Nouns
"Cooking with Nouns"
What is a noun? This song introduces the idea that a noun is a person, place, thing or idea. The noun rap includes examples in each noun category, and it is tied together with a cooking theme. The noun rap song also covers how to make a plural noun and why you should capitalize proper nouns. By the end of this noun song, students will be cooking with nouns!
“Hey man, hey, I’m really hungry.”
Yeah, me too Frankie.
“Alright, well...”
I heard of a new spot in town.
“Well alright, I’ll try it as long as it’s not too fancy.”
Have you heard about a chef named Shelly?
She cooks up food that you can put into your belly.
It's always tasty, and it's never smelly.
“Well, hey, is there anything else that you can tell me?”
Yes! She does things a little different,
And cooks up nouns when she's working in the kitchen.
“Well, how?”
What, you don't know about a noun?
It's a person, place, thing, or idea.
“Oh, I know now.”
Like for breakfast, the chef cooked eggs from a farm,
And she drank milk from cows in a barn.
“What about an idea? You can't cook that!”
But she cooked with some love when she made flapjacks.
Most nouns you can feel with the senses, but ideas you have to think about.
“Oh, I get this.”
After cooking, Shelly was looking around,
And saw we were ready to devour some nouns.
The flapjacks, eggs and milk weren't enough,
So she went into the kitchen and made some other stuff:
Apple frittata, spaghetti and meatballs,
Lobsters from Maine and some tacos with cheese sauce.
“Excuse me, but I only eat nouns.”
Well, you can eat all of these! That's how we get down.
“How?”
Cooking in the kitchen with Shelly for sure,
Using nouns all around, yeah I know you heard.
“Look, there she is!”
I'm the chef and I love to cook.
I have a lot of nouns in my recipe book.
Places, things, ideas and people,
When it comes to a chef there is no equal.
I'm in the kitchen and I love getting down.
Cooking with “What?!” I'm cooking with nouns.
Maybe one day I'll make it out to your town,
Cause I’m cooking with “What?!” I’m cooking with nouns.
Now Chef Shelly had a friend coming by,
So all of her nouns needed to get pluralized.
Usually you just add an "s,"
And things that are single are more and not less.
But some nouns are unique,
Like the two fish that she just caught from the creek.
She cuts with one knife, “Choosing from a few knives,”
And she chews with her teeth, not tooths. “That's right.”
It's her friend, Miss Proper
She gets real specific and nobody can stop her.
She came in her car. “Well, what kind?”
A Ford. “How many more proper nouns can you find?”
Well, she brought grapes over from the state of Oregon,
From a farmer, I mean from Farmer Morgan.
Most of the time they get capitalized,
There's so many proper nouns right in front of your eyes.
“I tell you what, man.”
What?
“All this talk about nouns has got me mighty hungry.”
Yeah, me too, Frankie.
“Well let’s have a roll call.”
Ok, let’s count ‘em down.
“Here we go.”
C’mon!
Person: me, your teacher, Ms. Brown
Place: Venice Beach, or a building downtown
Things: Hula hoops, a wolf or this song
Ideas: I feel hunger, but I won't for long, ‘cause...
I'm the chef and I love to cook.
I have a lot of nouns in my recipe book.
Places, things, ideas and people,
When it comes to a chef there is no equal.
I'm in the kitchen and I love getting down.
Cooking with “What?!” I'm cooking with nouns.
Maybe one day I'll make it out to your town,
Cause I’m cooking with “What?!” I’m cooking with nouns.
“Well hey man, Chef Shelly, you are the bomb dotcom. You know what I'm saying?”
I know, right?
“I mean...”
That was the best meal I’ve ever had.
“I have never had this food so good.”
I’ve never...
“And who would have thought it was all just a bunch of nouns.”
I know, it’s crazy!
“Everything’s a noun!”
Yup.
“Just about... I mean, a person a place or a thing”
Yeah, even ideas too.
“And I’m out. Peace”
The man is a noun. His waffles are a noun. The street is a noun. And hunger is a noun.
A noun is the name for any word that is a person, place, thing or idea. The world is filled with nouns. No matter what you are looking at right now, it's a noun. How did we know? It didn't take any magic. Anything that you can experience with your five senses is a noun! And we can even read your mind: Any idea that you can think of is definitely a noun, too.
"Chef" is a noun.
The chef is a person, so the word "chef" is a noun! Even though it isn't a person's name, it refers to a type of person. In the same way, president, firefighter, doctor and teacher are nouns. Can you think of nouns like these?
Two hard-boiled nouns.
Eggs are a thing, so the word "eggs" is a noun! Can you think of other things that are nouns?
What a beautiful noun!
A farm is a place, so the word "farm" is a noun! Place nouns can be types of places, like farms, houses or schools. They can also be specific places, like New York, Antarctica or Mars. Can you name any other place nouns?
Love is a noun.
The only type of noun that you can't experience with your five senses is an idea noun. These are nouns that you can't see or touch or feel or smell or taste, but they still exist. For example, "love" exists, even if you can't physically sense it. The same is true for "happiness," "silence," and "anger." Can you think of other "idea" nouns?
Some people call "person, place and thing" nouns concrete, and "idea" nouns abstract.
A feast of nouns
Guess what? You're already on a noun diet. Every single thing that you can eat is a noun. What nouns did you eat this morning?
Plural tacos are always better than a singular taco.
You can show that you have more than one noun by pluralizing it. For most words, you can just add an "s" and it means that you have more than one. So if you have more than one taco, you have tacos. If you have more than one shirt, you have shirts. Think of some things that you have more than one of, and pluralize them!
Those aren't mouses. They're mice!
Most plural nouns end in an "s," but there are a few that are irregular. Instead of just adding an "s," you have to change something else about the word, too. In the word "knife," the "f" changes to a "v" when there is more than one, and it becomes "knives." If you want more than one potato or tomato, you'll have to add an "e" before the "s". Then you can have as many "potatoes" and "tomatoes" as you'd like.
And then there are some plural nouns that don't even have an "s" at the end. Unfortunately, you just have to remember these exceptions. The plural of "tooth" is "teeth," "ox" is "oxen" and "mouse" is "mice." And if you have more than one sheep, the word doesn't even change. One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four sheep... It makes it a little easier to count sheep. Or not.
President Barack Obama is one proper noun
A proper noun is the specific name for a person, place or thing. Proper nouns always begin with capital letters. Oregon is a proper noun because it is a specific state. Farmer Morgan is a proper noun because it is a specific farmer. What other proper nouns can you think of?
It's practice time. Name 5 more person nouns.
Name 5 more place nouns.
Name 5 more thing nouns.
And finally, name 5 more idea nouns.
It's true. Even the word "everything" is a noun.
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