Multisensory Monday: Plural Suffix -es

"Tell me, and I will forget. Teach me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will learn."

Challenge me to a game, and I will love to learn!

Here’s a fun game to help your students learn the word endings that use the plural suffix -es.  

Materials

• Layer 1-2 card pack up to card “-es” (Remove the prefix and suffix cards)

The Object of the Game

The goal is to win the most cards by being first to slap the s, x, z, ch, sh, ss, zz, -nch, or -tch cards as they are played to the center.

How to Play

Shuffle the card deck and split the deck in half. Once you and your student have half a deck, simultaneously begin to lift the top cards from your respective piles and turn them face up into the center. When an s, x, z, ch, sh, ss, zz, -nch or -tch is turned up, the first player to slap that card, regardless of whose pile it came from, will collect all the cards from that play. Continue to play until you have both used up your original piles. Once all the cards from the original piles have been used, the player who has collected the most cards is first to slap the s, x, z, ch, sh, ss, zz, -nch, or -tch cards wins!

Variations to Reinforce the -es Spelling Rule

• Call out “/iz/” as you’re slapping the card and spell out “es.”
• Have your student think of words (or give them clues to dictation words) that end with an s, x, z, ch, sh, ss, zz, -nch, and -tch as they turn up in the game and use the -es suffix with it.
• Ask your student to write down each word ending on a sheet of paper or whiteboard as it comes up in the game.

You now have an excuse to get slap-happy, have fun!

Written by Frances Olson