Comparative and Superlative Adjectives Activities

Do we add -er and -est to the end of the adjective, or do we add more and most to the front of the word? That is the question!…and questions certainly do arise when it comes to comparative and superlative adjectives.

Grammar sure can be complicated. That’s why it’s beneficial to set up engaging activities and captivating visuals for students while explicitly teaching these complex skills.

Here are a few activities you can use to help your students master comparative and superlative adjectives.

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Looking for some fun activities to incorporate in your comparative and superlative lesson? Check out these engaging activities.

Begin with a Read Aloud or a Video

Picture books or videos are an engaging way to introduce a new skill. Not only does it help to set the stage for what students will be learning, but it’s a fun!

A book that I found that pairs nicely when teaching comparatives and superlatives is Breezier, Cheezier, Newest, and Bluest: What are Comparative and Superlative Adjectives? by Brian Cleary. This book explains how these forms of adjectives compare nouns through rhymes and funny illustrations. The adjectives are written in color amongst black text which helps them be quickly identified.

Another great introduction is to show a video. Flocabulary is a website that has creative hip-hop songs and videos that are extremely catchy. There is a video for comparatives and superlatives on the site. Although Flocabulary is a paid site, you can sign up for a FREE trial.

Whole Group Lesson

It’s always a good idea to have students write notes inside of their notebook for future reference. As you can see below, there are quite a few rules to follow when it comes to comparatives and superlatives. You may prefer to create a notebook size poster and give them to students to glue inside their notebooks or provide them with a print and fold booklet that already includes the rules.

Introduce the rules one at a time providing examples and having students come up with their own.

Rules:

Adjectives that are just one syllable, add -er or -est (ex. small – smallest)
Double the last consonant before adding -er or -est if the word ends in a CVC pattern (ex. thin – thinner)
Two syllable adjectives that do NOT end in -y and adjectives with 3 or more syllables, add the words more or most before them. (ex. clever – more clever / beautiful – more beautiful)
Two syllable adjectives that end in -y, change the -y to “i” and add -es (ex. happy – happiest)

Provide Comparative and Superlative Adjective Activities for Practice

Give students opportunities to practice identifying and creating comparative adjectives and superlative adjectives through different engaging activities.

(Click on the image to download your copy of the Superlative Award)

Superlative Awards

Place students in small groups. Give each group names of students in the class. Each group should receive the same number of students’ names as there are in the group. (Ex. Group has 3 people, give them 3 names)

Have students come up with superlative awards for each student. (Ex. The Funniest Student, The Friendliest Fifth Grader, The Most Outgoing, etc.) Remind them to look for positive traits and characteristics. Then, have students create the awards or fill out a pre-made award.

Create an in-class Awards Assembly to pass out the awards to each student.

Looking for some fun comparative adjective and superlative adjective activities for upper elementary students? Check out these engaging activities.

Fill In the Anchor Chart

Create an anchor chart with three columns. In the first column include an adjective (and number them). Label the second column comparative and the third column superlative.

Give each student two sticky notes and assign them a number. Have them write the comparative adjective on one sticky note and the superlative adjective on another sticky note.

Call them up one by one or by pairs to add their sticky note onto the chart. (You may want to give easier words to students who usually need more scaffolding and more difficult adjectives to students who need less scaffolding.)

Fun adjectives activities for upper elementary students.

What Rule Do I Follow?

Have the students use their notes for this activity or post an anchor chart with the rules on them in the classroom.

Pair up students and give them a list of adjectives. This could be done by providing a worksheet with a list or index cards with a word on each one. Have them discuss the adjectives and write the number of the rule it follows next to it.

If students are using index cards, you can have them sort them once they’ve numbered them by having them place all the ones together, twos together, etc.

As an extension, you can have them choose two adjectives and create one sentence that uses a comparative adjective and another sentence that uses a superlative adjective.

Looking for some fun comparative adjective and superlative adjective exercises for upper elementary students? Check out these engaging activities.

Let’s Compare

While most of the activities focus on creating the comparative and superlative forms of the adjectives, students must also know when to properly use each one. To help students create and use these forms of the adjectives correctly, have them compare different things around the classroom. Challenge them to come up with two or three comparative statements and two or three superlative statements. (Ex. That book is the biggest one in the classroom library.)

Looking for some fun comparative and superlative adjectives activities for upper elementary students? Check out these engaging activities.

Digital Task Cards

Digital task cards are a great way for students to practice grammar skills independently because they are self correcting and there’s no prep on the teacher’s part. Just assign the link and you’re done.

You can also use them as a whole group practice lesson by projecting them on your interactive whiteboard and having students respond using white boards. Once everyone has answered, select the majority answer and discuss why that is the correct choice.

Quick and effect way to assess your students' knowledge on comparative adjectives and superlative adjectives.

Assessing Students’ Understanding

Finally, while you’ve been informally assessing your students’ knowledge, you probably want to formally assess them.

Fill in Chart

Similar to the activity mentioned in the activities section, you can provide the students with a chart of listing adjectives and have them write the comparative adjective and superlative adjective for each one.

Quick Checks

Using standard based Quick Checks is a fast and efficient way to see if students have understood the skill. They also facilitate the process of standard based grades which many teachers are required to implement. In order to do so, create at least 10 comparative and superlative sentences. Leave a blank within the sentence and add the adjective in parentheses. Have students write the correct form of the adjective on the line.

Hopefully, you’ve been able to find a few comparative and superlative adjectives activities that you can implement with your students to help them master the skill in a funned engaging way.

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