Find about 10 age-appropriate, developmentally appropriate words. If your child does not have a spelling list, find a book your child can read on his/her own and choose your words from there. As a former educator, I can tell you that the simple act of studying a spelling list each week and then taking a test on Fridays does not make one a better speller. Nor does such study assist in learning to read or write--but using these words in context and manipulating them can.
Decide what you are going to teach. Are you going to teach "-ing" endings? Are you going to teach "-es" endings? What is your purpose for the lesson? To teach plurals? Tenses? Regardless, the lesson will be the same, and you will just choose different words and explain each concept you are teaching before you begin. For this lesson, let's use "-ing" endings.
Choose any 10 words with an "-ing" ending. You can do the same thing with words that have an "-ed" ending as well.
To begin your lesson, you will introduce your student to the word list. Write your words in large print on the whiteboard, paper or whatever you have put up and displayed prominently. Take an index card and on it write "-ing." Do this 10 times (or as many times as you have words). If you are using a wall, large paper or an easel, put clear tape on the back of your "-ing" cards. If you are using a white board, put a piece of magnetic tape on the back of your "-ing" index cards. We will use these as manipulatives later.
Take some tag board or other firm, stock paper and make puzzles. Write 1 base word on each card stock piece. Then make the same number of "-ing" endings on the same card stock. We will use these at the end just like puzzles.
Introduce your student to the word list. Read each base word aloud. The base word, of course, is the word by itself, without the ending. Discuss the meaning of it. You may want to spell it out loud and clap along with each letter. Kids adore clapping along or singing along while learning! You may want to discuss the meanings of the base words as a vocabulary review.
Now introduce your "-ing" card. Ask you student to come up and place the "ing" at the end of any word he chooses. Now read this new word together. Discuss its meaning. If you choose, act out this new word. It will often be a verb like "sleeping" or "jumping." Explain how 1 tiny little ending, made up of only 3 letters, can change the entire word!
Ask your student to come up and add the "-ing" index cards to the base words on the board. Then read all the new words in a list. Now ask you student to take the smaller puzzle piece base words and "-ing" endings and put together his own words on the floor or at the table. If you are working with more than 1 student, have them work as a team. Ask them to read them out loud to each other.
To assess this concept ask your student to come back up to your board area and brainstorm a new list of base words to which you can add this "-ing" ending. Write these words down in a list. Discuss them and then add the "-ing" ending and discuss the new meaning of the word. Act out the words if you can. Spell the words and clap along. The more you involve your students with song, chanting, clapping or music, the more enjoyable it will be, and the more they will learn!