Present Progressive -ing
Practice the present progressive form: is/are + verb-ing.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Act the verb out, or point to someone doing it, and ask what is happening, rather than reading the sentence aloud. The question produces the structure; reading it produces an imitation. Vary the subject so the auxiliary has to change — the boy is against they are — because an is that never becomes are has not been learned. Eight minutes covers the twelve.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- HintStress the part of the sentence that changes, or point to the word ending.Log as cued
- Sentence starterSay the first half of the sentence and let the student finish it.Log as cued
- ModelSay the correct form in the whole sentence; the student repeats it.Log as cued
Adjust it
Give a sentence starter every time, and do fewer cards.
Ask for a new sentence of the student's own with the same form, with no card to lean on.
Matching IEP goal
Given sentence cards, Student will produce the target grammatical form in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve sentences in the present progressive: the boy is running, the girl is eating, they are jumping, the dog is barking, she is singing, we are playing, he is swimming, the baby is crying, the cat is sleeping, they are reading, Mom is cooking, the kids are dancing. Two parts have to be right — the auxiliary and the ending — and children usually get one before the other.
What to listen for
Listen for which half is missing. The boy running has the -ing and not the auxiliary; the boy is run has the auxiliary and not the ending. The first is far more common and is a normal early stage. Watch for the auxiliary agreeing with the subject: they is jumping is agreement rather than tense, and it is a separate target.
Carrying it home
Narrating what is happening supplies this structure constantly. I'm cooking, the dog is barking, you're reading — a running commentary during ordinary activity gives more models than any card set.
What's in this activity
- The boy is running.
- The girl is eating.
- They are jumping.
- The dog is barking.
- She is singing.
- We are playing.
- He is swimming.
- The baby is crying.
- The cat is sleeping.
- They are reading.
- Mom is cooking.
- The kids are dancing.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through third grade, and older students learning English as an additional language.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, all twelve sentences play free.
- My student says 'the boy running'. Is that a problem?
- It is a normal early stage — the -ing arrives before the auxiliary for most children. The target is adding the is or are, and recasting the sentence back in full is usually more effective than asking for a repetition.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.