A Seven-Lesson Plan for Teaching the Simple Past in Grades 5-6

Seven lessons of about 35 minutes is enough to teach the simple past properly in Grades 5 and 6: one lesson for each of five topics, one for the project, and one for the learning check. Each lesson follows the same rhythm of 5 minutes to open, 20 to explore, and 10 to consolidate, so students always know what comes next.

What to prepare before lesson one

Print the student book for each learner, or the pages you plan to use, since the five modules also work separately. Keep the teacher guide beside you for the answer guidance and the short method notes. In the sequence below I use the Simple Past unit, which is built as five learning paths, and each path moves through the same four steps: understand, observe, practice, transfer.

Make a set of word cards for the verbs that come up: played, visited, walked, helped, went, saw, had. You will use them for support in several lessons. Also decide how you will display the illustration on each path without its title, because every opening depends on it.

• One student book per learner
• Word cards for the target verbs
• Each path's illustration, title covered
• The teacher guide, open at the answer page

Lessons 1 to 5: the five topics

Lessons 1 and 2: time markers, then regular verbs

Lesson 1, yesterday and time markers. Open by showing the illustration without its title. Students write two things they can see and one question. During the explore block they highlight the key idea, that the simple past tells us about a finished event, and talk through the example "Yesterday I visited my friend" with a partner. Then each student writes three true or invented sentences about yesterday on their own. Consolidate by comparing one sentence with and without a time marker and asking what the reader loses.

Lesson 2, regular verbs. The explanation covers -ed endings and the spelling change in stop and stopped. Task A asks students to complete four sentences using played, visited, walked, and helped. Use the consolidate block to sort a few extra verbs by whether the spelling stays the same or changes.

Lessons 3 and 4: irregular verbs, then questions and negatives

Lesson 3, irregular verbs. The book gives go, went; see, saw; have, had, and advises learning past forms in meaningful sentences rather than from a bare list. Task A is a three-sentence story using went, saw, and had. Ask partners to read each other's stories aloud and listen for the form, not the spelling.

Lesson 4, questions and negatives. The rule is did or did not plus the base form of the verb: "Did you go? I did not go." Task A turns two affirmative sentences into a question and a negative each. The teacher guide names the common slip in its sample answer, "Did you went?", so write it on the board as a counterexample during consolidation and let students correct it.

Students who need more repetition on the surrounding grammar can work through a Grade 5 grammar practice set during independent time.

Lesson 5: a short past-time story

This lesson pulls the earlier four together. The worked example is "First we walked. Then we saw a dog. Finally we went home." Students notice the order and the connecting words. Task A asks for six sentences about an invented day, followed by a check of every verb form. Give students a simple checklist: time marker present, regular verbs end correctly, irregular verbs checked, questions and negatives use did.

The transfer task works well here. Students compare their own situation with the example and say what is similar and what is different.

Lessons 6 and 7: project and check

Lesson 6: the project

Students choose one path and create an explanation for another student, with a heading, two examples, and a question of their own. The student book gives two pages, one for the plan and one for the finished piece. The teacher guide suggests a poster or a short presentation. Spend the opening five minutes on the criteria: accurate terms, well-explained examples, a meaningful question, a readable layout with a useful image, and feedback applied. Let students swap drafts in the consolidate block and revise once.

Lesson 7: learning check and reflection

The learning check asks for one sentence and one example for each of the five topics, plus one topic the student wants to practice. Treat it as feedback, not as a grade. Collect the "topic I want to practice" lines and sort them into piles. The piles tell you which mini-lesson to teach next week. Finish with the reflection page, where students tick whether they can explain a term, describe an example precisely, support an answer with reasons, ask an open question, and use feedback.

Adjusting the pace

If you have fewer than seven lessons, combine lessons 1 and 2, or run the project as homework. A class with more experience can skip the Observe page on a path and go straight to Task A. The unit page lists everything in the student book and teacher guide, which is useful if you want to check the pages before planning.

If your class also works on possessives and pronouns this term, the four-unit language bundle groups the neighboring units together.

Related reading from the Teacher Hub

• How to Teach Subject and Object Pronouns in Grades 3–6
• How to Teach Days, Months and Dates to ESL Newcomers