Put a Verb in Past: Small Group Instruction:-ed and -ing suffixes
Objective
Big Idea
What Sounds Do I Make and What is my Job?
While reading with students I observed that many of them were mispronouncing the suffix -ed.
This was a quick mini-lesson that we did based on the needs I was seeing immediately from observation and formative reading assessments.So we started this off with a quick game I like to call "Microphone 1,2,3." This is where I ask students for a quick answer, but they can shout/say loudly their answer together as a class. Once I say three, they all answer.
I started by writing four columns on the white board. I had student work along side me using their own individual white boards. Doing this on the Promethean Board would have been even more fabulous because I could have saved it as a class made anchor chart to refer back to. Alas, I did not but will next time.
At the top of the first three columns, I write -ed. For the last column, I added the suffix -ing. To start the game I asked for them to shout back to me, "What is one sound -ed makes on the end of a word?" Here is where I knew we had problems. The loudest and first response was /d/. After that, crickets.
I wrote /ed/, /d/, and /t/ under the -ed but at the top of each column. I then asked them to shout out the sound -ing makes. This was easy and they all got it. I then asked them to shout back what happens to a verb with -ed added on, and what happens to verb with the suffix -ing. Again, -ing was a confident answer, but only few of my better readers correctly remembered that -ed puts the word in the past.
To end the game, I would point at one of the sounds and they would just shout back to me. I like to think of this as similar to "head, shoulders, knees, and toes." Each time I point I get faseter and faster.
Verb Word Sort:
Into each column, I have the class help me take verbs from our reading books and tack on both the suffix -ed and -ing. We then give sentences that put the verb into the past and present.
For example, we used LOOK. We added LOOKED, under the /t/ column because the -ed sounds like /t/. Then we made it into LOOKING and added it under -ing.
Students had to then give sentences for both tenses. I had them use an elbow buddy. One student gave the present tense sentence and the other made a past tense sentence. We continued this to get a past tense verb that made every one of the three different ending sounds. I then had them add a few words of their own and to help them put into practice what we just did together.
I have included the picture of what one student wrote on their white board.
Dooby Dooby Moo to Tenses
As a conclusion to this lesson I read the picture book, "Dooby Dooby Moo" by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. This book contains almost one past tense verb on every page and a few present tense verbs to practice with too.
I ask students to listen as I read and if they think they hear me use a past or present tense verb they need to give me a thumbs up. To make sure they understand I read the first few pages and ask them to tell me what word was past or present tense. So if I get a thumbs up, I will ask them what verb they heard and which sound was on the end.
Once they have the hang of it from the first few pages, I just read straight through. Stopping too much can lose their attention and focus to the task of listening to suffixes. When I am finished reading, I go back thorough the book and point out the words with their help on the pages.You could even have them take a few of the verbs from the story and add them to their white board list.
Don't forget to mode check for understanding and maybe crosschecking. Or choose any reading strategy. I will not tell them to watch for it, but once we have finished going over the verbs I will ask them if they saw me use any other reading strategy. This helps them connect to what good readers do and that you can do it anytime you read.
