Conjectures in English - finding plural rules
Conjecture: an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information.
synonyms: speculation, guesswork, surmise, fancy, presumption, assumption, theory, postulation, supposition.
We can use conjectures in math and English by coming up with theories or ideas about how things work. First the teacher provides us with a task or a question. Students solve the problem or share their ideas and then try to come up with an explanation or theory.
English Conjecture: can we group plural words together in groups and explain the rules for turning singular words into a plurals?
We are learning plural rules - as a whole class, we have made a conjecture already about words ending in y.
Initially our conjecture was that all words ending in a y needed to be changed when adding an s. We had to change the 'y' into an 'ie'. Then Ms Leanne gave us some words ending in y and we tried to turn them into plurals to test our theory.
We decided our conjecture was proven wrong. Some words (like fly) needed to change, but some words ending in y (like 'monkey') could stay the same with an s just added on the end.
We came up with a new conjecture - that words ending in a vowel and a y (like 'valley' or 'journey') stayed the same and we could just add an 's'. But words that ended in a consonant and y (like 'fly' and 'berry') needed to change. We have to change the y into an 'ie' and then add the 's'.
The rule: if it ends in a vowel and y - just add s.
if it ends in a consonant and y - change the y to 'ie' and add s.
We are also learning how to work in a team (see the Teamwork blog post).
Today we worked in small groups to sort lots of plural words into groups based on our conjectures of plural rules. So we sorted the words into groups and then we made a theory about why we sorted them into each group.
Ms Leanne listed some singular words with their plurals and then we added all the words we thought should be grouped together. When each group had contributed to our class list and we had all the words - teams offered their ideas about the plural rule. Then we worked together to prove whether our conjectures were right or wrong.
We can use conjectures in math and English by coming up with theories or ideas about how things work. First the teacher provides us with a task or a question. Students solve the problem or share their ideas and then try to come up with an explanation or theory.
English Conjecture: can we group plural words together in groups and explain the rules for turning singular words into a plurals?
We are learning plural rules - as a whole class, we have made a conjecture already about words ending in y.
Initially our conjecture was that all words ending in a y needed to be changed when adding an s. We had to change the 'y' into an 'ie'. Then Ms Leanne gave us some words ending in y and we tried to turn them into plurals to test our theory.
We decided our conjecture was proven wrong. Some words (like fly) needed to change, but some words ending in y (like 'monkey') could stay the same with an s just added on the end.
We came up with a new conjecture - that words ending in a vowel and a y (like 'valley' or 'journey') stayed the same and we could just add an 's'. But words that ended in a consonant and y (like 'fly' and 'berry') needed to change. We have to change the y into an 'ie' and then add the 's'.
The rule: if it ends in a vowel and y - just add s.
if it ends in a consonant and y - change the y to 'ie' and add s.
We are also learning how to work in a team (see the Teamwork blog post).
Today we worked in small groups to sort lots of plural words into groups based on our conjectures of plural rules. So we sorted the words into groups and then we made a theory about why we sorted them into each group.
Ms Leanne listed some singular words with their plurals and then we added all the words we thought should be grouped together. When each group had contributed to our class list and we had all the words - teams offered their ideas about the plural rule. Then we worked together to prove whether our conjectures were right or wrong.
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