eng.g3.f.lesson_07.abstract_nouns_motivation
Abstract Nouns — Naming What You Can't Touch
- Students sort 20 nouns into CONCRETE vs. ABSTRACT columns using the touch-test.
- Students name one abstract noun that describes a character's motivation in their own narrative draft.
Lesson plan
Warm-up
5 minTouch-or-think: teacher holds up 5 cards (apple, courage, jacket, kindness, library). Children call TOUCH or THINK for each.
- Pause for chorus response
- Affirm and bridge to ABSTRACT NOUN naming
Direct instruction
12 minAll year you've been using NOUNS — words that name a person, place, or thing. Today we meet a new kind. CONCRETE NOUNS name things you can TOUCH: apple, dog, chair, hand, kite. ABSTRACT NOUNS name IDEAS, FEELINGS, or QUALITIES — things you can FEEL inside or THINK about, but you cannot pick up: courage, kindness, friendship, freedom, curiosity, fear, hope, love, honesty, respect. The TEST is: can I touch one? If yes → concrete. If no → abstract. Why do abstract nouns matter to a narrator? Because a narrator's job is to show what a character WANTS, FEELS, or BECOMES — and those things have names. 'Babushka showed COURAGE when she stayed during the thunder.' COURAGE is the abstract noun naming her quality. In your narrative, ask: what abstract noun names what my narrator WANTED or FELT? Curiosity? Hope? Embarrassment? Determination?
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The test is touch. Friendship and fear pass the THINK-not-TOUCH test.model Jacket: touchable → CONCRETE. Friendship: feel/think → ABSTRACT. Library: touchable building → CONCRETE. Fear: feel inside → ABSTRACT. Dough: touchable → CONCRETE.prompt Sort: jacket, friendship, library, fear, dough.
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Naming the abstract noun makes the narrator's motivation clear.model CURIOSITY. He wanted to KNOW things. Curiosity is the abstract noun.prompt What abstract noun names what Tomás (in 'Tomás and the Library Lady') wanted?
- Apply the touch-test: is 'idea' concrete or abstract?
- Name one abstract noun that fits a character in your wedge.
M-3-F-GR-07-A
Chart
Reproduction of MG-6 at 11x17: 2-column table with CONCRETE NOUN (left, blue, touch-icon) and ABSTRACT NOUN (right, yellow, think-bubble icon). 8 concrete examples (apple, dog, chair, hand, kite, soup, jacket, library) and 8 abstract examples (courage, kindness, friendship, freedom, curiosity, fear, hope, love), each illustrated with a tiny scene. Bottom rule: 'Test: can I TOUCH one? If yes → concrete. If no → abstract.' Print-ready, dyslexic-friendly font.
MG-6
Chart
Physical / non-image
Abstract nouns anchor chart: a 2-column table with CONCRETE NOUN (touchable) on the left (apple, dog, chair, hand, kite, soup, jacket, library) and ABSTRACT NOUN (idea/feeling/quality) on the right (courage, kindness, friendship, freedom, curiosity, fear, hope, love). Bottom rule: 'Concrete nouns you can touch. Abstract nouns you can FEEL or THINK about but cannot touch.' Print-ready 11x17.
Guided practice
12 min-
Sort 20 cards (10 concrete, 10 abstract) into two columns.scaffold MG-6 anchor + sort mat
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Look at your wedge. Pick ONE abstract noun that names what your narrator wanted, felt, or became. Write it on a sticky.scaffold Abstract-noun word-bank (12 words)
M-3-F-GR-07-B
Illustration
Physical / non-image
Reference image of 12 feeling-card cards: each card has a culturally-inclusive face emoji + the abstract-noun label + a Grade-3 example sentence. Cards: curiosity (raised-eyebrow + 'I wondered what was inside.'), courage (steady-face + 'I climbed even though I was scared.'), kindness (gentle-smile + 'She helped without being asked.'), fear (wide-eye + 'I held my breath.'), hope (small-smile + 'I waited, hoping.'), embarrassment (red-cheek + 'My face went hot.'), pride (lifted-chin + 'I had done it.'), relief (out-breath + 'My shoulders dropped.'), determination (set-jaw + 'I would not stop.'), surprise (open-mouth + 'I jumped back.'), anxiety (crinkle-brow + 'My stomach knotted.'), love (warm-eye + 'My heart felt full.'). Print-ready 4x6 grid.
Formative assessment
3 min- Pick 2 from this list and label each C (concrete) or A (abstract): apple, hope, library, kindness, hand, freedom.
- Write one sentence using an abstract noun about your narrator.
Closure
3 min- Stick your abstract-noun sticky on your draft.
- Predict: tomorrow we expand sentences with subordinators in workshop.
Homework
10 min- Find one abstract noun in a book at home. Write the sentence and circle the noun.
Exercises in this lesson
Differentiation
- Pre-marked sort with first 4 placed
- Emoji-based feeling cards for abstract nouns
- Reduced sort (10 cards)
- Find an abstract noun in any mentor text from your shelf. Quote the sentence.
- Build a 3-word abstract-noun family: hope / hopeful / hopelessness. Sort which are nouns vs. adjectives.
- Bilingual abstract-noun cards (cognate support: kindness/amabilidad, courage/valor)
- Photo+emoji pairs for non-readers
- Sort manipulative only
- Reduced sort (10 cards)
- Adult-scribed abstract-noun selection
Teacher notes
Abstract nouns are the metacognitive bridge into Grade 4 character analysis. The touch-test is the workable diagnostic; resist the urge to use the -ness/-ship suffix test as the primary tool because many abstract nouns don't carry that suffix (love, hope, fear). Plan to revisit abstract nouns in lesson 9 (where children name their narrator's motivation aloud) and lesson 15 (during revision day with the SHOW-DON'T-TELL move).