Lesson 1: Pronouns and Nouns
Lesson Plan
- Learning Goal
- Identify pronouns and the nouns that they refer to.
- Duration
- Approximately 50 minutes
- Necessary Materials
- Provided: Example Chart for Direct Teaching and Guided Practice, Independent Practice Worksheet (Older), Independent Practice Worksheet (Younger)
Not Provided: Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman, chart paper, markers
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Teacher Modeling
will review the definition of a noun (a word that refers to a person, place, or thing) and introduce the definition of a pronoun by explaining that it is a word you can use to replace or substitute for a noun. I will tell a short story that does not use any pronouns. For example: "Yesterday Sue went to the grocery store. Sue bought five apples and three oranges. Sue paid the cashier and went outside. Sue saw one of Sue’s friends and Sue said 'hello.'" I will then point out that the story sounded strange because I did not use any pronouns. I will discuss how I could replace the noun “Sue” with the pronouns “her” or “she” in some of the sentences. I will retell the story again, this time using pronouns when appropriate. I will use Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman to model how to identify a pronoun and the noun it refers to. I will read page 3 and identify the pronoun “her.” I will explain that “her” refers to the mother bird. I will add “her” to the pronoun chart (example is provided). I will repeat this with the pronouns “my” and “he” (pg. 5); “I,” “my,” and “she” (pg. 6); “she” (pg. 7); and “it” (pg. 8).
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Think Check
Ask: "How did I identify the pronouns in the story?" Students should respond that you looked at words such as he, she, my, her, his, and they and thought about who that word was referring to.
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Guided Practice
will read the rest of the book and continue to add pronouns from the book to the chart. We will discuss to whom or what each pronoun refers. We will read the chart of pronouns, brainstorm any other pronouns we know, and add them to our chart.
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Independent Practice
will use pronouns to complete the sentences or match a pronoun to the picture that it represents. (Independent Practice Worksheet is provided.)
TIP: Two versions of the Independent Practice are provided for this lesson; one for students needing pictorial support and one for students who are successfully reading sentences.
Standards Alignment
(To see all of the ReadWorks lessons aligned to your standards, click here.)

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