Zookeeper Zack's animal park inventory is a mess, and 3rd grade students fix it by sorting 16 plural nouns into four columns: Just add -s, Add -es, Change -y to -ies, and Irregular Plurals. The word bank mixes cats and boxes with puppies, mice, teeth, sheep, and feet. Two thinking questions close the 3-page sheet. It practices L.3.1.b. The answer key sorts every word and explains why monkeys and sheep are tricky.
L.3.1.b
“Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.”
The four-column sort of regular and irregular plurals such as watches, pennies, and teeth, and question 2, where students form a new plural for each rule.
Students read a word bank of 16 plurals and write each one under the rule that formed it. The words include desks, bushes, watches, classes, babies, pennies, and children.
Question 1 asks which word was trickiest to sort and why. Question 2 asks for one new plural for each category, because "Zack found four more boxes."
Rule review first
Remind students to say the singular word before they sort. Monkeys catches many 3rd graders, who put it with the -ies words because the singular ends in y.
Word study center
Cut the word bank into cards so students can move them around. The sort takes about 10 minutes, with a partner checking each column.
Spelling link
Use the question 2 answers as bonus words on the week's spelling list. Plurals such as foxes or geese that students chose themselves make the list feel like theirs.
Get started today
