Plural Nouns Background Information for Teachers, Parents and Caregivers
This page provides information to support educators and families in teaching K-3 students about plural nouns. It is designed to complement the Plural Nouns topic page on BrainPOP Jr.
This page contains information to support educators and families in teaching K-3 students about plural nouns. The information is designed to complement the BrainPOP Jr. movie Plural Nouns. It explains the type of content covered in the movie, provides ideas for how teachers and parents can develop related understandings, and suggests how other BrainPOP Jr. resources can be used to scaffold and extend student learning.
Remind your children that a noun is a word that names a person, place, animal, thing, or idea. Nouns can be singular and name one thing, or they can be plural and name more than one thing. Making plural nouns can be confusing because there are many rules and exceptions, but creating a print-rich environment and exposing your children to different words through books, magazines, charts, posters, and other media will help them recognize and spell plural nouns correctly.
Remind your children that a plural noun names more than one thing. Together, identify different nouns around you and have your children practice saying its singular and plural forms. Then write the singular and plurals together. Ask your children to notice the different endings of the plurals. Can they categorize them by types of endings?
You can make most nouns plural by simply adding an ¬¬-s at the end of the word, as in birds, rugs, bats, ticks, packs, and kings. Brainstorm other plural nouns that follow this rule together.
For nouns that end in -ch, -sh, -s, -x, or -z, you must add –es to make them plural, as in wrenches, wishes, gases, and boxes.. Find examples that follow this rule together. You can use this opportunity to practice finding rhyming words that follow the same spelling pattern and making them plural. When a word ends in -f or -fe, you should drop the f and add -ves, as in knife/knives, loaf/loaves, and wife/wives. There are some words that do not follow this rule, such as chefs. When a word ends in -o, you should add -es, as in heroes, tomatoes, and potatoes. However, there are several common words that do not follow this rule, such as pianos and kangaroos.
If a word ends in a vowel and -y, you can add an –s at the end of the word to make it plural, as in boys, jays, and keys. If a word ends in a consonant and -y, you drop the y, and add -ies, as in butterfly/butterflies and cry/cries.
Some words do not change from their singular form when they become plural, as in moose, deer, and sheep. You do not have to add an -s at the end of the noun to make then plural. Some nouns, however, take irregular plural forms, such as goose/geese, mouse/mice, child/children, man/men, and cactus/cacti.
Words vary greatly and the rules that govern them have plenty of exceptions. Help your children understand that language is diverse and rich and fun to explore. Some children may become confused or overwhelmed, but provide plenty of positive feedback and encouragement. It is helpful if they write down a plural word and see if it looks right to them. Exposing them to a wide range of words will not only build their vocabulary, but help them recognize patterns and exceptions to the rule.