How to teach verb tenses

Why this matters

A third grader can add -ed to "mix" and "bake" all day, then write "maked" and "bringed" without blinking, because the rule worked every time before. On a worksheet the red mark comes back days later with the right word already written in, and the teacher has to wait for quiz day to find out whether the student learned it or copied it.

Ana captions her own cookie story

Ana bakes cookies with her grandma. She adds -ed to regular verbs without trouble, but she hasn't noticed that some verbs change in other ways, so "make" turns into "maked".

Every student in the class gets the same greeting and the same job: write one caption each for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. The picture they caption is their own. Sparky draws it from what the student says they love, and its next message depends on what the student just wrote.

Sparky draws Ana's own interestSparky sends Ana back to a verb she already got rightThree right captions get a harder job

A

Ana

Interest: Baking cookies with her grandmaStarting point: Adds -ed to regular verbsGets stuck: Adds -ed to irregular verbs too

Sparky

Hi, writer! Today you'll write captions for a picture story about something you love. What do you love to do?

Ana

i love baking cookies with my grandma

Sparky

That's so sweet! Here's your three-panel cookie story. Now let's write your captions. Start with Yesterday. What did you and Grandma do yesterday? Write one sentence about it!

Ana

yesterday me and grandma mixed the dough and maked little balls

Sparky

I love it, "mixed" is perfect! You wrote "mixed" for yesterday. Does the word "make" change the same way? Say it out loud and try again!

Ana

oh it doesnt get ed. made! yesterday me and grandma mixed the dough and made little balls

Sparky

Yes! "Made" is exactly right! Now, what is happening today? Write one sentence about it!

Ana

today the cookies bake in the oven and we watch them

Sparky

Great sentence! "Bake" and "watch" are both perfect present tense! Now for the last one, Tomorrow! Remember to use "will" plus a verb. What will happen tomorrow?

Ana

tomorrow i will brought the cookies to my class

Sparky

So close! You used "will", great job remembering that! With "will," we use the plain verb, not the past form. Say this out loud: "I will _____ the cookies." What's the plain form of "brought"?

Ana

bring! tomorrow i will bring the cookies to my class

Understanding check

"Will bring" is perfect! You have all three captions. Now for a bigger challenge. Write three sentences about baking cookies, one for yesterday, one for today, one for tomorrow. Use at least one of these verbs: make, bring, eat, go, run.

Ana

yesterday i eated a warm cookie. today grandma and i go to the store for more chocolate chips. tomorrow we will make a giant cookie for my mom

Sparky

I love your story, and "will make" is perfect for tomorrow! But let's look at yesterday. You wrote "mixed" correctly before. Does "eat" change the same way with -ed? Say it out loud. Does "eated" sound right?

Ana

no its like make and made. ate! yesterday i ate a warm cookie

Sparky

"Ate" is exactly right! All three sentences are perfect. Here's your story come to life! You learned past tense (ate, mixed, made), present tense (go, bake, watch) and future tense (will bring, will make).

Wrote "maked", went back to her own "mixed", fixed it, then wrote and illustrated her own story

Ana is an example student, and Sparky's replies are shortened.

What Flint did for Ana

• Sparky drew a three-panel picture of Ana baking with her grandma, so every caption she wrote was about her own afternoon.
• When Ana wrote "maked", Sparky pointed her to "mixed" in the same sentence and asked her to say "make" out loud, and didn't give her the answer.
• When she put a past form after "will", Sparky asked for the plain form of the verb she had used.
• After three right captions, Sparky asked her to write her own story with irregular verbs. She wrote "eated", remembered "made", and fixed it herself.
• Sparky drew her new story once all three sentences were right.

A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students at once. Sparky does it in every student's chat.

The activity page shows who is still adding -ed to every verb

While students work, Needs attention lists each student who is stuck and the message that showed it. Once three or more students submit, activity analytics sums up what the class understood and what to practice next.

Set up the activity for free

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow is in Flint's public library, with the greeting, Sparky's guidelines and a rubric already set up. Open it, duplicate it into a free Flint account, and assign it to a class. Every student gets their own chat with Sparky and their own picture story, and the activity page fills in as they work.

For more English activities, see Flint for English language arts.