1st Grade · Core Spelling
Inflectional Endings: -ed and -ing
Twelve 1st Grade verb forms that preserve a base word while adding the stable endings -ed and -ing.
These spelling words are a good fit for students who...
- can find and spell the base word inside “jumped” or “jumping”
- notice that -ed sounds different in “jumped,” “called,” and “rested”
- are beginning to add -ed or -ing to a familiar base word, even if the base spelling sometimes changes by mistake
Word list
The 12 words to practice in this step
1st Grade · Core Spelling
- jumped
- jumping
- helped
- helping
- looked
- looking
- played
- playing
- called
- calling
- rested
- resting
12 words
Spelling Skill
Words Ending in -ed and -ing
Learn how this spelling pattern works, see examples, common mistakes, and teaching guidance.
Explore the Words Ending in -ed and -ing skill →Why these words — and what they teach
This list uses six familiar base verbs—jump, help, look, play, call, and rest—in paired -ed and -ing forms. Every base stays unchanged, so children can concentrate on finding the base and adding the ending. The pairs also show that -ed keeps one spelling even when it sounds /t/ in jumped, /d/ in called, or an extra syllable in rested.
The lesson follows plural endings because children have already practiced preserving a base word while adding a meaningful ending. It deliberately avoids bases that require doubling, dropping final e, or changing y; those spelling changes come later. Here the central habit is “spell the base, then add the stable ending.”
How to practice this list
Say a base word, then one of its longer forms: help, helped, helping. Have your child repeat the pair, write and box the unchanged base, and add -ed or -ing. Mix the two endings and the three pronunciations of -ed, always asking what word remains when the ending is removed.
Writing jumpt for jumped is a normal sound-based attempt: the child represented the pronunciation but not yet the stable grammatical ending. Confirm the heard sounds, return to jump, and add -ed as a unit. If letters in the base disappear or change, practice the base alone before reattaching the ending.
When your child can find and preserve each base word, add -ed or -ing without changing it, and correct a phonetic -ed attempt by returning to the base-plus-ending structure, they are ready for R-Controlled Vowels: ar / or.