Nouns are the largest group of words in the English language. Broadly speaking, a noun is a person, place, or thing. It makes sense then that the etymology of the word comes from the Latin word for “name.”
With as many nouns as there are, there is a substantial amount of information about nouns to know and to teach. Nouns can be common or proper, compound, concrete or abstract, countable or uncountable, gerunds, singular, or plural. Woofta! It’s a great idea to make or acquire a noun anchor chart so your students can have the information they need at a glance.
Table of Contents
- Elements of a Good Noun Anchor Chart
- Noun Anchor Chart Resources from Teach Simple
- Noun Anchor Chart Examples from Other Teachers
- The Different Categories of Nouns Anchor Charts
- Singular & Plural Noun Achor Charts
- Common Nouns vs Proper Noun Anchor Charts
- Concrete Nouns vs Abstract Noun Anchor Charts
- Countable Nouns vs Uncountable Nouns Anchor Charts
- Collective Nouns Anchor Charts
- Foreign Language Nouns Anchor Charts
- Free Anchor Chart Resources
- Final Thoughts
Elements of a Good Noun Anchor Chart
When making or choosing an anchor chart for nouns, you need to first narrow it down to one specific topic. If you need to cover more ground than that, consider a different anchor chart for each topic.
An anchor chart should also have a big, clear, concise title. The topic needs to pop out to students so they can quickly find the information they need.
Now that you have their attention, you can include a subtitle with a definition or explanation. This can be written smaller and can be wordier if needed. If your title is “Nouns,” then perhaps below that it would read, “a person, place, or thing.” If your title was “The Noun Song,” then your subtitle might be, “To be sung to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
One of the best ways to learn is by example, and a great anchor chart gives examples. Depending on the topic, one solid example can be very effective. Most anchor charts do well to give several or even many examples.
Make the information on display clear and simple. Use the least amount of words necessary to convey ideas. Consider sorting material into columns or different boxes. Color code to help categorize information.
Get creative! Have fun with anchor charts. Whenever possible, they should have interesting graphics, funny titles, or relatable examples. Whatever you can think of to add some panache.
Check out the examples and resources below for more inspiration.
Noun Anchor Chart Resources from Teach Simple
Nouns and Adjectives Anchor Chart
First in Line
Because nouns and adjectives work hand in hand, this anchor chart displays both. It’s divided into a separate column for each part of the sentence and includes simple definitions along with pictures for each. A second page allows for students to fill in the blanks.
Anchor Charts Professional Development
Amber Socaciu
This PowerPoint presentation is for teaching other teachers about anchor charts. The PowerPoint includes 12 slides, as well as additional resources for teachers to learn more about anchor charts.
Noun Anchor Chart Examples from Other Teachers
Basic Examples of Nouns
Noun Town
Carrie McDaniel
Noun Town is such a fun one! This anchor chart is a large poster of a town. Within that town are all kinds of people, places, and things, such as roads, trees, schools, an ice cream shop, the sun, mountains, and even Spider-Man. And each noun has a label. It would be a super fun and creative project to create your own Noun Town with your students.
The Simplest Noun Anchor Chart
Jordan O.
Clearly, there’s a lot to know about nouns! For young students, it’s best to start off with the simplest definition: a noun is a person, place, or thing. This anchor chart is labeled “Nouns,” under which we see the words, “people,” “places,” and “things,” with a drawing of each. Perfect!
A Person, Place, Thing, or Animal
Fun for First
Not terribly different in concept from the previous anchor chart, this one also shows that nouns are a person, place, or thing. But you’re probably going to get the question from some of your students of what category do animals fit into. An older worldview may comfortably consider animals to be things, but that doesn’t seem quite logical to place animals in the same category as inanimate objects. Yet it may sound funny to describe an animal as a person. This expanded definition to include animals as their own category is a smart way to address the awkward grammatical and empathetic considerations for the basic definition of a “person, place, or thing.”
The Noun Song
The Classroom Key
Information is always easier to remember if you can put it into a song! This is a simple little ditty that explains what a noun is and then gives examples. To be sung to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
The Different Categories of Nouns Anchor Charts
6 Types of Nouns
Jenna Warner
This anchor chart focuses on 6 types of nouns that oppose each other: common and proper, concrete and abstract, and singular and plural. Comparing them side by side is a perfect way to help define them for students.
10 Types of Nouns
English Study Online
For older students, you can go more in-depth beyond the basic noun types. This anchor chart lays out 10 different types of nouns, including common, proper, abstract, concrete, countable, uncountable, compound, collective, singular, and plural. Whew! The chart gives a short definition for each along with a few examples.
Proper Nouns Pizza
The First Grade Fairy Tales
You can’t go wrong with interactive learning tools. You also can never go wrong with pizza! Although this pizza is only construction paper, students will enjoy lifting up the pepperonis, each labeled as “person,” “place, or “thing,” to see the example underneath of a proper noun.
Nouns Flip Book
Devarya Bansal
How cool is this? It’s a flip book with each page dedicated to a different type of noun. The pages contain examples as well as little drawings that have been cut out and glued inside. This flip book could easily be tacked to a bulletin board or kept on your bookshelf for students to peruse.
Singular & Plural Noun Achor Charts
8 Plural Noun Rules
Stacy at Teacher’s Take-Out
If only pluralizing nouns were always as easy as adding an “S” to the end! Since there are so many rules and exceptions in English, you can do your students a favor and list them in an anchor chart such as this for easy reference. The chart is laid out in eight boxes, with one rule listed per box. As per the given rule, examples of singular nouns being converted into plural nouns are included in each box.
Possessives for Singular and Plural Nouns
Education to the Core
This anchor chart shows students how to add an apostrophe to indicate possession for both the singular and plural forms of nouns. The color green is used to highlight where “-S” and apostrophes are added.
Singular and Plural Possessive Nouns Anchor Chart
Angie Campanello – Teaching With Class
Where the apostrophe is placed tells us if we are talking about possession by one or more. A little bit of fun and interest is added via the title, “BEE Careful with the Apostrophe!” and the weaving of a bumble bee theme throughout the chart.
Singular and Plural Nouns Display
R2-KH
This is a great anchor chart for younger students. It simply reads, “Nouns can be singular or plural,” and shows five examples of nouns converting from singular to plural, along with helpful drawings of each. The cool thing is the nouns chosen demonstrate a variety of different plural endings that nouns can take.
Plural Nouns “-S” “-ES,” and “-IES”
Mungfali.com
This anchor chart tackles the three most common endings for plural nouns: “-s” “-es,” and “-ies.” Each is given its own column, under which is listed the rule that applies to that ending, and many examples of singular nouns. Little post-it notes adhered below each singular noun then show the plural form of that noun.
Irregular Plural Nouns
English Grammar Here
This anchor chart features a healthy list of nouns that take an irregular plural form. The chart is divided into two columns. One side contains the singular nouns, and the other side shows the irregular plural form they take. This type of anchor chart is super useful to keep on display for students.
Common Nouns vs Proper Noun Anchor Charts
Common Cat & Proper Pete
Smitten With First
This clever anchor chart features two felines: Common Cat and Proper Pete. Common Cat is covered in sticky notes with different examples of common nouns like “apple,” “sock,” and “dentist.” Meanwhile, Proper Pete is spackled in sticky notes with proper nouns such as “Annie,” “Texas,” and “Madison Park.” Definitely would make a fun class activity to have students each choose a sticky note to stick to either cat.
Common Nouns vs Proper Nouns
Kelly, Glitter in Third
An uncomplicated anchor chart, this one divides the page into two columns comparing common nouns with proper nouns. The columns are separated into rows for people, places, things, and animals. For each proper noun, a few examples are given. In the corresponding row of proper nouns, a corresponding proper noun is given as an example. For instance, “book” and “The Cat in the Hat.” The first letter of each proper noun is also underlined to highlight that they are capitalized.
Concrete Nouns vs Abstract Noun Anchor Charts
The 5 Senses vs The Intangible
Addie Schoen
This anchor chart is divided into two columns; one for concrete nouns and one for abstract nouns. Each column defines the type of noun, and then lists different categories that belong to each. For example, the concrete nouns column lists the five senses and includes an illustration for each. Beside each sense, it lists five concrete nouns. For “smell,” we are given the examples of “cookies, incense, smoke, perfume, and flower.”
Countable Nouns vs Uncountable Nouns Anchor Charts
How Much vs How Many
Nyla’s Crafty Teaching
This is such a great way to help determine the difference between countable and uncountable nouns! This chart divides nouns into the category that could be asked how much of that noun there is, vs the category of nouns we can ask how many.
Gerunds
This is Simon
Al Dhafra Grade 6 English
Gerunds can be tricky! They sure do look like verbs, as they are still spelled and pronounced exactly the same way as their verb cousins. However, it’s their function in a sentence that actually makes them nouns. So an anchor chart to explain will help your students remember the sneakiest noun of all, the gerund.
Collective Nouns Anchor Charts
Collective Nouns For Animal Groups
English Grammar
A murder of crows, a leap of leopards, a prickle of porcupines… collective nouns are perhaps the most entertaining category of nouns! This anchor chart lists off quite a few and includes a couple simple animal pictures. Having students create their own collective noun anchor charts would also be a fun project!
Collective Nouns for People, Animals, and Things
Jessica Tobin
This simple anchor chart is nice because it has a singular bumble bee at the top, followed by a charming swarm of bees. Underneath that, we get a title, a simple definition, and three categories of collective nouns: people, animals, and things.
Foreign Language Nouns Anchor Charts
French Féminins vs Masculins Nouns
Jeng Cheng
If you teach French, then you’re well aware that remembering which nouns are feminine and which are masculine is no small feat. This anchor chart lays out a cheat sheet to which word endings indicate a “la” or a “le” article in front of them. Each word ending is given just one example for a very concise anchor chart.
French Nouns
Grindstore
This mini-poster displays drawings of many different nouns in French. Each noun is displayed with a drawing and English translation.
Spanish Nouns
Grindstore
This is an anchor chart of Spanish nouns with accompanying drawings and the English translation. You could also draw your own for or with your students!
Free Anchor Chart Resources
Categorizing Nouns Online Interactive Worksheet
Live Worksheets
Follow this link and you will find a worksheet that contains a list of nouns as well as six categories for the nouns to be dragged and dropped into. Students can check their answers and/or email them to you! There’s also a section below that to drag and drop words to the appropriate suffix they receive. You can simply have students skip this if you wish to only focus on nouns.
Collective Nouns Free Downloads
Worksheets for kids
This link contains two free printable PDFs featuring a variety of collective nouns such as people, animals, food, and things. Each example is depicted with a colorful graphic.
Plural/Possessive Poster
Teacherstakeout.com
Spelling out the letters “D-O-G-S,” can indicate three different meanings, depending on if you add an apostrophe or not, and where you place it. This simple and free printable PDF demonstrates the difference between plural, singular possessive nouns, and plural possessive nouns using dogs and their bones.
Final Thoughts
We could talk all day about nouns! They are the single largest category of words in English, as well as in most languages. And English nouns have all sorts of rules and irregularities to boot. So why not make it a little easier on your students and set up an anchor chart or even a few around your classroom? Anchor charts also work well as a page in students’ binders, or on other creative mediums like bookmarks, or book covers.
Meta Description: Noun Anchor Charts are a great way to teach students common, proper, compound, concrete, abstract, countable, uncountable, gerunds, singular, or plural nouns.
