Another day in Pittsburgh, another day of snow; Irregular verbs

Practice irregular verbs with fun in the snow!  Have your child tell you what she will do in the snow (to target future tense); then, have her tell you what she is doing in the snow (present tense); finally, have her tell you what she did in the snow (past tense).

Some examples of irregular verbs that can be used for this activity are:

throw/threw ("I will throw snow balls;" "I am throwing a snow ball;" "I threw snow balls.")

eat/ate ("I will eat snow;" "I am eating snow;" "I ate snow.")

see/saw ("I will see the snow;" "I see the snow;" "I saw the snow.")

bite/bit ("I will bite the icicle;" I am biting the icicle;" "I bit the icicle.")

drive/drove ("We will drive through the snow;" "We are driving through the snow;" "We drove through the snow.")

break/broke ("I will break the ice;" "I am breaking the ice;" "I broke the ice.")

build/built ("I will build a snowman;" "I am building a snowman;" "I built a snowman.")

catch/caught ("I will catch a snowball;" "I am catching a snowball;" "I caught a snowball.")

dig/dug ("I will dig a hole;" "I am digging a hole;" "I dug a hole.")

feel/felt ("I will feel the snow;" "I am feeling the snow;" "I felt the snow.")

hear/heard ("I will hear the wind;" "I am hearing the wind;" "I heard the wind.")

hide/hid ("I will hide in the snow;" "I am hiding in the snow;" "I hid in the snow.")

make/made ("I will make a snow angel;" "I am making a snow angel;" "I made a snow angel.")

run/ran ("I will run in the snow;" "I am running in the snow;" "I ran in the snow.")

freeze/froze ("I will freeze some water; "I am freezing water;" "I froze the water.")

slide/slid ("I will slide in the snow;" "I am sliding in the snow;" "I slid in the snow.")

take/took ("I will take some snow;" "I am taking some snow;" "I took the snow.")

To learn irregular verb usage, exposure to the words is key as they do not follow a rule.  (The rule for regular verbs is that the past tense is always -ed.)  Thus, I recommend auditory bombardment to help your child learn irregular verbs.  This is a fancy way of saying that you should repeat the words over and over, in different ways, in a short period of time to draw your child's attention to the target.  One fun way would be to pick up snowballs, and drop them on the asphalt so that they break.  With each snowball, you can say over and over, "I broke the snowball."  Then, when your child does it, say "You broke the snowball."  Finally, have her say the phrase after each snowball, "I broke the snowball."  The same can be done with "caught," "made," "ran," etc. 

Another way to cue your child to use the irregular verb is to gently correct her when she makes a mistake.  For example, she may say "We drived to the store in the snow."  Tell her that the "right" way to say it is not "drived" but "drove."  Ask her to repeat the word "drove," then have her repeat after you, "We drove to the store."  Practice the past tense over the next few days each time you drive somewhere for practice.