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Ing words for kindergarten


How to Teach Present Progressive “-ing” – Speech And Language Kids

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The present progressive “-ing” grammatical marker is the one we tack on the end of a verb to say that the action is currently happening. For example, we might say “he is running” or “she is flying”. When a child does not use the “-ing” ending on present progressive verbs, it can be hard for the listener to determine the exact meaning of the sentence and can make the child’s speech sound telegraphic or choppy.

First we need to teach your child to include the “-ing” on simple verbs. You will need a set of pictures of children or adults performing different actions. You can make your own by finding pictures online and printing them out or you can download mine for free:

Show your child one picture and say “what is she doing?” Your child should already know the name of the action that the person is doing. If not, go back and teach those first. Your child will probably say the action word without using the “-ing” on the end. For example, if you say “what is she doing?”, your child may say “sit”. Repeat the word back to your child but add the “- ing” to the end. You can say “Sitting. She is sitting.” Then, have your child repeat “sitting” back to you. Do the same thing for each picture. Model the correct “-ing” form of the verb for each one. As you continue to do this, your child should begin to include the “-ing” on some of them by herself. Once she can label the cards using an “-ing” ending, start asking her the same question about other pictures or real people. If you see someone at the park, ask your child “what is she doing?” and help her respond with the correct “-ing” on the end. The more places you can do this with your child, the quicker she will learn to use it and generalize it to other settings.

Now that your child knows how to use the “-ing”, let’s bump it up to saying it in sentences. Get out the action pictures you used from step one again but this time prompt your child with “tell me about this picture”. The response we are looking for now is a full sentence about what the person in the picture is doing. The first several times you do this, you will need to tell him the answer and let him repeat it back to you. He will be used to saying just the single word and it will take some practice to get the whole sentence out. If you know the name of the character or person in the picture, you can say her name when you describe what she’s doing, such as “Dora is jumping”. If not, you can say “he” or “she”.

If your child is having trouble with “he” and “she”, now would be a great time to work on those as well. Just make sure you don’t lose sight of whether your child is using the “- ing” on the verb. After having your child repeat the answer back to you several times, try asking him one and see if he will give you the whole sentence on his own. If he just tells you the name of the action again, you can prompt him by saying “use all of your words” and then get him started by saying “he…” and let him finish. Eventually, he should be able to create these sentences all on his own.

Your child is moving right along! Time to start working on using that “-ing” in conversational speech. Start listening to your child’s conversational speech and see if she’s using that great “-ing” yet. If she is already using it just from practicing those sentences, then you’re good to go! Chances are though, she’ll need a little more help to get there. Start correcting those “-ing” verbs when you hear her use them incorrectly in conversational speech. Start by just correcting about 10% of the errors you hear. This will ease her into being corrected without overwhelming her. Then, slowly increase the percentage of time that you correct her. As you increase the frequency of your corrections, she should also begin doing more on her own. By the time you’re correcting 80-90% of the errors you hear, she shouldn’t be making many errors anymore so you’re still only correcting her every once in a while. Keep doing this until your child is able to use the present progressive “-ing” in conversational speech about 80% of the time. After that, you can just monitor to make sure she doesn’t start forgetting again. If she does, get out some of these activities to practice as a refresher. Modification: If your child is having trouble with this, go back and practice using the “-ing” in pictures again every once in a while but still keep correcting her in conversational speech. This may give her the extra boost she needs to remember to do it more often. Use a variety of books and other media to give her plenty of different type of practice on this skill.

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Verb Flashcards

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He/She File Folder Game

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SLPCarrie2022-05-31T11:26:13-05:00

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Memorable Writing Lessons

What a grand time I have sharing multisensory and joyful writing-to-read lessons in local classrooms! An invitation a couple of years ago to write a song that teaches “i-n-g” was all I needed to create this sing, sign, and fingerspell song  There’s an “ing” in King: i-n-g. I have now expanded the lesson, and here is how I present it to the children.

Watch me present this strategy


taken from Nellie Edge Online Seminar (NEOS) #3

Kindergarten friends, let’s learn how to sing and fingerspell our King of “ing” song so we always remember how to write “ing” as a sound on the end of words such as: “going” and “playing. ” Help me think of other words that end in “ing.” I am ____ing.

Glimpses of the King of “ing” lesson: What do happy engaged learners look like?

Lesson Plan Suggestions:

  • Allow 30-35 minutes (preferably at the end of the day)
  • Volunteers prepare crowns with attached bands or separate bands and crowns ahead of time
  • Provide “ing” models at each table for any student needing visual support
  • Provide plenty of quality marking pens at each work table
  • Have transparent tape or staples available to attach crowns (you will need two adults helping fit crowns as kinders often finish about the same time)
  • Provide “ing” handwriting models for large group handwriting lesson (see free printable downloads)
  • Select the right Elephant and Piggie books for “ing” hunting (see recommended list). Attach a sticky note on one “ing” page, and give students more notes to attach under each “ing” word. How many can they find?

Suggested Sequence for King of “ing” Lesson

Take advantage of how the brain learns best: the brain creates multiple memory hooks through music, sign language, and emotionally engaging teaching.

  • First rehearse fingerspelling “i-n-g” repeatedly (This will be especially fun for the ABC Fingerspelling Experts in your kindergarten!)
  • Present a short focused “ing” handwriting lesson on a white board to reinforce the new learning while listening to the song. (Handwriting lessons simultaneously build reading and writing skills!)
  • Sing, sign, and fingerspell  There’s an “ing” in King song repeatedly. Sing fast with the music as a model. Then sing slowly to teach the song. Return again to the memorable music.
  • Invite children to use their detailed drawing skills to decorate crowns and write “ing” or King of “ing” on their crown. They can listen to the music and sing the There’s an “ing” in King song while they work. Have fun. Take pictures! Every crown will be unique.
  • When children finish their crown they can hunt for “ing” words in Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. (see list of best “ing” books)
  • Children can also find “ing” words on the walls: Notice the Reading Is Fun poster.

The transfer to writing is powerful once children have this song in their long-term memory!

  • One class decided:
    Let’s find 100 “ing” words: The 100th day of school is coming! (They actually found 106 “ing” words.)

Both less experienced writers and more proficient writers are proud to display their new skills during writing workshop.

This Is Always a Good Time for Another Short Focused Handwriting Lesson!
We simultaneously teach good handwriting motions with our high-frequency sight word lessons. (Learn more from Nellie Edge Online Seminars #2.)

Return to the Song Over and Over – All Week Long and Beyond

Literacy Connections

  • Intentional teaching is often close coaching: Keep asking individual children, And how do you fingerspell ‘ing?’ (They will automatically say the letter names while fingerspelling.)
  • And when someone says, I’m not the king, I’m the queen. You can respond, Oh yes! You’re the queen of the ‘King of ing’!
  • Enter into the playfulness and drama of royalty: when you tape the finished crown on each child’s head, graciously curtsey or bow down and say, I crown you King Joshua: the King of ing!
  • You can always draw a person wearing a King of “ing” crown.

Our goal is to transfer new skills to the reading and writing process.
Now find “ing” Words in Elephant and Piggie books.

Some Elephant and Piggie books feature many “ing” words: Time permitting, students can share their book and “ing” word with the class.

One child decided: Mo Willems probably learned about the King of “ing” when he was in kindergarten.

  • During Writing Workshop the children can yellow highlight or underline any “ing” word that they use. They are quite proud of their new writing skill and will quickly let everyone know “I remembered the King of “ing!”
  • Challenge the children to fingerspell “ing” and think of “ing” words as a ticket to go out to recess: Give me a word that ends with “ing!”
  • Present an interactive writing lesson and make an anchor chart.
  • Present a word family lesson with white erase boards: Write King, erase the “K,” and make the word sing. What letter do we need?


Each year the King of “ing” Lessons Inspires New Literacy Connections: Long Lists of Words, Class Books, and Powerful Memory Hooks. Forever!

This class book featured photos of the children “doing” kindergarten activities.

Build Vocabulary and Intentionally Create a Growth Mindset with Carefully Chosen Words
  • Why are you learning the King of “ing”?
  • Wow! How did you teach your brain to remember “ing”?
  • I crown you King of “ing”…I curtsey in honor of your royal majesty.
  • You focused and carefully wrote “ing” with good handwriting—it’s so easy to read your work.
  • Look at your crown! You really fancied it up: that is what kindergarten artists do!
  • Every crown is uniquely different. Tell me about how you designed your crown. What shapes did you use?
  • I bet you can go home and think of more “ing” words to add to our list.
  • Now you’ll always know how to write “ing”!

We Make Learning Visible by Giving Children Crystal Clear Learning Targets

Children deserve to know what the learning target is and how it will help them as a writer. This new learning immediately transfers to writing workshop for young writers, and writing teaches reading! (See introduction to lesson at the beginning of this blog.)

  • Give students their own copies of the “I Can Read” Anthology Page: There’s an “ing” in King.
  • Peruse NellieEdge.com Sight Word page for more video clips of memorable sight word practices.

This playful strategy is documented in Nellie Edge Online Seminar (NEOS) #3: Best Ways to Teach Sight Words.

The entire Sing, Sign, Spell, and Read! program is included as a FREE download, and incorporates fingerspelling strategies from NEOS #1 and handwriting from NEOS #2.

This year’s King of “ing” crowns were as detailed and well-loved as last year’s. Once again, the children simply did not want to take them off. The literacy skills that wrap their arm around this time of pure serendipity were memorable and filled with SMILES…

What Did We Learn?

  • Nothing lights up the brain like playing, singing, and signing. We need to infuse our literacy lessons with music, multisensory teaching, and playfulness.
  • Multisensory teaching through music and sign language creates powerful memory hooks.
  • Handwriting is best practiced in a meaningful context with real words and literacy events (not as isolated drill).
  • Phonics lessons with word families can be playful. (Some sounds are hard to hear and you need to remember them “by heart.”).
  • Kindergartners always love making crowns!
  • Writing teaches reading.
  • Intentional teaching is often close individual coaching: And how do you spell and fingerspell “ing?”
  • Best practices in kindergarten writing address multiple skills and differentiate learning through lessons rich in the arts!

ELA Kindergarten Common Core State Standards

Print Concepts
RF. K.1. Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.

  • Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.

Phonological Awareness
RF.K.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

  • Recognize and produce rhyming words.

Phonics and Word Recognition
RF.K.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

Conventions of Standard English
L.K.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

  • Print many upper- and lowercase letters.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
L.K.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

SL.K.5. Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
SL.K.6. Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

Resources