Irregular Nouns Plural – 5 Teaching Activities

Do you want your students to apply irregular plural nouns correctly in their writing?

Here are five engaging and meaningful activities you can use to teach this skill:

1. Observe a Mentor Sentence for Irregular Plural Nouns

This authentic grammar activity will introduce students to irregular plural nouns with a mentor sentence so students can observe how authors use them in their writing. Then, students will imitate the mentor sentence by writing imitation sentences that resemble the mentor sentence. Check out this free 5-Day Mentor Sentence Lesson.

Steps:

1. Show students a mentor sentence with irregular plural nouns. (See image below.)
2. Ask students what they notice in the mentor sentence.
3. Lead students into a discussion about how authors sometimes need to change the spelling of nouns when they are pluralized.
4. Invite students to practice the skill by writing imitation sentences that resemble the mentor sentence.
   • Example: People played in the pile of leaves – children, men, and women.

Check out this free 5-Day Mentor Sentence Grammar Lesson.

2. Read and Record

This activity will help students to observe how authors use a variety of plural nouns in their writing. 

Steps:

1. Have students take out an independent reading book.
2. Have students take out a notebook and make 2 columns listed as: “Regular Plural Nouns” and “Irregular Plural Nouns”.
3. Explain to students that they need to scan their books and record as many nouns in those two categories as they can in 5-10 minutes. Set a timer.
4. Invite students to share the plural nouns they found.

3. Irregular Plural Nouns Scoot Game

This fun activity will give your students the practice they need to achieve mastery of the skill. This activity can be completed in a whole group or small group setting.

Steps:

1. Create 10 – 20 task cards where students need to change the singular noun in the sentence to a plural noun.
2. Print the task cards and post them around your classroom.
3. Give students a recording sheet and tell them to visit each task card around the classroom.
4. Students need to find the number on their recording sheet that corresponds to the number on the task card. Students need to write the correct answer beside the number.

4. Irregular Plural Nouns Boom Cards

Boom Cards are interactive, self-checking digital task cards. They are an engaging, low-prep option for reinforcing grammar skills. This Boom deck includes 16 Boom Cards. Each card includes a singular noun that students need to change to its plural form. Students will get immediate feedback which will help them achieve mastery of the skill.

Steps:

1. Assign this Boom deck.
2. Click on the link in the download and then click “Redeem”.
3. Sign in to Boom Learning or create a free account.
4. Go to: Library – Action – Fast Pin – Generate New Pin
5. You will get a pin code that you can share with your students.
6. Students go to the Boom app or boomlearning.com and click on FastPlay and enter the pin to play the Boom deck.

5. Revise for Irregular Plural Nouns

This activity will hold students accountable for applying irregular plural nouns in their writing.

Steps:

1. Create a revising checklist related to the skill.
2. Model how to revise your own writing with the revising checklist.
3. Ask students to revise their own written piece using the revising checklist.
4. Invite a few students to share revisions they made.

These 5 meaningful activities are guaranteed to help your students apply irregular plural nouns in their writing!

Interested in more mentor sentence lessons? Check out these full-year grammar curriculums for 1st – 5th grades.

Watch this preview video to see this mentor sentence curriculum in action.

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