adjective Word Bank is the words, and it should be on the wall where the children can find a word when they need one. The Opposite Adjectives poster is the pairs, and it should be on the wall where the children can see that adjectives come in opposites.
Use the posters by pointing at them. A child who is stuck on a sentence — "I need a word for the dog" — can look at the word bank and find one, and the finding is the learning. A teacher who points at the poster instead of giving the word is teaching the child to find it themselves, and the finding is the skill. The posters are not decoration. They are the reference, and a reference the child uses on their own is a reference that works. The word bank is the poster the children will use the most, because it is the one with the words in it, and a child who is writing a sentence needs a word more than they need a definition. Keep the word bank at the children's eye level, where they can see it from their seats, and the children will use it without being told.
The Opposite Adjectives poster is the one that teaches the most, because opposites are the way children learn what a word means. Big means something because little means something else, and hot means something because cold means something else. A child who knows the opposite knows the word, and the poster is the pairs laid out where the children can see them. The opposite activities — Opposite Adjectives in the worksheets, the poster on the wall — are the ones to use together, because the worksheet and the poster teach the same thing twice.
The Four-Week Plan
The set includes a 4-week plan, and one way to run it follows the plan's shape. Week one is finding: Find the Adjective, Picture Clues, Which Picture?, Match It — the finding activities, in Level 1, with the posters on the wall. Week two is sorting: Adjective or Not?, Sort by Kind, the cut and paste sorts — the sorting activities, and the sorting is the test of the definition. Week three is using: Adjectives in Sentences, Pick the Best Adjective, Describe the Picture, Four Describing Words — the using activities, and the using is the goal. Week four is writing: Write a Sentence, Describe the Park, the scavenger hunt — the writing activities, and the writing is the proof.
The Teacher Notes with standards are included, and they are worth reading before the first week. The notes name the things that go wrong — the child who circles the noun, the child who cannot tell an adjective from an adverb, the child who writes a sentence with no adjective at all — and the fixes that work. The Adjective Star certificate closes the four weeks, and it is worth giving out for the using, not for the finding. A child who has written sentences with adjectives has done the work, and the certificate says so.
If a week needs two weeks, take two weeks. The plan is a guide, not a deadline, and an activity learned properly is worth more than an activity rushed through to stay on schedule. The thirteen activities are enough for four weeks, and the four weeks are enough for the skill, and the skill is the point. Week four is the week the children will remember, because week four is the writing week, and the writing is the proof: a sentence with adjectives in it, written by the child, about a picture the child chose. A child who writes "the big brown fluffy dog" has done the work of the whole month, and the sentence is the evidence.
Using It for ESL and Speech
The set is built for ESL and speech vocabulary practice, and the reason is the pictures. Every activity has pictures, and the pictures are the meaning. A child who is learning English can match a picture to a word without knowing the word yet, and the matching is the learning. The word bank is the vocabulary, and the vocabulary is the thing the child needs. A child who can say "big" and "red" in English has two words they did not have before, and the two words are the start.
The speech sessions work the same way. A child working on describing words in speech can use the pictures to practice the words, and the words are the goal. The cut and paste pages are the ones to use in speech, because the cutting and pasting is a task the child can do while talking, and the talking is the therapy. The posters on the wall are the reference, and the reference is the support.
The set works for kindergarten and 2nd grade review as well as for 1st grade, and the two levels are the reason. A kindergartener on Level 1 and a 2nd grader on Level 2 are both learning adjectives, and the levels mean the same set works for both. The listing lists ESL and speech vocabulary practice among the uses, and the pictures are the reason it works. The word bank is the part the ESL child will use the most, because it is the vocabulary laid out where the child can see it, and a child who can point to a word and say it has learned the word. The speech child will use the pictures the same way, pointing and naming, and the naming is the practice.
What to Watch For
Three things go wrong with adjectives, and all three are easy to prevent. The first is the noun circled instead of the adjective. A child circles "dog" in "the big dog," and the circling is the mistake. The fix is the question: "Which word tells us about the dog?" The question is the test, and the test is the skill. A child who can answer the question can find the adjective, and the finding is the learning.
The second is the adjective confused with the adverb. A child writes "the dog runs quick" and the word is an adverb, not an adjective, and the confusion is normal. The fix is the question: "Does it describe the dog, or does it describe the running?" An adjective describes a noun. An adverb describes a verb. The question is the test, and the test is the skill.
The third is the sentence with no adjective at all. A child writes "The dog is in the park" and the sentence is fine, and it has no adjective in it. The fix is the challenge: "Can you add a describing word?" The challenge is the teaching, and the child who adds "big" has learned what an adjective is for. The adding is the using, and the using is the goal.
Frequently Asked Questions
What grades are the adjective worksheets for?
They are written for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. The listing's Highlights field says K–3rd. They work for 1st grade grammar lessons, kindergarten and 2nd grade review, and ESL and speech vocabulary practice.
How many worksheets are there?
26 leveled worksheets: 13 activities in Level 1 and Level 2. They include Find the Adjective, Picture Clues, Which Picture?, Match It, Label the Pictures, Adjective or Not?, Adjectives in Sentences, Pick the Best Adjective, Opposite Adjectives, Sort by Kind, Describe the Picture, Four Describing Words and Write a Sentence.
How are the two levels different?
Every activity comes in an easier Level 1 and a harder Level 2, so it is easy to differentiate in minutes. Level 1 has fewer choices, simpler sentences and more support; Level 2 has more choices, longer sentences and less support.
Is there an answer key?
Yes. Answer keys are included for every page with right answers.
What posters are included?
Three posters: What Is an Adjective?, Adjective Word Bank and Opposite Adjectives. Put them on the wall before the first worksheet, and point at them while the children work.
How does the four-week plan work?
Week one is finding, week two is sorting, week three is using, and week four is writing. If a week needs two weeks, take two weeks — the plan is a guide, not a deadline.
