Spring is springing, and I’m sure all of us are ready to seize the sunshine and get out of the house! What better time of year to have a jetpack? What would you do if you had a jetpack? Lisl H. Detlefsen has some great ideas to get you started in her book If You Had a Jetpack…
But…before we talk about today’s super-fun book, let’s talk about adverbs. Adverbs are incredibly useful, but they can also be extremely confusing to children (and sometimes adults, too!).
What are adverbs?
In short, an adverb is a word that describes (or tells about) verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Most of us “get” that an adverb can tell how someone did something. For example, “The tall boy quickly grabbed his backpack and ran out the door.” In this sentence, the verb “grab” is modified or described by the word “quickly.” How did the tall boy grab his backpack? He grabbed it quickly!
But adverbs can do much more. Adverbs can describe manner, place, frequency, time, and purpose!
In other words, in addition to answering the question “How?” adverbs can also answer the following questions: “Where? When? How long? How often? To what degree or intensity? Why?”
And, like we said earlier, even though they often describe verbs, they can also describe adjectives or other adverbs. For example, “The extremely tall boy quickly grabbed his backpack.” In this sentence, the word “extremely” describes the adjective “tall.” Tall is an adjective that tells us more about the noun “boy.” Here’s another example: “The tall boy grabbed his backpack extremely quickly.” In this case, “quickly” still tells us how the boy grabbed his backpack, but “extremely” adds something more and describes the adverb “quickly.”
Confused yet? If you need more of a refresher, there are some great resources out there with lots of examples of the different ways an adverb can be used. Here’s just one: http://partofspeech.org/adverb/
If You Had a Jetpack
Now, on to the good stuff. If You Had a Jetpack!The two-year-old and I have been reading and rereading this book, and it is so much fun! Linzie Hunter’s illustrations are colorful and whimsical, and tapping into childhood dreams, If You Had a Jetpack takes the reader on an imaginary “what-if” journey. Similar to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, this picture book speaks directly to young readers, telling them what might happen if they just happened to build a jetpack one day… And, it does it all using adverbs! For example, “So you’d have to build [your little brother] a jetpack, too. And teach him to use it. Patiently.” (Did you see that adverb right there?!)
Use It In the Classroom…
L.2.1E, L.2.6, L.3.1.A, L.4.1.A
- Introduce adverbs. Use If You Had a Jetpack to identify adverbs. Talk about what they are, what words they describe, and how they describe them. Then use the book to ask questions like “What word does patiently tell us more about?” and “How do you have to teach your little brother to use a jetpack?”
- Classify parts of speech or adverbs. Most of the adverbs in If You Had a Jetpack answer the question “How?” But there are a few notable exceptions. Work with your class to figure out which adverbs do something different. And, if you want to extend the lesson, look for other parts of speech used in the book and classify them. Challenge your class to identify as many adjectives, nouns, adverbs, and verbs as they can find and group them accordingly!
- Write using adverbs. Pose the question “What would you do if you had a jetpack?” Give your class a list of adverbs to use, and turn them loose! Be sure to include adverbs that answer different kinds of questions and require that students use an adverb to describe at least one adjective and/or adverb. Here’s a sample list to get you started: frantically, slowly, cautiously, always, never, nearby, silently, extremely, accidentally, yesterday (*Note: When using a word like “yesterday,” use it to describe when something took place. For example, look at the sentence “She ran to the store yesterday.” Here “yesterday” describes when whoever she is ran.)
- Write in the second person. Give students a writing prompt and encourage them to model their story after If You Had a Jetpack. Here’s the prompt: Write to tell your friend Joey what would happen if he found treasure buried in his backyard or on the playground. Use this sentence starter: “If you found treasure buried in your backyard, you would…” Don’t forget to let students share what they write!
Use It at Home…
- Build your own jetpack. You decide how far you want to take it…Here are some resources to get you started:
- Talk about what each family member would do if he or she had a jetpack. This sounds like a fun family dinner conversation starter if you ask me!
So, there you have it! Now I just have to think about what I would do if I had a jetpack…
Your turn! What would you do if you had a jetpack? P.S. Celebrate life! And jetpacks. And adverbs. And Spring.