Making Alliteration Accessible

Building academic language

Word

• Display the vocabulary cards for "noun" and "descriptive adjective." Review the definitions for each term and post them onto the board as the headings for a T-chart. Call on students to contribute examples for each term and write their contributions on the T-chart. Tip: Add visuals to the T-chart (e.g., a drawing of a monster next to the word "scary" and a drawing of a pig next to the word "pig").
• Distribute the T-Chart: Descriptive Adjectives and Nouns worksheet to each student. Tell students that you will read aloud a picture book and their job is to write down some of the different descriptive adjectives and nouns they hear in this worksheet.
• Read aloud a picture book that contains alliteration, like Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book by Dr. Seuss.
• Call on students to share some of the descriptive adjectives and nouns they heard during the read-aloud. Write students' contributions on the T-chart under each heading.
• Remind students that today we are learning to identify alliteration. Call on students to identify descriptive adjectives and nouns from the T-chart that contain the same beginning consonant (e.g., "orange"/"owl" and "fluffy"/"feathers") and draw a line connecting these alliterative descriptive adjectives and nouns. Encourage students to draw connecting lines on their worksheet as well.
• Place students into pairs and ask each student to say an alliterative sentence using a descriptive adjective and a noun from the T-chart. Invite students to share their sentences with the class after practicing and sharing with their partner.

Sentence

• Write the following sentence on the board: "There are four fluffy feathers."
• Read the sentence aloud and ask students to give you a thumbs up if this sentence contains alliteration and a thumbs down if the sentence does not contain alliteration.
• Ask students to think about which part of the sentence is the descriptive adjective and which part of the sentence is the noun.
• Call on a volunteer to write an "A" above the descriptive adjective ("fluffy") and an "N" above the noun (feathers). Point out to students that the descriptive adjective comes before the noun it is describing.
• Project the Identifying Alliteration, Descriptive Adjectives, and Nouns worksheet and tell students they will practice identifying alliteration in texts with a partner.
• Read the instructions in Part 1 and draw their attention to the example completed for them.
• Assign students into partnerships to complete Part 1. Tip: Pair beginning ELs with more advanced ELs to provide support.
• Review answers as a class once everyone has finished.
• Direct students' attention to Part 2 of the worksheet and tell students they will work with partners to use the word bank of descriptive adjectives and nouns to fill in the sentence frames and create alliterative sentences. Review answers as a class once everyone has finished.

Discourse

• Direct students' attention to the third section of the Identifying Alliteration, Descriptive Adjectives, and Nouns worksheet. Read the nursery rhyme aloud as students follow along.
• Tell students to reread the passage and circle the examples of alliteration.
• When they are finished reading and marking the passage, have students write an "A" above the descriptive adjectives and an "N" above the nouns.
• Pair students with a partner and tell them to do the following: compare their answers, discuss how the alliteration makes them feel as readers, and discuss the purpose of this nursery rhyme.
• Call on volunteers to share some highlights from their discussions with their partners.