Tell the students to form groups of four to five (depending on the class size) and instruct them where to sit with their group.
Separate any students who you know from experience will become a problem if paired together.
Instruct the students to come up with a name for their group, making sure all students agree on their group's chosen name.
Jot down the names of the students in each group to properly award the victors later, if you choose to do so.
Write the team names on the board side-by-side. This is where you will add each team's points as the game progresses.
Write the three games on the board with a line under each one, providing a space to write tally marks for the students' votes.
Tell the students that Noun Trivia is a game in which they will answer questions from five difficulty levels that award more points as the questions get more difficult. This game is best for students who enjoy competing.
Explain that List the Nouns involves random words that can be any part of speech and that they are to only write down the words that are nouns.
Explain the Noun Scavenger Hunt by telling them they will be roaming around the classroom with their group, writing down things they see that are nouns, and then sitting down and putting those nouns into their plural and possessive forms. This game is good for students who can't sit still.
Poll the students by asking them to raise their hand for which game they want to play. For example, ask them "Who wants to play Noun Trivia?" Count the hands and write the votes on the board under each respective game. Count the votes to see which game to play.
Write "$100" on a piece of paper, which will be the first category. Write five basic sentences for the $100 category. For example, "The dog runs in the park." Underline the nouns in each sentence for your reference.
Create the second category ($200) and write a list of common nouns (the dog, the cat) and proper nouns (Barack Obama, California).
Form a list of nouns that have regular plural forms (dog, dogs; cat, cats) under the third category ($300) and a list of nouns with irregular plural forms (woman, women; sheep, sheep) for the $400 category.
Create the last category ($500), which will ask the students for the possessive forms of each noun. Include both singular nouns (dog's, Tyler's) and plural nouns (citizens', students').
Write the $100 question on the board, explain what they are to do and tell them to whisper among themselves until each group reaches an agreement for each answer. Have them write their answers on a piece paper.
Go around the classroom to each group to check the answers, then write the scores on the board. Give $100 per correct answer and take away $100 for each incorrect answer.
Repeat this process for the other four difficulty levels, remembering that each level is worth $100 more than the previous one.
Add the dollar amounts to find the winning group and provide them with an award, such as sweets, extra credit or extra recess time, if you wish.
Create a list of at least 30 words from all parts of speech (nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs), and highlight the nouns for your reference.
Instruct the students to take out their own sheet of paper (not just one paper for each group) and tell them not to talk to their teammates until after you have listed all the words. Remind them to only write down the words that are nouns.
Start going through the list, providing 15 to 20 seconds between each word until you have said them all. Speed up if you find this is too slow for your students.
Instruct them to collaborate with their peers for five minutes to help each other decide which words are nouns and which are not.
Go around to each group and give one point for each noun on their list and take away one point for each word that is not a noun. Put the final score on the board.
Instruct the students to walk around the room as a group and write down all the nouns that they see until they have 20 nouns.
Have them return to their desks once they are done and look over each group's list to make sure there are no duplicate nouns.
Tell them to write as a group the possessive form and the plural form of each noun.
Score each group by giving one point for each regular noun, possessive form and plural form. For example, ruler, ruler's, rulers equals three points. Award five points for each irregular possessive and plural form. For example, die, die's, dice equals 11 point. Add the scores and write the winning group on the board.