This week, our spelling and word work activities have introduced us to  suffix -ed.  Students have learned that suffix -ed can be pronounced in three different ways, /d/, /t/, and /id/. Examples of these, derived from Fry’s sight word list, which many have selected as spelling words, include called (/d/), stretched (/t/), and repeated (/id/).

Integrating this with our current grammar focus on verbs, we have been discussing how when something happened in the past, you usually add -ed to the end of the word.   Today students practiced sorting past tense verbs with an -ed ending and present tense verbs without an -ed ending.

Later in the week, we will discover that when the root word ends in t or d, adding suffix -ed will also add another syllable to the word. For example, the root word end is a one syllable word. To make it past tense, add suffix -ed. The resulting word, ended, is a two syllable word.