Use an "I spy" game to identify and explain nouns. Ask students to write down everything they see while looking around the classroom for a limited period of time (for instance, 3 minutes). Ask several students to read their lists aloud, and create a collective list that everyone can see. (Don't include any items that aren't nouns.) Explain to students that nouns are words used to name general things, people and places, while proper nouns are more specific names. So "classmate" is a noun but "John" is a proper noun. Ask students to change each noun on the list into proper nouns, and vice-versa. Talk about situations where students use nouns versus situations where proper nouns are better.
Introduce pronouns through short writing exercises. Explain that pronouns are words that stand in for nouns, such as "he" for "the boy" or "you" instead of the student's full name. Pronouns are meant to avoid repetition. Hand out brief stories written without any pronouns. Ask the students if the story sounds strange to them. Tell them to decide which nouns could be changed to pronouns.
Play charades. To introduce the idea of action verbs to your students, try a lively classroom activity. Explain that a verb is the part of speech that describe a state of being or an action. Write down a variety of action verbs on slips of paper. Some examples include "jump," "skip," "cry" or "sleep." Place the slips in a hat or bowl and let students draw one slip each. Without saying which verb they drew, each student has to act out the verb, while the whole classroom guesses.
Ask students to work together to describe nouns. Explain that adjectives are used to describe nouns, including proper nouns. Returning to the lists of classroom nouns, have students call out words that describe each noun--for instance, "large, smooth, shiny, square, glass window." Ask students to use a variety of their five senses when thinking of adjectives, or all five when possible.
Lead a fill-in-the-blanks exercise to introduce adverbs. Adverbs are the parts of speech that describe verbs. Explain to students that adverbs make sentences more specific, descriptive and interesting. Where everyone in the classroom can see, write sentences with simple verbs. For instance "The student wrote a paper." Ask students to invent different adverbs, such as, "The student happily wrote a paper" or "The student sleepily wrote a paper." Instruct the students to notice how each adverb changes the sentence.