CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.1b

ELA4th GradeConventions of Standard English

The Standard

Form and use the progressive (e.g., I was walking; I am walking; I will be walking) verb tenses.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students describe actions that were ongoing in the past, are ongoing now, or will be ongoing later. They combine the correct helping verb with a verb ending in -ing.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students form progressive verbs with the correct form of be and an -ing verb. They use was or were, am or is or are, and will be to show when an action is continuing.
Common Misconceptions: Students may omit the helping verb and write “I walking” or “I will walking.” They may also choose a helping verb that does not match the time, such as “Yesterday, I am walking.”
How to Assess It: Give students three prompts: yesterday, right now, and tomorrow. Ask them to write one sentence about reading for each time using a helping verb and an -ing verb.

Lesson moves

Give pairs past, present, and future timeline cards, then have them place sentence strips under the correct time.
Ask students to describe what they were doing before school, are doing now, and will be doing tonight.
Play tense charades, where one student acts while teammates answer using a progressive verb in the time shown on a card.
Students write a three-part weather report describing what was happening, is happening, and will be happening outside.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.1b, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

Learning progression

Mastery here sets students up for these next.

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