Add s or es

Say fish for more than one fish; fishes for more than one species.
My brother fishes in the river.

 There are four times you need to add es instead of s:

1. When a word ends with an s-like sound, as in fish / fishes.

2. When you change y to i, as in carry / carries.

3. Most words ending with letter f change to ves for more than one, as in wolf / wolves and half / halves.

4. Some words which end with letter o need es, others can be spelled either way. Tornados or tornadoes; but hero must be heroes; echo must be echoes. 

Let's look at words that end with an s-like sound. Say these words and hear the s-like sound at the end: bus, glass, fish, pinch, buzz, and box.

Let's look at box.  Add s and listen to your word: boxs. You would say boksssss. When you add es, your word sounds like box es; you heard the short vowel sound of e between the x and the s sound. 

Help your child hear the tiny difference between boxs and boxes; between busss and buses; between glassss and glasses. This tiny sound is the clue your child can give himself to remember to add e to words already ending with an s-like sound.

Notice face and place and fence end with an s-like sound. The e is already there, you say face / faces. Do you hear the little es sound? Yes.

Here are a few practice words: hiss, miss, wish, fish, dish, wash, smash, crash, rash, trash, squish, squash, push, bush, rush, pinch, bench, witch, switch, pitch, twitch, snitch.

Now try: buzz, fuzz, box, fox, ax, fax, tax, bus, fuss, class, toss, cross, boss, floss.

You might like to look at my books. I use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help add ed, ing  (orange flamingos on the cover).

Also, Instant Reading Help plus your child's grade level.  Or Instant Reading Help Vowels.

There is not enough time at school for children to get the practice they need in order to really learn these important lessons.  All my book are full of color pictures and teach through stories and practice pages. All books blend tricky phonics work into the lessons, as well as a special comprehension method.
Have fun reading with your child,  Mary Maisner