Teacher notes for this lesson. Two sides of A4, not for pupils.Mild sheetMedium sheetSpicy sheetAnswers
Teacher notes · not for pupils Spelling sequence

Turn It Into a Verb

Converting nouns and adjectives into verbs: -ate, -ise, -ify, -en

Lesson 14 of 17
Year 5 45 min

Objective

Convert nouns and adjectives into verbs using -ate, -ise, -ify and -en, and describe the change the root undergoes.

Board title: Making verbs with suffixes  ·  Say it: “Today we're turning things and descriptions into actions, beauty into beautify and wide into widen, and watching what the root loses on the way.”

Curriculum

  • Y5/6: converting nouns or adjectives into verbs using -ate, -ise, -ify
  • Y5/6: verb endings including -en; word families based on common words
  • Terminology: suffix · root word · verb · noun · adjective
  • STA domain: spelling (S)

Success criteria

  • turn a thing into a verb with -ate or -ify
  • turn a describing word into a verb with -en
  • spell British verbs with -ise
  • say how the root changed on the way

Key vocabulary

suffix · root word · verb · noun · adjective · word family

Run of the lesson

4 min
Starter: write beauty and beautify on the board. Ask which one you can do. Don't resolve the spelling yet, hold the tension.
9 min
Word-building drill on the board: model four pairs and ring what moved each time, class/classify, pollen/pollinate, wide/widen, fresh/freshen. The y becomes an i, the e drops, a vowel shifts. Do -en second so they finish this stretch feeling capable.
5 min
Be straight about -ise v -ize: American, not an error. Then the trap, We will surprize you, and the wall list of words that never take -ize in any country: surprise, advise, exercise, promise.
8 min
Word Cellar on the whiteboard, Spicy band. Name the root aloud before anyone picks an ending; treat the -ness/-ment items as revision on the way past. Class votes before you tap.
16 min
Worksheet, independent. Circulate on Task 3: the -ise line is the snag, ask each writer to name the root and say why not -ize before you accept advertise or modernise.
3 min
Plenary: two children read a Task 3 verb, class names the root it was built from. Then the class quiz: what happened to the y in Polpetta's beautyfy sign?
On screenSPAGhetti → Word Cellar → Spicy. One screen only; no pupil devices needed. The Spicy set carries the longer endings and the -ness/-ment items; treat those as revision on the way past. ~10 items in 10 minutes with discussion.
SPAGhetti · Spelling sequence · Lesson 14 of 17  ·  Teacher notes 1 of 2
Teacher notes · not for pupils Turn It Into a Verb · side 2

On the day

If the tech failsSkip the game entirely. Task 1 is the same content on paper, read the four pairs aloud and vote with thumbs. The lesson still works.
If they're on devicesLesson code MAKEE (on the worksheet footer) opens the right game, locks the café until 10 items are done, then unlocks it as the reward.

Misconceptions to watch for

Choosing the ending by ear. beautyfy, classifie, softify. There is no rule that predicts which root takes which ending. Say so honestly and build a wall list instead of pretending a rule exists.

-ize because the screen says so. Word processors default to American spelling. Tell them plainly: -ize is not an error, it is another country's habit; we write -ise. surprise, advise, exercise, promise never take -ize in any country.

Leaving the root untouched. pollenate, beautyfy, wideen. The root nearly always shifts: a y becomes an i, an e is dropped, a vowel changes. Ring the change every time you model one.

Doubling the consonant before -en. widden, shortten. These roots do not double. wide simply loses its e; short takes -en as it stands.

The three sheets

Same four tasks on every sheet, in the same order, with the same look. Only the demand changes. Print the one each child needs; nobody does two.

Mild

Same four tasks as every other sheet, same order, same look, the demand is lower, not the dignity. Shorter passage in Task 2, and in Task 3 a word bank or words to tick, with printed sentence starters. Give it to anyone who needs a way in, and expect them to move up.

Medium

The core sheet. Give this to most of the class. No word bank; in Task 3 pupils choose from a few close options, then use one in a sentence of their own.

Spicy

Same four tasks, more demand, a longer passage with a subtler error, and Task 3 asks for two things at once. Not extra work; harder work. Nobody should be doing Spicy and the Medium sheet.

Adaptive teaching

  • Support: give the noun and the verb side by side. They ring what changed, then use the verb.
  • SEN: gentle mode on; read Task 2 aloud before they edit.
  • Stretch: Task 3 extension, one sentence with a noun and the verb built from it, both underlined.
  • EAL: many of these verbs are Latin at root and will look familiar to Romance-language speakers. Ask them first.

Play it

Lesson code MAKEE at playspaghetti.com. The code is printed on the bottom of every pupil sheet with a QR, and Class Quiz in your dashboard opens the plenary quiz for this lesson pre-picked.

SPAGhetti · Spelling sequence · Lesson 14 of 17  ·  Teacher notes, not for pupils 2 of 2  ·  Ludora