A. Words Rule: Singular and Plural Words Spelled with
“-y,” “-ey,” “-ies,” and “-s” Endings: “puppy,” “puppies,” “bunny,” “bunnies,” “lily,” “lilies,” “family,” “families,” “baby,” “babies,” “monkey,” “monkeys,” “valley,” “valleys,” “donkey,” “donkeys,” “turkey,” “turkeys,” “alley,” “alleys”

• (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of “The Muffin Man”):

Teacher: “Can you take a closer look, a closer look, a closer look? Can you take a closer look at these words today?"

Students: “Yes, we’ll take a closer look, a closer look, a closer look. Yes, we’ll take a closer look to group the words today.”

• Begin the Word Rules instructional practice:

1. Teacher displays Words Rule Word Cards on the board and reads aloud (singular words spelled with “-ey” and “-y”; plural words spelled with “-s” and
“-ies”): “puppy,” “puppies,” “bunny,” “bunnies,” “lily,” “lilies,” “family,” “families,” “baby,” “babies,” “monkey,” “monkeys,” “valley,” “valleys,” “donkey,” “donkeys,” “turkey,” “turkeys,” “alley,” “alleys”).

2. Teacher says: “Here are some of the words we read in the poem and some new words that share /ē/ endings and /ēs/ endings. Take a minute to examine these words, then share your thinking about how they are similar with an elbow partner.”

3. Students read words silently and notice similarities (singular words have an “-ey” and “-y” ending, plural words have an “-ies” and “-eys” ending).

4. Students share their thinking with an elbow partner.

5. Teacher asks:

“Who would like to share what they noticed about these words?” (Singular words have an “/ē/” sound spelled “y” or “ey”; plural words have /ēs/ sound spelled with either “ies” and “eys”; they are all multi-syllable words.)

6. Teacher says: “Yes.”

7. Teacher asks:

“And what comes before all the singular words ending in a ‘y’?” (a consonant)

8. Teacher says: “Right. You have discovered a spelling rule. Words that end in a consonant and ‘y’ are made plural by replacing the ‘y’ with an ‘i’ and adding an ‘es.’ Words that end in an ‘ey’ are made plural by adding an ‘s.’ Today we are learning how to read and spell words ending in ‘y’ as well as how to make them plural.”

9. Teacher asks:

“What did you discover about syllables in these singular words ending in
‘-y’ and ‘-ey’?” (They all have two syllables.)

10. Teacher says: “Yes. These words all have two syllables. The ‘y’ typically makes the ‘/ē /’ sound in words with more than one syllable. So the words we will learn all have more than one syllable.”

11. Teacher says: “Let’s put these words into two groups: plural and singular words. I’ll read the word, then we will decide where to write it on this enlarged Singular and Plural T-chart. The first word is ‘puppy.’ Think of what the ending letters are.”

12. Teacher asks:

“Do you hear an /s/ sound?” (no)

“What column does it go into?” (singular)

13. Teacher writes “puppy” in the Singular column on the T-chart.

14. Teacher says: “Right! We hear the /ē/ sound for the ‘y.’ Now let’s practice reading and writing these words with a partner. First, you will read a word, and your partner will write it on the chart under the Singular or Plural column, and you will check it together with the Word Card. Then you will switch roles so your partner will read a Word Card, and you will write the word in the Singular or Plural column. When you have written all the words on the T-chart, you will take turns reading the words.”

15. Teacher distributes the Words Rule Word Cards and a Singular and Plural T-chart to students as they partner together to practice sorting two-syllable singular and plural words ending in “-y,” “-s,” and “-ies.”

16. Students divide Word Cards equally with a partner and take turns reading two-syllable plural and singular words:

• Student A reads word.
• Student B identifies each /ē/ and /ēs/ sounds as singular or plural.
• Student B writes the word in the appropriate column.
• Students switch roles.
• Students take turns reading all words written.