2.1 Explicitly Teach the Who or the What: Nouns

In this section, you'll learn about teaching nouns, the first of eight grammatical building blocks in this skill explainer. (Soon, we'll publish modules on how to teach adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, and interjections.)

We're going to start by giving you a quick refresher on what nouns are, why we refer to them as the who or the what, and how our "function first, label later" approach works.

The function, or job, of a noun is to tell who or what a sentence or a thought is about. We explicitly teach students about nouns with a function-first approach (label later) by asking questions.
 

Here is a function-first question that we teach students to answer: 

"Who or what is this sentence about?" 

The question "Who?" refers to people, and the question "What?" refers to things, places, and ideas. 

Imagine your student reads this sentence:

The gardener plants seeds.

You can ask them, "Who or what is this sentence about?" And they will answer, "A gardener." 

Here's another example they could read:

The cactus bloomed.

You'd ask the question, "Who or what?" And they will answer, "Cactus."
 

For students, being able to answer the question "Who or what?" when listening to a read-aloud or reading independently is a crucial part of comprehension.

Let’s look at an example passage to see how this works. First, read the passage.  

Plants grow all over the world. Some plants live in hot, dry deserts. Other plants grow in big, grassy fields called grasslands. Others live in forests with many trees. Wherever they live, all plants need water.

Now, go through sentence by sentence and look for the words that answer "Who or what?" We've bolded them for you below. 

Plants grow all over the world. Some plants live in hot, dry deserts. Other plants grow in big, grassy fields called grasslands. Others live in forests with many trees. Wherever they live, all plants need water.

Easy, right? But this will be new for many of your students. 

Learning how to identify the who or the what will give them an overall understanding of what this passage is about — plants! Obviously, this is essential if we want students to comprehend what they read. 

Now back to our passage. Notice that the nouns you identified play different roles in the sentences. For example, take a look at this sentence:

Plants grow all over the world.

The word plants is the subject of the sentence, telling us what the sentence is about. The next noun, world, is part of a phrase and tells us the answer to the question "Where?"

Nouns can be categorized as common or proper. A common noun is a general name for a group of something. For example, a common noun is cactus. Cactus names a general group of plants that share specific characteristics. Common nouns are not capitalized. Saguaro is a proper name for a specific type of cactus. Proper nouns are capitalized.

Before you teach this model lesson, you'll want to download these free Sentence Function Cards and the Who or What Flash Cards with people, places, things, and ideas. 

To start your lesson on nouns, here's what you can say to your students.  

Today we're going to learn something about words. Words have a function, which is another word for a job. One function that some words have is to answer the question "Who or what?"

Show students the "Who or what?" card. 

Say,

Show students pictures of places from the "Who or what?" card deck.

Say,

Show students pictures of things from the "Who or what?" card deck.

Say,

Show students pictures of ideas from the "Who or what?" card deck.

Say,

Next, you'll work with students as they sort words into the categories of who or what. You might say, 

I am going to say some words. Then we will decide if it answers "Who?" or "What?" 

apple, fireman, car, plant, doctor, school, store, cloud

As you say each word (or show a picture card), have students respond chorally to indicate whether the word answers "Who?" or "What?" 

Then ask students to reflect on their choice and say their response in a complete sentence. Model an example for your students first.

For example: 

• An apple tells us what. Apple names a thing.
• A fireman tells us who. Fireman names a person.
• A school tells us what. School names a place.  

Say,

We use words that answer "Who?" or "What?" when we talk, read, and write.

Next, students will read and sort words. 

You might say:   

Let's try sorting some words we already know how to read. We will sort them into words that answer the question "Who?" or the question "What?" Remember, these words name people, places, and things.

With the words below, ask students to sort words using a simple chart labeled with the three different categories: people, places, or things. 

tent, bug, path, kids, hut, rock, moth, vet

Here's an example of a completed chart. 

Once students are done sorting, ask them to pick a word and tell a partner whether it answers the question "Who?" or the question "What?" Remind students to say the word in a complete sentence. 

For example: 

• A vet tells us who. A vet names a person.
• A hut tells us what. Hut names a place.
• A moth tells us what. Moth names a thing.  

Sometimes a word fits in more than one category. For example, the word vet is a kind of doctor for animals. If we think of the word vet this way, it refers to a person. We also go to the vet. When we use the word vet in this way, it means a place. To make this concrete for students, write the word vet in your chart in both the people column and the places column. 

Close the lesson by introducing your students to the label noun: 

We can call words that answer "Who?" or "What?" nouns. Nouns name people, places, things, and ideas. When you see a word, ask if it is telling you "Who?" or "What?" If it does, it's a noun!