Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
TASK 1: LESSON PLANS FOR LEARNING SEGMENT
Learning Experience 1:
Verb Introduction
1. Grade Level: Second
2. Content Area: English Language Arts/Literacy
3. Common Core ELA Standards:
a. CSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
4. Student Learning Objective:
a. Students will be able to appropriately use an action verb in the sentence
“If I were a verb, I would be…”.
5. Materials and Resources:
a. 30 copies of the verb pre-assessment
b. If You Were A Verb, by Michael Dahl
c. Verb anchor chart, teacher created
d. Verb song, to be played on Smart Board
e. Markers
6. Key Vocabulary: N/A
7. Academic Language:
a. Action verb
8. Instructional Strategies:
a. Introduction:
i. Teacher asks students what they think a verb is; examples and
descriptions, such as “a word in a sentence”, and “a word when you
do something”, are expected answers.
ii. Teacher reiterates students’ ideas by introducing and reviewing
information on the anchor chart. The two main qualities of verbs to
ensure students are familiar with are: “a verb is an action word” and
“a sentence is not complete without a verb”.
iii. Students provide more examples of verbs to add to the chart.
iv. Teacher then introduces the book, If You Were A Verb, to students,
allowing for two to three comments about the title and cover.
Teacher reads the story aloud, stopping periodically to allow for
students’ comments.
b. Guided Practice:
i. Students get the chance to add more verbs to the anchor chart
after the read aloud; this allows the teacher to gauge students’
ability to determine the verb in a sentence.
ii. Students turn on the carpet to face the Smart Board and listen to
the verb song.
iii. Next, students form a circle on the carpet to complete the “If You
Were A Verb” activity together.
iv. The teacher models the activity for students by explaining that each
child should fill in the blank in the sentence with a verb and then
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
say why they picked their verb. Teacher provides the first example,
such as “If I were a verb, I would be read, because that’s my
favorite thing to do in school.”
9. Assessment
a. Pre-assessment: Students will complete a pre-assessment prior to the
introduction of this lesson. The pre-assessment will determine students’
prior knowledge of verbs.
b. Informal Assessment: An informal assessment of students’ understanding
will be conducted through the final activity. Each student will be asked to
complete the sentence “If I were a verb, I would be…” with an action verb
of their choice.
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
Learning Experience 2:
Verb Practice
1. Grade Level: Second
2. Content Area: English Language Arts/Literacy
3. Common Core ELA Standards
a. CSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
4. Student Learning Objective:
a. Students will be able to create a “verb person” by identifying at least ten
verbs that different parts of the body can do.
5. Materials and Resources
a. BrainPop Jr. verb video, to be played on Smart Board
b. 30 copies of the “verb person” worksheet
c. Teacher exemplar of a “verb person”
d. Large paper with a life-size person
e. Markers
6. Key Vocabulary:
a. Verb person
7. Academic Language:
a. Action verb
8. Instructional Strategies:
a. Introduction:
i. Students review verbs as a class, first by sharing their thoughts
with a neighbor.
ii. Students watch the BrainPop Jr. video
iii. Teacher stops the video periodically to review subject and verb
agreement with students.
b. Guided Practice:
i. Teacher introduces the “verb person” activity by showing students’
a teacher-created example.
ii. On the “verb person”, different verbs are written on different parts of
the body, based on which part of the body can do that action. For
example, run could be written on a foot or think could be written by
the brain.
iii. Students hear three to four examples of verbs on the teacher’s
person, after which the teacher asks for three-five student
examples of verbs to add to the example.
c. Independent Practice:
i. Teacher calls students by table to get a worksheet and return to
their desks to complete a “verb person” independently.
1. The activity should be completed on a Level 1 whisper voice.
2. Students should be reminded to use their best second-grade
spelling.
3. When a student has ten to fifteen verbs on his or her person,
they may decorate the person.
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
d. Guided Practice:
i. Teacher calls students back together to face the whiteboard, where
the life-size person is hung up.
ii. Each student shares one verb from their paper to add to the class
person; for example, a student may say “shout, by where your
mouth is” or “draw, by your hands”.
9. Assessment:
a. Informal Assessment: Students are informally assessed on their verb
person. Each student should have written ten to fifteen verbs on their
person.
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
Learning Experience 3:
Past and Present Tense Verbs
1. Grade Level: Second
2. Content Area: English Language Arts/Literacy
3. Common Core ELA Standards:
a. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1.e: Use verbs to convey a sense of past,
present, and future.
4. Student Learning Objective:
a. Students will be able to correctly apply the adding ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ rule to
verbs to complete a 10-question worksheet.
5. Materials and Resources:
a. BrainPop Jr. verb video, to be played on the Smart Board
b. 30 copies of the Past Tense Rules handout, hole punched
c. 30 copies of the practice worksheet
d. 15 copies of the matching game, pre-cut and in individual bags
6. Key Vocabulary:
a. Rule followers
b. Yesterday
c. Today
7. Academic Language:
a. Past tense
b. Present tense
c. Add ‘ed’
d. Add ‘ing’
8. Instructional Strategies:
a. Introduction:
i. Teacher introduces the concept of verbs changing based on the
time frame that a verb is referring to.
ii. Teacher first uses part of the BrainPop Jr. video to review verbs
with students.
iii. Then, the teacher should provide both right and wrong examples of
verbs in the past and present tense. For example, teacher could
say “Yesterday, I walk to the store” instead of saying “Yesterday, I
walked to the store.” Students are given the chance to correctly
say the sentence.
1. Note: It is important to ensure that only regular verbs are
used in this lesson.
iv. Teacher shows students the handout about past tense verb rules
and briefly reviews the information provided.
b. Guided Practice:
i. First, teacher shows the students a worksheet that they will
complete individually by adding the correct past and present
endings to ten regular verbs.
ii. Teacher then models a matching game with a student as a partner.
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
1. Pairs of students are given a set of cards with two types of
cards, cards using verbs in their root form and cards using
verbs in the past tense. For example, one card states
“Today I start, but yesterday I…”, and the corresponding
card states “started”.
2. Students take turns flipping over two cards to see if together
they make the correct sentence. Cards that match are kept
after each turn; cards that do not match are turned back
over. Play then transfers to the next student.
3. Note: This game should be played in partners at a Level 1
whisper voice. Partners will be pre-determined by the
teacher based on personalities and how quickly each
student is anticipated to complete the worksheet.
c. Independent Practice:
i. Students pick up a handout and worksheet, and return to their
desks to put the handout in their binder and to complete the
worksheet.
ii. After the worksheet is turned into the teacher, students move on to
playing the matching game with their partner at a quiet spot in the
classroom.
9. Assessment:
a. Informal Assessment: The worksheet that students complete
independently will serve as an informal, formative assessment of their
learning up to this point. A formal grade will not be taken on this
worksheet.
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
Learning Experience 4:
Irregular Verbs
1. Grade Level: Second
2. Content Area: English Language Arts/Literacy
3. Common Core ELA Standards:
a. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.d: Form and use the past tense of frequently
occurring irregular verbs.
4. Student Learning Objective:
a. Students will understand that not all verbs follow the rule of adding ‘ed’ in
the past tense. They will be able to correctly change an irregular verb into
the past tense when at the whiteboard, either by writing or speaking it.
5. Materials and Resources:
a. BrainPop Jr. video
b. 30 copies of the Common Irregular Verbs handout, hole punched
c. Individual whiteboards (1 per student)
d. Dry erase markers (1 per student)
e. Whiteboard erasers (1 per student)
6. Key Vocabulary:
a. Rule breakers
b. Yesterday
c. Today
7. Academic Language:
a. Irregular
8. Instructional Strategies:
a. Introduction
i. Teacher review the rule for past tense verbs with students,
ii. Teacher introduces irregular verbs to the whole class on the carpet,
by incorrectly using irregular verbs in the past tense; for example,
the teacher may write “I runned 4 miles yesterday”.
iii. Students should notice that this sentence does not sound right, at
which point they can correct the teacher, saying that the sentence
should say “ran” instead of “runned”.
iv. Teacher should provide three to four more examples such as this,
allowing students to recognize when a sentence does not sound
right and letting them replace the incorrect past tense form with the
right verb.
v. Students return to their seats with an individual whiteboard, dry
erase marker, and whiteboard eraser; students should sit at tables
separated into boys and girls for team play.
b. Guided Practice:
i. Students will participate in a teacher-led game that combines the
games Jeopardy! and Around the World.
ii. The game includes many rounds of play. A round is equal to one
turn, and consists of two students going up to the classroom
whiteboard. Teacher says a verb in the root form, for example
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
sleep, and students write the past tense on the board, for example
slept. The team of either student who writes the correct answer
gets one point; therefore, it is possible for both teams to receive a
point each round.
iii. Play continues until every student has had at least one turn at the
classroom whiteboard.
iv. Each student participates for every round by writing the past tense
of the verb on his or her individual whiteboards.
1. Students are encouraged to say the sentence in their head
to listen to how the verb sounds.
9. Assessment:
a. Informal Assessment: Throughout the game, but especially during their
turn at the whiteboard, students will be observed and assessed on their
ability to think of the correct past tense of irregular verbs.
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
Learning Experience 5:
Verb Centers
1. Grade Level: Second
2. Content Area: English Language Arts/Literacy
3. Common Core ELA Standards:
a. CSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
b. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1.e: Use verbs to convey a sense of past,
present, and future.
c. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.d: Form and use the past tense of frequently
occurring irregular verbs.
4. Student Learning Objectives:
a. Students will be able to write four sentences using four action verbs,
describing what they would do as a “Verb Superhero”.
b. Students will be able to identify verbs in the past tense by adding ‘ed’.
They will notice when a card with the root form of a verb matches a card
with the past tense of the same verb.
c. Students will be able to identify the past tense of an irregular verb by
finding it on a Bingo Board and covering that square. They will cover their
board each time they find the past tense of an irregular verb Bingo Card.
5. Materials and Resources:
a. 30 copies of the Subject/Verb Agreement Practice worksheet
b. 30 copies of the Superhero Verb Prompt
c. 10 copies of the Past and Present Verb Slapjack game
d. 2 copies of the Irregular Verb Bingo Cards
e. 10 copies of each Irregular Verb Bingo Board
6. Key Vocabulary:
a. Rule followers
b. Rule breakers
c. Yesterday
d. Today
e. Add ‘ed’
f. Add ‘ing’
7. Academic Language:
a. Past tense
b. Present tense
c. Irregular
8. Instructional Strategies:
a. Introduction: Students will complete each verb center to review each topic
and prepare for the assessment. The centers are as follows: (1) action
verbs, (2) past and present tense of verbs, and (3) irregular verbs.
b. Guided Practice:
i. Teacher will provide directions and model what to do at each
center. Specific instructions for each center can be found in the
Independent Practice section of this lesson plan.
Early Childhood
Task 1: Lesson Plans for Learning Segment
c. Independent Practice
i. Center 1  Action Verbs
1. Students first complete the Subject-Verb Agreement
worksheet.
2. Students then respond to a prompt asking them to imagine
they are a “Verb Superhero”. Students
3.
ii. Center 2  Past and Present Verbs
1. Students will complete this activity in partners.
2. Students will play a version of the game slapjack with
partners
3. An action verb card is flipped over to start the game (ex. talk)
4. Partners take turns quickly placing a past/present card on
the next pile, and slap that pile if the two cards match (ex.
talk with talked or talking)
5. Student who slaps must say “past” or “present”, to tell their
partner which tense it is that matches the original card
6. If student slapped correctly, they take all of the tense cards
underneath the pile
7. A new action verb card is flipped over (ex. cook) and
partners continue to play, until either one partner has all
tense cards or centers switch
8. If one partner has all the tense cards, play can continue by
the other partner trying to “slap back in” when the 2 cards
match
9.
iii. Center 3  Irregular Verbs
1. Students play a version of Bingo in small groups
2. Students take turns drawing an irregular verb card and
saying it out loud (ex. teach)
3. Students place a counter on their board if they see the past
tense of the verb (ex. taught)
4. Students’ goal is to get 5 counters in a row, horizontally,
vertically, or diagonally → if a player does, boards are
cleared and play starts over.
9. Assessment:
a. Informal Assessment: Teacher will observe students as they work together
at their centers, stopping to work for a few minutes with each small group.
b. Formal Assessment: Students will respond to a prompt using at least 4
sentences with 4 action verbs.
c. Post-Assessment: After completing each center, each student will
independently complete a post-assessment.