In response to irregular plurals

"Reactions while correcting the weekly spelling test" just didn't sound as good for a post title.

What were these kids thinking?
Sheelves: female elves? Are there He-elves, too? Or was that just a drawn out vowel, a southern style accent, Shayelves? One student spelled it shaelves. "Put the books on the shaelves, ma'am." Shelves also became Sleves, Sevles, and shelvs.
Theeth: well, the kid knew the plural needed a double e and a -th. Maybe he wasn't sure if the th came at the beginning or the end and just put it in both places to increase his odds. Or not.
Chidren: three kids left out the L. That's not a regional dialect, folks; we really do say "children."

Wimen? Gese? Gesse? Spacecrafts?


I really did teach the spelling structures for the irregular plurals. The kids created a list comparing the singular to the plural form of each word, sorted by pattern. The list stood on a chart in a prominent place for a week. They had review/ practice sheets for extra credit.


The dysgraphic child in the class handled this test with 100% accuracy. That's not easy; dysgraphia made the P in sheep difficult, among other letters. This kiddo worked harder than any other to make these letters fall in the right places and face the correct directions.
To the rest I'm tempted to say, "What's your excuse?!"

Stumble It!