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Adjectives and Adverbs in Your Writing

A 40-minute Grade 2 lesson on using words acquired from reading and conversation, including adjectives and adverbs, to describe.

Adjectives and Adverbs in Your Writing is a free 40-minute Grade 2 English lesson plan for Common Core standard L.2.6 — use adjectives and adverbs you have met in reading to describe things. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the meaning, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.

Grade:
Grade 2
Length:
40 minutes
Standard:
L.2.6

Grade 2 · Language

L.2.6

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).

Objective

Students will be able to use adjectives to describe a noun and adverbs to describe a verb, choosing words met in reading or class discussion.

Students are successful when they can

  • Underlines the adjective in "The fluffy kitten slept" and the adverb in "The kitten slept peacefully."
  • Adds one adjective and one adverb to a plain sentence.
  • Uses at least one word from the class word wall in their own writing.
  • Sorts describing words into "describes a thing" and "describes how."

What you need

  • Word wall cards from this week's reading: fluffy, enormous, gloomy, patient, quickly, gently, proudly, carefully
  • Plain sentence strips: "The dog ran." "The girl sang." "The bear ate."
  • Mini whiteboards and pens
  • The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan

The lesson

Warm-up — collect words

5 min
  1. Ask: "What words have we met in stories this week that describe something?" Collect three onto the board, e.g. "gloomy" from the fog poem and "patient" from the crow story.
  2. For each, ask where they met it and what it was describing: "The crow was patient" — she waited and kept dropping pebbles.
  3. Add any new words to the word wall.
“Good writers borrow. When you meet a great word in a book, take it and use it in your own writing.”

Teach — thing words and how words

13 min
  1. Write "The dog ran." Ask: "Can you picture it? What sort of dog?" Add an adjective: "The enormous dog ran." An adjective describes a thing — a noun.
  2. Ask: "How did it run?" Add an adverb: "The enormous dog ran quickly." An adverb describes how something is done — a verb. Many end in -ly.
  3. Write two columns: "Describes a thing (adjective)" and "Describes how (adverb)." Sort the word wall cards together: fluffy, enormous, gloomy, patient / quickly, gently, proudly, carefully.
  4. Write "The girl sang." Ask for an adjective and an adverb from the wall. Model: "The proud girl sang loudly." Then ask if a better pair exists: "The shy girl sang quietly" tells a different story.
  5. Show the trap: "The fast dog ran fast." "Fast" can be both. Ask the test question: "Is it telling me about the dog, or about the running?"
  6. Read a model sentence from a story: "The patient crow carefully dropped one more pebble." Ask the class to find the adjective (patient) and adverb (carefully).
“Ask two questions: What kind of thing? That is an adjective. How did they do it? That is an adverb.”

Guided practice — grow a sentence

12 min
  1. Hand pairs the sentence strips "The bear ate." and "The baby slept."
  2. Pairs grow each sentence by adding one adjective and one adverb, using at least one word from the wall: "The hungry bear ate greedily." "The tiny baby slept peacefully."
  3. Boards up. Read three aloud and ask the class: "Which word is the adjective? Which is the adverb? Did the words fit together?"
  4. Challenge one pair whose words clash, e.g. "The gloomy baby slept happily," to explain or change one word.
“Read it aloud. Does it make one clear picture?”

Independent practice

8 min
  1. Students complete the printable. One sheet sorts describing words into adjective and adverb columns; the other matches words met in reading to their meanings.
  2. Ask fast finishers to write one sentence using two words from the matching sheet.

Close

2 min
  1. Read: "The tired firefighter slowly climbed down." Thumbs up for the adjective (tired), thumbs sideways for the adverb (slowly).

What goes wrong, and why

Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.

Calls "ran" or "dog" the describing word in "The dog ran quickly."

Why: They know a sentence has "describing words" but have not separated what a word names, does or describes, so any word can feel like the one that describes.

Fix: Use the question test aloud: "What kind of dog? How did it run?" The answer to each question is the describing word.

Writes "The dog ran quick" or "She sang beautiful."

Why: This is common in everyday speech, so it sounds right to them, and the adjective form is the one they met first.

Fix: Contrast the pair in one sentence: "a beautiful song" / "she sang beautifully." Ask whether it describes the song or the singing, and add -ly when it is how.

Piles on describing words: "The big huge enormous giant scary dog ran."

Why: They have been praised for adding description, so more feels better, and they have not been asked whether each word adds something new.

Fix: Cross out words one at a time and ask, "Did we lose anything?" Keep only the words that add a new picture. One exact word beats four that repeat.

If they are not there yet

  • Work with adjectives only first, using a picture to describe: "What kind of cat?"
  • Give a word bank of four adjectives and four adverbs, color-coded, for growing sentences.
  • Use a sentence frame: "The ___ (what kind?) dog ran ___ (how?)."

If they finish early

  • Write a short paragraph describing a stormy day using three words from the word wall, then explain where each was first met.
  • Find an adverb that does not end in -ly (fast, well, hard) and write a sentence that uses it correctly.
  • Rewrite a plain recount sentence in two moods — cheerful and gloomy — by changing only the adjectives and adverbs.

Exit ticket

Grow this sentence with one adjective and one adverb: "The cat jumped." Underline the adjective once and the adverb twice.

What to look for: e.g. "The fluffy cat jumped quickly," underlined correctly. Both words added but swapped underlines: describing is secure, the labels are not. "The cat jumped high up" with no adjective: they can extend but not yet describe a noun. Only adjectives: re-teach the "how?" question.

Printable practice for L.2.6

Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.

Questions about Adjectives and Adverbs in Your Writing

How long does the Adjectives and Adverbs in Your Writing lesson take?

40 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 13 min, guided practice 12 min, independent practice 8 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.

Which standard does Adjectives and Adverbs in Your Writing teach?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.6 — L.2.6, Language for Grade 2: “Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).” In plain terms, use adjectives and adverbs you have met in reading to describe things.

What do I need to teach this lesson?

Word wall cards from this week's reading: fluffy, enormous, gloomy, patient, quickly, gently, proudly, carefully, plain sentence strips: "The dog ran." "The girl sang." "The bear ate.", mini whiteboards and pens and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.

What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?

Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: calls "ran" or "dog" the describing word in "The dog ran quickly."; writes "The dog ran quick" or "She sang beautiful." and piles on describing words: "The big huge enormous giant scary dog ran.". The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.

How do I know whether the lesson worked?

The exit ticket asks: “Grow this sentence with one adjective and one adverb: "The cat jumped." Underline the adjective once and the adverb twice.” e.g. "The fluffy cat jumped quickly," underlined correctly. Both words added but swapped underlines: describing is secure, the labels are not. "The cat jumped high up" with no adjective: they can extend but not yet describe a noun. Only adjectives: re-teach the "how?" question. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.

Is there a worksheet to go with Adjectives and Adverbs in Your Writing?

Yes — 1 printable L.2.6 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.

Is Adjectives and Adverbs in Your Writing free to use?

Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on October 8, 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.

Last reviewed 2026-10-08. Aligned to L.2.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.