Have you ever thought about how regular past verbs that end in ED have three different sounds? Listen: leaned, landed, locked. Each word ends with the letters ED, yet the ED portion of each word sounds different.
Leaned ends with a ‘d’ sound. Landed ends with an ‘ed’ sound. Locked ends with a ‘t’ sound. Until children learn to spell these regular past verbs with ‘ED’ each time, they will phonetically spell them the way they sound writing ‘d’, ‘ed’, or ‘t’.
The following games (Level 1-4) are meant to help writers recognize the different ending sounds and to remember to write them all using both letters, E and D.
Choose and use the level that best fits the needs of your students. In one week of writing camp, I’ll actually use all 4 levels.
Common Core State Standards
NOTE: These games can address the following Common Core Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1.E, L.1.4.C, L.3.1.D, L.3.1.E
Writing Genres
These games go great with writing prompts that entail the following genres; Personal Narratives, Journals, fantasy, fairy tales and Science Fiction. These genres require many regular past words that end in ED as well as irregular past verbs.
English Language Learners
If you are working with English Language Learners, take time to watch this short 5 minute video. It focuses on the three sounds that past verbs ending in ED make. The narrator speaks slowly and clearly making it a great video for English Language Learners.
Here are the 4 games!
-
LEVEL ONE
Level 1 is really meant to familiarize the students with regular past verbs that end in ED.
Setting Up the Game
Start off by having your writers brainstorm a list of past verbs that end in ED. Write these words in two columns on the white board (a chalkboard can work just as well). One column of words is on the far left edge of the board, the second column is on the far right edge of the board.
Same Spelling-Different Sounds
Point out that every word ends with the letters ED even though it may not sound like “ed”. As you write the words, point out that some words sound like they’re spelled, “ed” , like in the word “landed”. Show them that other words also end in “ed” but sound like “d,” like in the word “poured” or “t,” like in the word “talked”.
Make a List
Work together to come up with a long list.
Then, draw a circle in the middle of the whiteboard and divide it into 8 sections. Number the sections 3-10 (or 2-9).
Smaller Groups
For smaller groups (up to 8) divide a large whiteboard into 4 sections. Assign a pair to each section.
Larger Groups
For larger groups, (or if you don’t have a large whiteboard or chalkboard), divide the group into pairs. Give each pair a small white board, dry erase marker and a sock to serve as an eraser. You can purchase a class pack on Amazon*.
Now to Play!
First, one camper spins a number.
Write
Then, one partner from each pair has to list that many past ED verbs.
Once students have completed their list, they don’t say anything. They simply hold up their white board.
Check
Next, check to make sure each word is real and ends in ED. When I play this game with the students, I’m not focused on correct spelling so much here. As long as their word is legible because of phonetic spelling (writing letters that represent the correct sounds that they hear) and ends in ED, I count it.
Thumbs Up!
If I see one word that is not, I hold up one finger, two words, two fingers, three words, three fingers, four words, four fingers. The camper then goes back and fixes any mistakes. When all the words are real and end in ED, give a thumbs up. The child puts a tally on his/her board for each word that he/she has written.
Continue play until everyone has had a turn to spin or your allotted time runs out!
Print the Instructions
Here are the instructions for you to print out and use.
Continue practicing past verbs that end in ED by playing LEVEL 2
2. LEVEL TWO
Level 2 focuses on sorting the regular past verbs that end in ED according to their ending sound.
Same Spelling-Different Sounds
Remind the students that regular past verbs all end in “ed” but the way “ed” sounds can be different. Explain to them that some words sound like they’re spelled “ed” like in the word “landed”. But other words that also end in “ed” sound like “d,” like in the word “stormed” or “t,” as in the word “asked”.
SETTING UP THE GAME
First, draw the following chart on a large whiteboard (or chalkboard)
Second, decide how much time you’d like your students to work on this game. Set the timer.
NOW TO PLAY!
- First, have 1-3 students come to the board at a time to write a past verb that ends in ED. Make sure they write the word under the correct sound.
- Second, see how many words they can write in the allotted time. Additionally, make sure every student has a chance to write at least one word.
- Third, once students are comfortable playing this game, you can divide a large group of students into groups of 2-3. They can compete to see which group can write the most words in an allotted amount of time.
Original Past Verbs that End in ED
4. Lastly, another way to play is to just give points for ORIGINAL WORDS. That means that a group only gets a point for words that they have thought of and no other group has written. This also helps keep the class relatively quiet because groups don’t want other students to hear their words.
Print the Instructions
Here are the instructions for you to print out and use.
OR
Print this activity page for your student to complete (PDF).
3. LEVEL THREE
This game stretches the student’s mind and creates an opportunity for them to write past ED verbs that they may not otherwise think of on their own.
If you want, you can have books available out and open for students to scan through to look for words. It’s not necessary to have books to play, but fine to add to the game.
Now to Play!
For Level 3 you’ll need 2 magnetic spinners*.
(If you haven’t read my full post on the winner spinner you won’t want to miss it! It gives you a long list of game ideas that are so easy to run and super fun for the kids. Check out the full post here.)
Two Circles
On a large whiteboard, draw two circles. The left circle should have 3 sections. Write the sounds “ed”, “d” and “t” in the three sections.
The right circle should have 8 or 16 sections. Fill the sections with the numbers 1-8 or 1-16 depending on your students ability.
Smaller Groups
For smaller groups (up to 8) I divide the large whiteboard into 4 sections. A pair is assigned to each section.
Larger Groups
For larger groups, (or if I don’t have a large whiteboard or chalkboard), I divide the group into pairs. I give each pair a small white board, dry erase marker and a sock to serve as an eraser. You can purchase a class pack on Amazon*.
Spin!
Now have two students spin the wheels. The number determines how many ED verbs the students should write. The letters tell them which sound the verbs should end with.
So if they spin a “d” and the number 11, the students have to write 11 past verbs that end in ED and sound like “d”. These verbs could include rained, played, planned etc.
Play until everyone has had a turn to spin or your allotted time runs out!
Print the Instructions
Here are the game instructions for you to print out and use.
4. LEVEL FOUR
Past Verbs that end in ED-Level 4 is a tough one, but the kids persevere and like it! I took this picture after playing and finishing this game for the first time.
We had a few missing words that time. Since then, I’ve come up with a complete list to get us through.
How to Play!
Fill a large white board* or chalkboard with the letters A to Z vertically divided into 3-4 columns. Make sure the columns are close enough to the ground that the children can reach the top letters.
Then, divide each column into 3 parts. Label the top of each part with: ______ed ________d _______t to represent the sound that the ED makes in each verb.
I’ll tell you up front. This game takes a long time. But surprisingly, the kids that have played it, remain engaged until it’s complete.
4-5 children are allowed up at the board at any given time. The children are moving freely as they think of words to add. I’m working with them the entire time to make sure they’re placing the words next to the right letter and under the correct sound (ed, d or t). You can have books available for the children to refer to if you’d like.
Once the board is ¾ complete, I gather everyone’s attention. I read down the first column of letters under the sound “ed”. For any blanks, we all think together until we come up with one. If they absolutely can’t come up with a verb, then I give them one. We do the same thing for the “d” sounds and “t” sounds.
Here are the instructions and a complete list for you to print and use.
OR
Print this activity page (PDF) for your students to complete.
There are more past verbs that end in ED than are listed, of course, but I’ve written one for each slot in case you get stuck!
Have fun with this one. It’s a challenge, but the kids rise to the occasion each time!
Irregular Past Verbs
If you’d like to work on irregular past verbs, you can play Irregular Past Verbs-1,2,3
