This week we have focused on learning the regular past tense - which all just means that the verb will end with the letters -ed. These two little letters help our eyes to tell our brains that this action took place before now. I jumped. She planted. He scored. The trouble with this pattern is that it never SAYS what it looks like! Our Word Detectives were hot on the scene, though! On Monday, the class created lists of all the regular past tense words they could find in the room.
On Tuesday, we looked over our lists and read the word out loud to ourselves or a neighbor and tried to figure out what sounds we heard the -ed saying.
We discovered that "-ed" will say, /t/, /d/ or /id/. What is most interesting is that it never says /ed/!! The class sorted all their verbs into three columns, one for each sound of the past tense. This is what the list looked like when we finished:
Hmm... we wondered if there was a pattern to these sounds. Could we find clues that might tell us when the -ed would make the /t/ sound? Was there any way to know when it would make the /d/ sound?! Our detectives were ready to find out! The class took their lists home and worked hard on solving the mystery!
On Wednesday, we had several students return to school with ideas about the pattern. Three students figured it out! Before you read any further, can YOU figure out the pattern?!
If a verb ends in a quiet sound (one that does not jiggle your voice box), the -ed will make the /t/ sound (which does not use your voice box either. It is easier for our mouth to keep our voice box off and make two quiet sounds in a row. Try it. Jump ends with a quiet sound of /p/. Your voice box (put your hand on your throat) does NOT jiggle or vibrate. When we add the -ed ending for "jumped", we stay quiet, and get the sound /t/ on the end.
If a verb ends in a noisy sound (one that DOES jiggle your voice box), the -ed will make the /d/ sound (which is also noisy!!) Try it with the verb "clean". The /n/ makes your voice box vibrate, so we let it vibrate right on through the - ed ending and we get the /d/ sound instead of the /t/ sound!! Pretty cool, isn't it? Just for kicks, try saying the word "clean" but put /t/ on the end, or try "jump" but with a /d/ sound on the end. It's hard to do!
Finally, we found that words that already ended with a /t/ or a /d/ couldn't repeat the same sound easily!! We can't say "paint"-/t/!! Or "decide" -/d/!! Instead, we need a vowel sound in between the t, d and the -ed ending. I cannot explain why we don't just say /ed/, but we say /id/ instead. So, a word like "paint" will now say "paint-ID" for past tense. Or a verb like "pretend" will say "pretend-ID".
Way cool, once you know the pattern, right?! I think so too. And the BUGS were pretty excited to figure out the pattern.
Especially Dylan, Kolleana and Avery, who each won 10 Power Paws AND a treat out of the treasure box!! Way to go detectives!
On Tuesday, we looked over our lists and read the word out loud to ourselves or a neighbor and tried to figure out what sounds we heard the -ed saying.
We discovered that "-ed" will say, /t/, /d/ or /id/. What is most interesting is that it never says /ed/!! The class sorted all their verbs into three columns, one for each sound of the past tense. This is what the list looked like when we finished:
Hmm... we wondered if there was a pattern to these sounds. Could we find clues that might tell us when the -ed would make the /t/ sound? Was there any way to know when it would make the /d/ sound?! Our detectives were ready to find out! The class took their lists home and worked hard on solving the mystery!
On Wednesday, we had several students return to school with ideas about the pattern. Three students figured it out! Before you read any further, can YOU figure out the pattern?!
If a verb ends in a quiet sound (one that does not jiggle your voice box), the -ed will make the /t/ sound (which does not use your voice box either. It is easier for our mouth to keep our voice box off and make two quiet sounds in a row. Try it. Jump ends with a quiet sound of /p/. Your voice box (put your hand on your throat) does NOT jiggle or vibrate. When we add the -ed ending for "jumped", we stay quiet, and get the sound /t/ on the end.
If a verb ends in a noisy sound (one that DOES jiggle your voice box), the -ed will make the /d/ sound (which is also noisy!!) Try it with the verb "clean". The /n/ makes your voice box vibrate, so we let it vibrate right on through the - ed ending and we get the /d/ sound instead of the /t/ sound!! Pretty cool, isn't it? Just for kicks, try saying the word "clean" but put /t/ on the end, or try "jump" but with a /d/ sound on the end. It's hard to do!
Finally, we found that words that already ended with a /t/ or a /d/ couldn't repeat the same sound easily!! We can't say "paint"-/t/!! Or "decide" -/d/!! Instead, we need a vowel sound in between the t, d and the -ed ending. I cannot explain why we don't just say /ed/, but we say /id/ instead. So, a word like "paint" will now say "paint-ID" for past tense. Or a verb like "pretend" will say "pretend-ID".
Way cool, once you know the pattern, right?! I think so too. And the BUGS were pretty excited to figure out the pattern.
Especially Dylan, Kolleana and Avery, who each won 10 Power Paws AND a treat out of the treasure box!! Way to go detectives!
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