This week we are learning about the patterns of "regular past tense" verbs. We learned that these are "regular" because they follow a pattern. We learned that past tense means it is something you do that already happened! Students first challenged themselves to find as many regular past tense verbs as they could in 15 minutes. Blake and Vanessa L. were our top detectives! Blake found 30 and Vanessa found 29!! Way to go!
I sent students home last night with a challenge to see if they could figure out what sounds the "ed" ending makes and if there is a pattern to the sound. Can you tell by looking at the word what the "ed" will say?
I only had one student able to identify the sounds, the pattern and to tell me what a made up word would say - Judah!!! Judah explained the pattern to the class and we spent time practicing the pattern. Students are going to focus on finding more and more regular past tense verbs this week as they master this pattern!
For those who aren't sure, try this. Say each of the following words out loud. What do the letters, "ed" say in each of the words? planned hopped handed If you are listening very closely, you'll hear the /d/ sound at the end of "planned", the /t/ sound at the end of "hopped" and the /id/ sound at the end of "handed". NONE of our regular past tense words actually say /ed/!!!
It takes knowledge of the rewiring (decoding methods) that we teach to understand just why, but basically, if the sound BEFORE the "ed" ending is a quiet sound (meaning you don't use your voice box) like /p/ or /b/ or /sh/, then we keep our voice box off and say /t/ for the "ed". (You can tell if your voice box is on or off by putting your hand to your throat when you say the sound. If you feel vibrating, it's ON! If you feel nothing, it's OFF!)
It's so much easier to pronounce words if we just stay quiet after a quiet sound than always switching back and forth, which is why if the sound before the "ed" ending is a noisy sound (meaning you do use your voice box and you do feel a vibration) like /n/ or /l/ or any vowel sound, then we keep noisy by saying /d/!!
Isn't this fascinating?!?
Now, the only tricky part is what if the base word ends in a "t" or "d" already?! What about words like "paint"? It ends with a quiet sound /t/ but how are we going to say the /t/ sound again for the "ed" it would be hard to say /paint/ /t/!! Our mouths (and brains) know this, so when the word already ends in "t" or "d" we have to say the vowel sound, and the "ed" comes out /id/! Try it!! Say "painted". You hear the /id/ at the end, don't you!
Why does this matter? Why should kids learn this? Well, for one thing, have you ever looked at something your child wrote and wondered why they spelled "stopped" "stopt"? Now you know! It's exactly the sounds in the word! Understanding the use of the "ed" is for writing (and reading) purposes, but not for speaking! Learning this pattern will help your child to not only read past tense words better, but to WRITE them correctly!
Now, try your hand at it. What does the "ed" say in each of the following words?
washed judged started
Can you explain why it makes each sound? Can your second grader? :)
I sent students home last night with a challenge to see if they could figure out what sounds the "ed" ending makes and if there is a pattern to the sound. Can you tell by looking at the word what the "ed" will say?
I only had one student able to identify the sounds, the pattern and to tell me what a made up word would say - Judah!!! Judah explained the pattern to the class and we spent time practicing the pattern. Students are going to focus on finding more and more regular past tense verbs this week as they master this pattern!
For those who aren't sure, try this. Say each of the following words out loud. What do the letters, "ed" say in each of the words? planned hopped handed If you are listening very closely, you'll hear the /d/ sound at the end of "planned", the /t/ sound at the end of "hopped" and the /id/ sound at the end of "handed". NONE of our regular past tense words actually say /ed/!!!
It takes knowledge of the rewiring (decoding methods) that we teach to understand just why, but basically, if the sound BEFORE the "ed" ending is a quiet sound (meaning you don't use your voice box) like /p/ or /b/ or /sh/, then we keep our voice box off and say /t/ for the "ed". (You can tell if your voice box is on or off by putting your hand to your throat when you say the sound. If you feel vibrating, it's ON! If you feel nothing, it's OFF!)
It's so much easier to pronounce words if we just stay quiet after a quiet sound than always switching back and forth, which is why if the sound before the "ed" ending is a noisy sound (meaning you do use your voice box and you do feel a vibration) like /n/ or /l/ or any vowel sound, then we keep noisy by saying /d/!!
Isn't this fascinating?!?
Now, the only tricky part is what if the base word ends in a "t" or "d" already?! What about words like "paint"? It ends with a quiet sound /t/ but how are we going to say the /t/ sound again for the "ed" it would be hard to say /paint/ /t/!! Our mouths (and brains) know this, so when the word already ends in "t" or "d" we have to say the vowel sound, and the "ed" comes out /id/! Try it!! Say "painted". You hear the /id/ at the end, don't you!
Why does this matter? Why should kids learn this? Well, for one thing, have you ever looked at something your child wrote and wondered why they spelled "stopped" "stopt"? Now you know! It's exactly the sounds in the word! Understanding the use of the "ed" is for writing (and reading) purposes, but not for speaking! Learning this pattern will help your child to not only read past tense words better, but to WRITE them correctly!
Now, try your hand at it. What does the "ed" say in each of the following words?
washed judged started
Can you explain why it makes each sound? Can your second grader? :)
I loved learning past tense words. By:Vanessa L
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