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Irregular Plurals and Past Tense

A 40-minute Grade 2 lesson on collective nouns, irregular plurals, irregular past tense verbs and adverbs.

Irregular Plurals and Past Tense is a free 40-minute Grade 2 English lesson plan for Common Core standard L.2.1 — use collective nouns, irregular plurals, reflexive pronouns and past tense verbs correctly. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the meaning, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.

Grade:
Grade 2
Length:
40 minutes
Standard:
L.2.1

Grade 2 · Language

L.2.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Objective

Students will be able to use the correct irregular plural or past tense form, a collective noun and a reflexive pronoun in a sentence of their own.

Students are successful when they can

  • Writes the irregular plural of mouse, tooth, child, foot and sheep without adding -s.
  • Writes the past tense of run, throw, catch, eat and go, e.g. "ran," not "runned."
  • Chooses flock, herd or swarm for sheep, cows and bees.
  • Adds an adverb that says how, e.g. "The mouse ran quickly."

What you need

  • Two-column chart on the board: "Follows the rule" / "Breaks the rule"
  • Picture cards: one mouse and three mice, one foot and two feet, a flock of sheep, a swarm of bees
  • Mini whiteboards and pens
  • The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan

The lesson

Warm-up — add the -s

5 min
  1. Say a noun; the class says the plural on whiteboards: cat (cats), dog (dogs), book (books), cup (cups). Fast and easy on purpose.
  2. Then say "mouse." Expect some boards to read "mouses." Then "child" — expect "childs."
  3. Do not correct yet. Ask: "Does mouses sound right? What do we actually say?" Fish for "mice" and "children," and write them in the "Breaks the rule" column.
“Most words follow the rule. A few famous ones break it, and we just have to know them.”

Teach — a short list to learn

13 min
  1. Fill the "Breaks the rule" column with five plurals: mouse/mice, foot/feet, tooth/teeth, child/children, sheep/sheep. Point out "sheep" does not change at all.
  2. Now past tense. Write "Yesterday I jump." Ask what to change: "jumped." Put jump/jumped and play/played in "Follows the rule."
  3. Write "Yesterday I runned to school." Ask: "Would a grown-up say that?" Fish for "ran." Add run/ran, throw/threw, catch/caught, eat/ate, go/went to "Breaks the rule."
  4. Show the picture cards and introduce collective nouns: a flock of sheep, a herd of cows, a swarm of bees. Write the frame: "A ___ of bees left the hive." The answer is "swarm."
  5. Reflexive pronouns: write "She made the cake ___." Fish for "herself." Add "The boys carried the box themselves." Note that "hisself" and "theirselves" are not standard.
  6. Adverbs: write "The mouse ran." Ask: "How did it run?" Add "quickly." Then "The lion roared loudly." An adverb tells how, and many end in -ly.
“If it sounds a bit like baby talk — mouses, runned, childs — check the "Breaks the rule" list. The grown-up word is probably there.”

Guided practice — pairs and sentences

12 min
  1. Read each sentence aloud; pairs write only the missing word on a whiteboard: "Three ___ ran across the floor." (mice) "Last week Rana ___ the ball over the fence." (threw) "A ___ of sheep crossed the road." (flock) "I brushed my ___ before bed." (teeth)
  2. After each, boards up together. Where boards split between "throwed" and "threw," ask a child with "threw" to say the whole sentence aloud — hearing it settles most disagreements.
  3. Then pairs write one sentence that uses an irregular past tense AND an adverb, e.g. "The dog ate greedily." Share three and underline the adverb.
“Say the whole sentence out loud. Your ear often knows the right word before your pencil does.”

Independent practice

8 min
  1. Students complete the printable. One sheet is fill-the-gap sentences with a word bank for collective nouns, reflexive pronouns and past tense verbs; the other asks for irregular plurals and past tenses.
  2. Leave the "Breaks the rule" chart up. Using it is not cheating — it is how these words get learned.

Close

2 min
  1. Read out: "Yesterday two childs catched a fish." Ask the class to fix both mistakes aloud: "Yesterday two children caught a fish."

What goes wrong, and why

Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.

Writes "two mouses," "three childs" and "my foots."

Why: The add -s rule works for almost every noun they know, so they apply it confidently to every noun. That is good rule-learning, applied one step too far.

Fix: Keep the "Breaks the rule" list on the wall and teach the habit of checking it. Practice the five pairs orally daily: "one mouse, two..." "mice!"

Writes "he runned," "she throwed it" and "we goed."

Why: Adding -ed is a real rule they have learned well. Irregular verbs are exceptions that must be memorized one by one.

Fix: Say the sentence aloud with "Yesterday..." in front. Most children have heard "ran" and "threw" many times; reading the sentence aloud lets that knowledge in.

Writes "He did it hisself" or "They made it theirselves."

Why: It follows the pattern of "myself" and "herself" (my + self, her + self), so "his" + "self" looks just as logical.

Fix: Show the full set in one list: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves. Say that "him" and "them" are the ones used, and practice the frame "He did it ___."

If they are not there yet

  • Work with only five irregular plurals and five irregular past tenses, each with a picture card on the desk.
  • Give a word bank of two choices per gap, e.g. "mice / mouses," so the task is choosing, not producing.
  • Practice orally in a chant before writing: "Today I run, yesterday I ran. Today I throw, yesterday I threw."

If they finish early

  • Find three more irregular plurals that are not on the list (goose/geese, man/men, woman/women) and explain what they have in common.
  • Write a four-sentence story about yesterday that uses at least four irregular past tense verbs and two adverbs, then underline them.
  • Research collective nouns for unusual animals (a pride of lions, a pod of dolphins) and make a quiz card for a partner.

Exit ticket

Fix this sentence: "Yesterday the mans catched three gooses and they did it theirselves."

What to look for: "Yesterday the men caught three geese and they did it themselves." Fixing "catched" but not the plurals: past tense is secure, plurals are not. Writing "mens": they know it changes but still add -s. Leaving "theirselves": reflexive pronouns need a short reteach.

Printable practice for L.2.1

Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.

Questions about Irregular Plurals and Past Tense

How long does the Irregular Plurals and Past Tense lesson take?

40 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 13 min, guided practice 12 min, independent practice 8 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.

Which standard does Irregular Plurals and Past Tense teach?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1 — L.2.1, Language for Grade 2: “Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.” In plain terms, use collective nouns, irregular plurals, reflexive pronouns and past tense verbs correctly.

What do I need to teach this lesson?

Two-column chart on the board: "Follows the rule" / "Breaks the rule", picture cards: one mouse and three mice, one foot and two feet, a flock of sheep, a swarm of bees, mini whiteboards and pens and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.

What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?

Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: writes "two mouses," "three childs" and "my foots."; writes "he runned," "she throwed it" and "we goed." and writes "He did it hisself" or "They made it theirselves.". The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.

How do I know whether the lesson worked?

The exit ticket asks: “Fix this sentence: "Yesterday the mans catched three gooses and they did it theirselves.".” "Yesterday the men caught three geese and they did it themselves." Fixing "catched" but not the plurals: past tense is secure, plurals are not. Writing "mens": they know it changes but still add -s. Leaving "theirselves": reflexive pronouns need a short reteach. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.

Is there a worksheet to go with Irregular Plurals and Past Tense?

Yes — 1 printable L.2.1 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.

Is Irregular Plurals and Past Tense free to use?

Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on October 8, 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.

Last reviewed 2026-10-08. Aligned to L.2.1 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.