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Collective Nouns All Together Now

It's a herd! It's a flock! It's...-collective nouns! Explore and illustrate these nouns that denote a collection of animals, people, or items.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Index Cards
  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    There are several types of nouns. Introduce students to some of these such as gerunds (nouns formed by adding "ing" to a verb), compound (snowman, bus stop, etc.), non-countable (no plural form, such as water, patience, etc.), and collective, which describe a group. Have students come up with some collective nouns they know such as a school of fish, a pride of lions, a team of athletes, etc. Encourage them to find the collective term for animals they like.

  • Step 2

    Have students illustrate each collective noun on a separate piece of paper and then write the term on an index card.

  • Step 3

    Display the illustrations. Shuffle the index cards and ask children to match the word with the illustrated animals or items.

Standards

LA: Apply knowledge of how language functions in different contexts to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading, writing, speaking, and/or listening.

LA: Add drawings of other visual displays to written text to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

Adaptations

Find some uncommon collective nouns to share with the class and ask students to speculate on why the term was chosen. For example, why is it called a flamboyance of flamingos? A parliament of owls?

Read a book such as "A Dazzle of Flamboyance" by Wendy Hayden or "What's My Group Again?" by Beatrice Penelope Kellar, which explores collective nouns and gives some interesting and fun facts about the animals in each group.