How do you teach irregular plurals? Have your 2nd grade students been saying mans instead of men or foots instead of feet? Try these ideas for teaching irregular plural nouns to help your students use irregular plural nouns in their speaking and writing.
What are irregular plural nouns?
Irregular plural nouns are nouns that do not follow normal plural rules. Instead of adding -s or -es, irregular plural nouns change their spelling in other ways to become plural. By the end of 2nd grade, students should be able to form and use irregular plural nouns correctly in their writing and their speech.
Minilessons on PowerPoints
Start your irregular plural nouns unit with a lesson that introduces and explains what irregular plural nouns are. I like to start with an interactive PowerPoint that gets students involved and engaged in the minilesson.
Give students opportunities to turn and talk with partners throughout your lesson. Include games and other interactive tasks to keep students engaged.
Learning Videos for 2nd Grade Irregular Plural Nouns
Effective learning videos provide content in a different format and keep students’ attention. Try one of these options during your lessons on 2nd grade irregular plural nouns.
Learnova Grade 2 Irregular Plural Nouns Video
This thorough video gives a 6-minute lesson on irregular plural nouns. It does a good job of explaining different types of irregular plural nouns to help students form them more easily.
Mind Blooming: Irregular Plural Nouns
This video gives a good introduction to irregular plural nouns in about 3 minutes.
In this video, your students will learn some examples of irregular plural nouns with a rap song. Be careful because it might be stuck in their heads (and yours) all day long!
BrainPop Jr. Plural Nouns video
BrainPop Jr. is always great for introducing and explaining concepts well. This video is about all types of plural nouns, so it’s great to use if you want to give a review of plural nouns before starting to discuss irregular plurals. The portion of the video about irregular plural nouns starts at 4:43 if you want to skip to that part!
Reading Passages
Help students reinforce their understanding of 2nd grade irregular plural nouns by having them find examples in a reading passage. This allows students to see how irregular plural nouns are used in context.
In my grammar lessons, I always take one day a week to have students read a short pretend news story that contains that week’s grammar skill. We call it our Grammar Gazette. My students love seeing the week’s grammar skill in action as they read the news story!
Read Alouds for 2nd Grade Irregular Plural Nouns
Read alouds and mentor texts provide an excellent opportunity for students to learn about irregular plural nouns and see how they are used in context. Here are some great options to use for irregular plurals read alouds:
The following book links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate I earn a small commission for qualifying purchases.
Feet and Puppies, Thieves and Guppies: What are Irregular Plurals? by Brian P. Cleary
Feet and Puppies, Thieves and Guppies is a cute and silly story that teaches about different types of irregular plural nouns. It’s whimsical and fun to keep students interested, but it also has great information to make sure they’re learning as well!
One Foot, Two Feet by Peter Maloney and Felicia Zekauskas
In One Foot, Two Feet, students will learn about common irregular plural nouns in a straightforward manner. This simple book gives clear examples of irregular plurals paired with cute illustrations.
If You Were a Plural Word by Trisha Shaskan
If You Were a Plural Word is part of the Word Fun series of books. This story tells about all types of plural nouns, both regular and irregular. It’s a great option if you’re looking to review regular plurals before diving into irregular plurals.
Irregular Plural Nouns Task Cards
Task cards are a super versatile activity to use in the classroom. There are so many ways to incorporate task cards and make them work for your needs. Try using them as a center activity, or post the task cards around the classroom for students to do a Roam the Room activity.
Your task cards should allow students to identify examples and nonexamples of 2nd grade irregular plural nouns. I also like to have students find the irregular plural noun in example sentences.
Online Games
Educational online games are a great option for getting students engaged, and there are some awesome options to use for 2nd grade irregular plural nouns. Use online games as a center activity or as an option for early finishers.
Here are some great online games for practicing irregular plural nouns:
Irregular Plural Nouns Ski Race
In this game, students have to find the correct plural form of the nouns given in order to help their ski racer get down the mountain first.
Irregular Plural Nouns Matching Game
This game on Room Recess is a memory matching game. Students have to match the singular and plural forms of irregular plural nouns by flipping over cards.
Irregular Plural Nouns Online Worksheet
In this ABCya activity, students will get an opportunity to practice with irregular plural nouns with an online worksheet.
Practice Worksheets
Have students practice identifying and using irregular plural nouns with targeted and effective practice worksheets.
For ideas on how to make worksheets more fun and exciting in your classroom, check out this post: 8 Ways to Use Grammar Worksheets That You May Not Know About
Easy to Grade Irregular Plural Nouns Assessments
After teaching your unit on 2nd grade irregular plural nouns, assess students’ understanding with a simple assessment that allows you to easily determine students’ mastery of the subject.
A strong assessment will give students an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to identify irregular plurals in context and form irregular plurals in writing.
Irregular Plural Nouns Lesson Plans
Save precious planning time with this no-prep, easy to implement Irregular Plural Nouns unit. Inside you’ll find everything you need to teach, practice, and assess your students plus a weekly grammar routine that takes 15 minutes or less each day. Click on the picture to learn more.
Get all your grammar lessons planned for you with this yearlong 2nd Grade Grammar Curriculum.
Save this post for when you teach irregular plural nouns!
Looking for help teaching 2nd grade grammar? Check out these posts:
How to Teach Literal & Nonliteral Language
Free Second Grade Grammar Assessment Toolkit for Teachers
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