Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
THE SPEL-LANG TREE: TRUNKS
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
THE SPEL-LANG TREE: TRUNKS
A Developmental Sequential Word Study Program
Second Level
Grace Vyduna Haskins
The JEP Foundation
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Johnsburg, Illinois
Copyright 1998 by Grace Vyduna-Haskins. All rights reserved.
Published 1998, 2002, 2006
Printed in the United States of America
Published by: Johnsburg Educational Partnership Foundation
2222 West Church Street
Johnsburg, Illinois 60051
Tel: (815) 385-6916
Fax: (815) 385-4715
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
To the children
and to those
who use this book
to teach them.
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
A special “Thank you” goes to Mrs. Valentine, third-grade
teacher at Mexican Hat Elementary School, Mexican Hat,
Utah, who asked me to design a lesson for her students, a
lesson which was the inspiration for this book. “Thank you”
also to my colleagues and friends at James C. Bush School
in Johnsburg, Illinois, particularly Sue Sund, a second-grade
teacher, who allowed me to ‘play’ in her classroom, to
Marlene McLane, a learning disabilities teacher, for her
valuable suggestions, and to Principal Hal Thompson for his
encouragement. “Thanks,” too, to Joy Shaw and Judy
Krueger, my ever-loving daughters, who collaborated to
create the cover design for my books.
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Contents
To the Teacher or “How to Use this Book” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
Resource Lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
Lesson Plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
Assessments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
Options for Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Personal Dictionaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Equipping the Student. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
Using the Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
Ongoing Instruction in Various Areas
Identifying parts of speech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Multi-meaning words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sentence building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sentence correcting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
5
5
5
Probable Developmental Sequence of Word Learning. .
7
Teach Through Direct Instruction
Three ways to identify syllables . . . . . . . . . . . .
Six kinds of syllables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Syllable composition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sight words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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8
9
9
Unit 1 (Short a words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10
Unit 2 (Short e words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19
Unit 3 (Short i words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
24
Unit 4 (Short o words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29
Unit 5 (short u words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
34
Unit 6 (vccvc and cvccvc words). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
38
Unit 7 (Words ending with –le) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
42
Unit 8 (Long vowel a_e pattern) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
47
Unit 9 (Long vowel ai and ay patterns) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
51
Unit 10 (Long vowel e and ee patterns). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
55
Unit 11 (Words with ea patterns) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
59
Unit 12 (Long vowel ie pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
64
Unit 13 (Long vowel o, o_e, oa and oe patterns) . . . . . . . . . . . . .
68
Unit 14 (Long vowel u-e, ui, and ue patterns). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
72
Unit 15 (Words with vowel team oo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
76
Unit 16 (words with vowel teams au, aw). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
80
Unit 17 (Words with vowel team ou). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
82
Unit 18 (Words with vowel team ow) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
84
Unit 19 (Words with vowel teams oi, oy). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
86
Unit 20 (Two- and three-syllable words ending with y). . . . . . .
87
Unit 21 (Words with vcvc and cvcvc patterns) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
89
Unit 22 (Words with ie and ei patterns) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Resource List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
92
140 High Frequency Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
101
Beginning Blends and Digraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
103
Word Families (Short vowels) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
104
Word Families (Long vowels). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
105
Ghastly Ghostly Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
106
Prepositions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
107
Contractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
108
Pronouns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
108
Compound Words and Look Alikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
109
Tab Design for Spelling Notebooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
110
Curriculum Links. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
111
Models for Poetry Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
113
Writing Check list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
114
Black Line Masters for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check . . . . . .
115
Forms 1-53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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To the Teacher or “How to Use This Book”
The Spel-Lang Tree: Trunks builds upon concepts taught in the first book, The Spel-Lang Tree:
Roots. It honors a known developmental sequence which children appear to pass through on their way to
becoming better spellers and readers (See p. 7). Word study begins with a review of short vowel patterns and
identification of words which, at first analysis by early readers, appear to contain short vowels but, under
closer scrutiny, fit more advanced patterns (i.e., r-controlled vowels and -all, -ay and -aw patterns). It then
progresses to the study of long vowel patterns and considers whether those patterns are consistent or if one
spelling may have several pronunciations. Children are taught to break longer words into syllables. Six
types of syllables are identified (See p. 8).
Several types of word study exercises have been included and, for the most part, appear in almost
every lesson. These include word hunts, identifying parts of speech, hunting for homophones and
homographs, increasing and applying knowledge of alphabetical order, using the dictionary to enrich
vocabulary, affixing base words, working with grammar concepts, and process writing. Teachers may not
want to use all of the exercises in each unit but should plan carefully so that all concepts are covered a number
of times throughout the school year.
The program places most of the responsibility for spelling development in the hands of the children
themselves but under the guidance of the instructor. This manual provides a list of 140 High Frequency
Words, as well as a Resource List compiled from grade level spelling recommendations and words from
appropriate subject matter. These can be used in different ways dependent on teacher choice and student
ability. Strong students will enjoy being able to enhance their own word-recognition and spelling strengths.
Average students will gain from playing with word patterns in an organized way. Less able students will be
able to achieve under the watchful eye of a resource teacher or private tutor.
Teachers may choose to rearrange the introduction of some units. For example, Units 6 and 7 which
deal with two-syllable patterns may be reserved for a time after long vowels have been taught.
Resource Lists
Many of the words in the Resource List of almost 1500 words appear in all high frequency word lists.
In addition, a number of words have been included to ensure coverage of short, long, and more complex
vowel spelling patterns. Others words have been drawn from various curricular areas. This list is included on
pages 92-100 in this manual. A checklist of High Frequency Words appears on pages 101-102. Lists of
beginning blends and word families can be found on pages 103-105. On page 106 is a list of a Ghastly
Ghostly Words, a limited number of words in our language in which gh creates unique spelling and
pronunciation patterns. Also see pages 107-109 for lists of prepositions, contractions, pronouns, and
compound words.
Lesson Plans
This book has been divided into units, each of which presents a vowel pattern or a pattern of word
structure. The units are subdivided into daily plans. In most cases, the first day will be a pretest. The second
day will provide for development of individualized word lists and a class assignment involving a search for
words. On the third day the students will break the lists of words they found into family patterns. They will
discuss these to see if words fit the pronunciation patterns. If they don’t fit, they are placed in parenthesis and
identified as sight words. The words can then be entered into forms in the students’ spelling notebooks.
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On subsequent days the children will reexamine their lists to hunt for parts of speech, select words to
find in dictionaries, add suffixes to words, and do a variety of writing and language exercises. While these
activities are noted as one day’s work, teachers may choose to spend additional time covering this material.
In most cases, the last day of each unit will involve a posttest. An assessment sheet is provided for each test
so the teacher can record exactly the types of errors children are making as they progress in spelling
development.
In addition to following the manual, individual teachers may choose to develop a master plan for each
day’s work. This plan should note items such as 1) Alphabetical order, 2) Dictionary work, 3) Parts of
speech, 4) Vocabulary expansion, 5) Grammatical concepts, 6) Process writing, and 7) Curriculum links.
While not all of these may be included each day , it will serve as a reminder that these areas need to be
covered and provide a checkpoint for coverage.
Ideas are provided to assist in creating links between word study and other areas of the curriculum.
Some word patterns tend to yield words which fit together in some way. For example, words with a single i
yield names of human body parts (i.e., hip, rib, shin, skin, thigh, wrist, fist), one of which must be classified as
a sight word. Some units suggest links of this kind.
The number of days per unit varies according to the number of words which fit a particular pattern.
Unit 1 will definitely prove to be the most cumbersome since it contains the largest number of words for any
vowel pattern . It also serves as the introduction to the type of activities provided throughout the entire book.
Once this unit has been completed, the students should progress easily through other word patterns.
Assessments
Assessments have been included for pre- and post-testing for the first fifteen units. These units
contain short and long vowel spelling patterns. It is generally felt that students at this level should not be held
accountable for more complex vowel patterns other than those contained in a limited number of high
frequency words. A list of 140 of these words, along with a check sheet for assessing individual mastery, is
found on pages 101-102. These pages may be duplicated and included in a child’s portfolio. The list is
leveled according to spelling difficulty and notes the units in which the words appear. There is space for
assessing each word on five occasions. Teachers are free to choose which words they want to emphasize at
any given time. Accurate trials may be noted from consistency of correct spelling in written work and/or from
specific testing.
Other spelling assessments should be taken from students’ process writing. At this level, every child
should be able to spell all two- and three-letter short vowel words, along with other short vowel words
containing consonant blends. They should be starting to use vowel teams and final silent e to write long
vowel words but should not have mastery of these at the beginning of the year. Be alert to how they are using
vowel teams. For example, a_e and ai are legitimate spellings for long a; ao is not a legitimate spelling. If a
child substitutes a homophone (homonym) for a word, simply advise him or her of the difference.
A student writing checklist can be found on p. 114. This can be used by students after they have
created a piece of writing and/or while conferencing with a friend. This checklist may be photocopied in an
unlimited supply and made available to students at all times.
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Options for Instruction
Some teachers may choose to develop a spelling program using words from the child’s reading and
curricular materials. In The Spel-Lang Tree: Trunks, options are given for selecting words in a developmental
sequence, making sure that all necessary vowel patterns are covered.
Option 1: Following the sequence offered in the lessons in this book, students will be able to hunt
through their daily reading materials to find and use appropriate words to build their knowledge of how our
language works. This activity will yield a long list containing a rich vocabulary. Many of the words found in
students’ texts may contain more than one syllable. This can create a problem when attempting to sort the
words into families. At the same time, it can provide an exercise in identifying base words within these
polysyllabic words. Use these base words to sort into families. The Resource List found in this book may be
used to add to the children’s lists to complete specific patterns contained in the lessons. Others may choose to
provide each child with a copy of the Resource List. Forms containing pattern grids are provided so children
may record the words they have found.
Option 2: A teacher may choose to work entirely from the Resource List, following the lesson plans
exactly as they are written. While the list appears long, children quickly become adept at finding specific
vowel patterns. Children may work alone or in teams with each child/team assigned to search two or more
pages of the Resource List. After the search is finished, each team can contribute to the overall discussion of
patterns found.
Option 3: Another way of approaching the task, especially with strong students, is to simply
provide the vowel pattern and have children brainstorm for words which fit the patterns.
Option 4: Those working with lower ability students may opt to use fewer words, choosing a
limited number from the words offered in the various lessons. For these children, some teachers find it
helpful to create a notebook with a separate page for each spelling pattern. To do this, use notebook dividers
to separate the major vowel divisions and put a tab on each page to indicate the word families within those
divisions as illustrated on page 110.
Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check
This standard method used in many spelling books can be adapted for individualized instruction. A
master sheet for this activity is included on page 115. Make a copy of this page for each child and encase it in
a vinyl sheet protector. A blackline master for insert sheets can be found on page 116. Duplicate and cut into
three sections. Write five words on an insert sheet, insert it in the blank space under the vinyl protector, and
have the children use crayon to practice writing their words on the vinyl protector and erasing them with
tissue or paper toweling. Children can then work in pairs to test each other for mastery. This testing should
take place at least every other day if not every day. As children master words, an insert sheet with new words
should be immediately inserted into their vinyl protector. All of these words should be entered into the
child’s Personal Dictionary.
Personal Dictionaries
Every child should have a Personal Dictionary. This can be as simple as 26 pages stapled together,
with an alphabet letter at the top of each page. Additional pages for beginning sounds ch, sh, th, wh may also
be included. Children will write, on these pages, words which they have previously misspelled or which give
them trouble. They may also add personal favorites, words which they use frequently in daily writing.
Another option is to include high frequency words which don’t fit regular pronunciation patterns. These may
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7) We use Jim and me instead of Jim and I if we have received something. (Mother gave candy to
Jim AND Mother gave candy to me SO Mother gave candy to Jim and me.)
8) It is not proper to use have and got together in a sentence because they mean almost the same
thing. (I have to go to school today. I got my pencil at the store.)
9) Gots is not a real word.
These are but a few of the possibilities for helping children improve their ability, not only to detect
errors in others’ writing but to see improvement in their own. As children become more proficient at sentence
building and sentence correcting, the modeled sentences should become increasingly complex (i.e., Danny
said, “Out in the garden, Kim, Pat, and Mel picked bright yellow flowers for Mom and me.”).
Plans for this kind of work should be included at least once each week.
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Probable Developmental Sequence of Word Learning
The Spel-Lang Tree is based on the premise that children learn to spell in a developmental sequence.
Most research suggests that children pass through specific stages on the road to becoming better spellers and
readers. All children pass through these stages although good spellers do it in ways that are not as evident as
the stages of slower learners. Most children first learn to spell single-syllable short vowel words, then begin
to look at within word patterns (long vowels and more complex diphthong and/or vowel digraph patterns).
Problems with syllable juncture (i.e., doubling of consonants after short vowels, deleting e before affixing
some long vowel words) become the next hurdle before mastery of polysyllabic words.
In the chart below, Difficulty Level 1 includes words with only one consonant following the vowel.
A consonant may or may not precede the vowel (i.e., cat, an, it). Difficulty Level 2 includes words with
consonant blends or digraphs preceding and/or following the single short vowel (i.e., black, chin, branch,
ink). It also includes words whose plurals are formed by simply adding s. Difficulty Level 3 includes base
words to which common suffixes have been added, sometimes creating an additional syllable (i.e., -ed, -er-, ing). Difficulty Level 4 includes polysyllabic and compound words. In addition to these levels, there are
several words which do not follow regular pronunciation patterns. Many of these will appear in the lessons
(i.e., was, is, full). These must be learned as sight words and will be placed in parenthesis as children meet
them in their word study activities.
Levels of Difficulty
Vowel Pattern
Short
Long
Complex
1
S
L
C
2
3
4
mat
bent
matted
mattress
bed
drips
betting
instructed
him
chest
chopper
chipmunk
like
homes
shaking
mistake
maid
trade
trainer
understood
seat
wreath
healed
reveal
loud
haunt
trawling
awful
lawn
clowns
owner
boundary
far
shark
thwarted
destroying
According to the chart, spelling instruction should generally begin at the upper left and progress in a
logical way toward the lower right. Words in the short vowel category, Difficulty Level 1, should be spelled
correctly by any child who has phonemic awareness and a knowledge of how letters represent sounds. Short
vowel words in Difficulty Level 2 require processing of all consonant sounds within each word, sometimes
requiring the stretching or slow pronunciation of a particular word in order to sort out its sequence of sounds.
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Around this same time children begin to be aware of vowel markers such as a final silent e and vowel teams.
Children need to learn which vowel teams are legitimate and which vowels never appear together to represent
a single sound. Also, many vowel teams such as ea may have many different pronunciations.
As children become more aware of words, they may internalize more advanced patterns on their own,
intermittently picking up knowledge of Level 1 complex vowels, Level 2 long vowels, or Levels 3 and 4 short
vowels, and gradually mastering syllable patterns until they are proficient spellers and readers.
Teach through direct instruction:
1. Three ways to identify syllables:
Breath – Saying a syllable involves a push of breath. Have children hold one hand very close to their
mouths as they slowly say (one word at a time) hap/py, smi/ling, fa/ces. They should be able
to feel a puff of air as each syllable is pronounced.
Clap – Have the children clap their hands softly, once for each syllable, as they repeat the words (one
at a time) hap/py, smi/ling, fa/ces.
Drop – The lower jaw drops as each syllable is pronounced. Have children hold the back of one hand
under their chins as they pronounce the words (one at a time) hap/py, smi/ling, fa/ces. This
appears to be the most reliable way to identify syllables.
2. Six kinds of syllables (VELCRO can be a mnemonic to help them
remember):
Vowel team syllables
These are often called diphthong syllables. Two vowels appear together and
have one sound or there may be a combination of vowels and consonants that
produce a vowel sound. These include simple vowel teams as ai, ea, oa, and
more complex combinations as oi, oy, ow, igh, eigh. These teams will occur
in the word hunts the children do in the units in this book. Some, like eigh,
should be posted via wall charts in second grade but students should not be
held accountable for these until third grade or later. Children need to become
aware that if the vowel teams are reversed, such as io in lion or ia in dial, the
word is divided into two syllables.
E – final silent e
These syllables include the most common long vowel spellings in onesyllable words (take, made, same). The final e is silent but children enjoy
thinking that e is a tricky letter who reaches around the preceding consonant
to pinch the first vowel, making it shout out its name. Teach this concept
thoroughly in second grade but realize that spellings of long vowel words
may also be dependent on vowel teams. Children also need to realize that
spellings may be dependent on meaning as in homophones (sale-sail, barebear).
‘Le’ syllables
An -le syllable usually occurs at the end of a word and, although the e
appears, there is no audible vowel sound. These syllables include ble (ta-
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ble), cle (un-cle), dle (pad-dle), fle (waf-fle), gle (wig-gle), kle (an-kle), ple
(ap-ple), sle (has-sle), tle (whis-tle) and zle (siz-zle). While children should
be introduced to this kind of syllable in second grade via word hunts, direct
instruction, or a list on a wall chart, they should not be held accountable for
these until fourth grade.
Closed syllables
A closed syllable always ends with a consonant, and the vowel has a short
sound. The first several units in this book will cover these in depth and
children should be held accountable for these spellings in all written work.
R-controlled vowels
An r-controlled syllable has one or more vowels followed by r which gives
the vowel a unique sound (Her first words turned our attention as we heard
about her journey to far ports.) These will be identified in second grade
through their appearance in word hunts but emphasis should come in third
grade.
Open syllables
An open syllable ends with a vowel which has a long sound (says its own
name). An open syllable may have a single final vowel such as in be or go,
or it may be part of a longer word (ta-ken, o-pen, tea-cher).
3. Syllable Composition
Syllables are composed of two parts unless they consist of a single vowel such as a in a-ble. In
closed syllables these parts are sometimes referred to as onsets and rimes. The onset is a beginning consonant
or consonant blend. A rime is a vowel plus an ending consonant or consonant blend. These vowel-consonant
combinations form word families (b-ack, bl-ack). The rimes in open syllables consist of only a single vowel
or vowel team (b-e, t-ea).
It will be helpful to have wall charts of beginning consonant blends and digraphs, as well as word
families, available to children to help them create written words as they learn to segment oral language.
Sample charts are found on pages 103-105.
4. Sight words
As children conduct word searches, either in their reading texts or from the Resource List, they will
encounter many words which do not fit regular pronunciation patterns. These must be learned as sight words.
They should place these in parentheses when recording words in their spelling notebooks. Many of these are
included in the lists of High Frequency Words on pages 101-102. Another group of sight words are the
Ghastly Ghostly words, words in which gh affects the vowel sounds. A chart of these words is found on page
106. You may want to create a wall chart for these or include the page in the children’s spelling notebooks.
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Unit 1:
(Short a words)
Day 1: Assessment 1 (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it in half, then in half again, to create four vertical sections. Reopen paper. Children are to write words
in the grids created by the guidelines and fold lines. If children work ACROSS the page, the words on their
papers will match exactly the configuration of words on the portfolio record sheet (next page), making
grading and recording much easier. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words in
the proper grids. Encourage the children to say the words quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure to
work ACROSS the page.
van
wax
flag
class
grand
path
act
black
sang
branch
strap
stand
drag
stamp
track
match
crash
scratch
thank
blast
glass
tap
trash
fact
Mother drives our van to the store.
We can wax the car to keep it shiny.
Our flag has thirteen stripes.
There are twenty-two children in our class.
We had a grand time at the party.
There is a path through the woods behind my house.
Picking up trash is an act of kindness.
I have a black dog.
We sang a funny song in music class.
We hung a swing on a tree branch.
My bookbag has a strap on it.
You might buy a hot dog at the concession stand.
I saw the children drag the huge box across the floor.
We need to put a stamp on a letter before we mail it.
A train moves along a track.
The man used a match to light the fire.
Two cars were involved in a crash.
When you have an itch, you may want to scratch it.
Be sure to thank people who do nice things for you.
A blast of cold air came through the open door.
John gave the thirsty man a glass of cold water.
I will tap you on the back when it is your turn to play.
Please put your trash in the waste basket.
It is a fact that 2 + 2 = 4.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so that there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s
papers and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into
portfolio.
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Spelling Unit 1:
Pretest
Post-test
Word list:
van
wax
flag
class
grand
path
act
black
sang
branch
strap
stand
drag
stamp
track
match
crash
scratch
thank
blast
glass
tap
trash
fact
Number of words spelled correctly (24) ________
Used appropriate vowel a (24) ________
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
bl (2) ______
br (1) ______
cl (1) ______
cr (1) ______
dr (1) ______
fl (1) ______
gl (1) ______
gr (1) ______
scr (1) ______
st (2) ______
str (1) ______ th (1) ______
tr (2) ______
Used correct ending blends and digraphs: ck (2) ______ ct (2) ______
mp (1) ______
nch (1) ______ nd (2) ______ ng (1) ______ nk (1) ______ sh (2) ______
st (1) ______
tch (2) ______ th (1) ______
ss (2) ______
x (1) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d f g h j k l m n p r s t v w x
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
Fair
Poor
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 1, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. Demonstrate to the children how they are to
write with crayon on their sheet protectors and how to erase with tissue or a paper towel. Make sure every
child has a word list in his or her sheet protector so s/he can work on these words during independent work
periods.
Introduce: Tell the children that this year in word study they are going to learn about syllables. Our speech
is made up of sounds and we can use letters to represent those sounds. By combining letters in various ways
we create syllables and words.
Demonstrate: Have the children pronounce several words to help them notice how many times the jaw
drops as each word is said. Demonstrate a two-syllable word such as open. Have the children say the word
while holding their hands under their chins. Since the jaw drops two times, this is a two-syllable word. Then
demonstrate a three-syllable word such as together. The jaw drops three times so this is a three-syllable word.
Finally, have the children say a short word such as man. Since the jaw drops only once, this is a singlesyllable word.
Explain: “A syllable can be a word or it may be a part of a word. Every syllable has a vowel sound. There
are six kinds of syllables but we won’t learn them all at once. For now, I’ll just tell you quickly about all of
them so you’ll know where we’re headed.”
Demonstrate on chalkboard: (The mnemonic spells VELCRO; you may change it to CLOVER or any
other acronym your class wishes to invent.) You may want to create a classroom chart for these.
V = vowel teams, words with letter combinations like ai, ea, oa, au, aw, ow.
E = long vowels with silent e at the end, as bake, hike, space, hole.
L = syllables that end with -le, as puddle, kettle, muscle.
C = closed syllables with one or more letters after a single vowel as bat, bath, help.
R = r-controlled syllables. When r appears after a single vowel, the vowel sound usually changes as
in car, her, bird, for, hurt.
O = open syllables. When there is no consonant after the vowel, the vowel usually says its name, as
in be, he, she, go, no.
Explain: “Today we’re going to talk about closed syllables. A closed syllable has only one vowel that has
one or more consonants behind it; for example, the word at (Write on chalkboard). The vowel sound \a\ is
represented by the letter a. After the \a\ we hear a \t\ , represented by the letter t. We call the consonant t the
back door because it stops the vowel from making any more sounds. It closes the vowel sound, making it a
closed syllable. The single vowel in a closed syllable usually has its short sound. A closed syllable may or
may not have one or more consonants in front of the vowel. For example, I can put a c or sc in front of at and
I get cat or scat. Cat and scat are words and they are also closed syllables.”
Brainstorm: Ask the children to brainstorm to recall any words that are closed syllables with an a in them.
Accept reasonable answers – hat, can, etc. List the children’s responses on the chalkboard. Verify that they
understand the concept of a closed syllable. They may or may not supply a list of words long enough to
proceed with sorting exercises. If they supply a long list with various word families, proceed to sorting
without hunting for more words. If their word list is short, ask them to hunt through any reading material or
the Resource List to find more words that fit the pattern.
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If you choose to use the Resource List, explain: “Today, I’m going to give you a long list of words,
nine pages in all. Wow! That’s a lot of words, isn’t it? If you start looking through them, I’ll bet you can
read and spell a whole lot of them already. Don’t worry if some of them look strange because you’re really
smart. We’re just going to play with this list, a few words at a time, and in a little while you’ll be reading,
writing, and spelling most of them.
“Today we’re going to look for two- and three-letter words that are closed syllables. In our word hunt we can
use only words with an a in them and they can have only one consonant after the vowel. Remember, the
word can have only one vowel and that has to be an a. Just start down the first column (Demonstrate) and
raise your hand when you find one. (The first one they find should be am, then an. Write the words on the
chalkboard as children identify five of them.) Now you are going to do a word hunt on your own. You can
work on it today and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
Do the ongoing search in any way you feel best for your class. At first it may be wise to do this as a
seatwork assignment. You can arrange students in pairs or small groups or have each child work individually.
You might want to break the Resource List into three segments and have a third of the class work on each
segment. If children work in pairs, arrange for a strong student to work with a slower one. Both children can
do the search but have the slower one can write the words, giving him or her extra practice in spelling the
words. Have the children save their lists for the next day’s work.
Words from the Resource List that fit the assignment include: (Words in parentheses have other than shortvowel pronunciations.)
am, an, as, at, ax, bag, bat, (bay), can, cap, (car), cat, dad, fan, fat, fax, had, has, hat, (jaw), (jay), lad, (law),
(lay). mad, man, map, may, nap, (pay), ran, rat, sad, sat, (saw), (say), tab, tag, tam, tan, tap, (tar), tax, van,
(was), (way), wax
Day 3: (Children will need Forms 1, 2, 3, 4, 21, 44, 45)
Prepare: Across the chalkboard, leaving ample spaces between them, write the letters:
b d g m n p r s t w y x
Sorting: Today the children will look at the lists of words that they put together yesterday and will sort
them into families according to the vowel and last letters. (Solicit words from children and either write them
or have children write them under the proper letter. If children have brainstormed their own lists or taken
words from reading texts, use the words they found. If you used the Resource List, your list should look
something like the following:)
b
d
g
m
n
p
r
s
t
w
y
x
tab
dad
had
lad
mad
sad
bag
tag
am
tam
an
can
fan
man
ran
tan
van
cap
map
nap
tap
(car)
(far)
(tar)
(as)
(has)
(was)
at
bat
cat
fat
hat
rat
sat
(jaw)
(law)
(saw)
(bay)
(day)
(jay)
(lay)
(may)
(pay)
(say)
(way)
ax
fax
tax
wax
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Explain: “Now that we have all the words in the list, how many word families did we find?” (12) “I see
some problems here . Can anyone tell me what seems wrong?” (The vowels don’t all represent \a\.. The
generality to be established here is that the final r places car, far, and tar into the r-controlled syllable group.
Tell the children that w and y sometimes function as vowels. Words ending with aw and ay need to be moved
into a separate list called vowel team syllables. Leave the was where it is but be sure to put a parenthesis
around it because it doesn’t fit the \a\ sound. This is one word that we simply have to memorize as a sight
word.
Have children enter words into grids on forms 1, 2, 3, 4, 21, 44, 45:
Most short a words go on Forms 1, 2, 3, 4. Children should attempt to enter these in alphabetical
order. Also note that on Form 4, under as(s), the children will enter the words as, has, and was,
placing parenthesis around these because at least one letter does not fit the standard pronunciation.
When a is followed by a single s, the s often takes the \z\ sound. These words may also be placed on
a sight word board in the classroom or entered into the children’s individual dictionaries. The
children should now be expected to spell these three sight words correctly in all written work.
Discuss -ay as almost always long a. These words go on Form 21.
Discuss the \ô\ sound. Words with aw spellings take the \ô\ sound and go on Form 44.
Discuss words with r-controlled vowel. The words from this lesson go on Form 45.
Explain: “The words in the ab, ad, ag, am, an, ap, and ax families simply spell themselves. If we say the
words slowly before we write them, we can use the letters which usually represent these sounds. Can you
think of any other words that fit these families?” (Encourage children to add words such as cab, bad.,tan, lap,
sat, lax.) “These are words which I will always expect you to spell correctly in your daily writing. As the
school year goes on, we’ll be learning more about other spelling patterns. Tomorrow we’ll be doing some
other things with these words and we’ll add more words to these families next week.”
Day 4:
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Have the children go back to their original word lists and work in pairs. Have
them underline all naming words (nouns) and draw a wavy line under all action words (verbs). They will
soon discover that some words can both name and show action (i.e., bat, can). They can mark these words in
both ways. Some words, like sad, may describe others (adjectives). The children can put a straight line under
and a dome over these. Some words may not fit any of these categories. Leave these unmarked.
Dictionary skills: Ask the children to look for the word can in their dictionaries. They should find three
definitions – ability or permission, a container, a process. Have them write original sentences using can with
three different meanings, (i.e., “I can have fun at recess. I drink pop from a can. Long ago people used to can
vegetables at home.”).
Sentence correcting and building: After the children have written their sentences, ask for a volunteer to
have a sentence copied on the chalkboard. Copy it exactly as the child has written it. Ask for volunteers to
offer suggestions for improvement. Is the punctuation correct? Are all words spelled correctly? Can we add
describers (adjectives) to make it more interesting. As an example, using the sentence “I drink pop from a
can,” ask questions such as, “What kind of pop was in the can? What color was the can? When do you drink
the pop?” The sentence can then be expanded to, “At lunch I drink grape pop from a shiny purple can.” In
this case a prepositional phrase has been added to establish a time. This is a good time to introduce
prepositional phrases in the form of little trains. The preposition is the engine pulling a string of words to
complete the phrase. Using the sentence writing guidelines on page 5, teach the children to write a
preposition on the engine, adjectives in the dome cars, and a noun (objects of the preposition) on the flat car at
the end. Select three or four of the children’s sentences to expand in this way.
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Day 5:
Explain: ”Today we’re going to make some longer words from the words on our lists. We’re going to make
some of the words mean people by adding er. We can tell what those people are doing by adding ing and we
can tell what they did yesterday by adding ed. We can tell if something becomes “more so” or “most” by
adding er and est. We can show ownership by adding ’s. For example, we can write, the cat’s mat. This tells
us that the mat belongs to the cat.” Go through the lists with the children. The rule that they need to learn
here is that when we use a suffix beginning with a vowel, there must be two letters between the two vowels –
except after the letter x. If there is only one consonant after the vowel, we have to double the consonant. This
is a good time to work on vocabulary expansion. For example, if children have eaten food which came in a
can, someone had to put the food there; that person is a canner. You might also want to talk about how verbs
change. I nap but he naps.
Words that can be affixed in this way are, in addition to children’s contributions, include:
they
bat
can
map
nap
tap
wax
he/she
bats
cans
maps
naps
taps
waxes
is/are
batting
canning
mapping
napping
tapping
waxing
past
batted
canned
mapped
napped
tapped
waxed
base
fat
mad
sad
adjective
fat
mad
sad
comparative
fatter
madder
sadder
superlative
fattest
maddest
saddest
noun
batter
canner
possessive
bat’s (wings)
can’s (lid)
map’s (lines)
napper
tapper
waxer
Discuss: Note that when -ing, -er, and -ed have been added to the base words, sometimes the final
consonant is doubled. If a word ends with a single consonant, it must be doubled (with the exemption of x
because it contains two sounds). If a base word ends with two consonants, the final consonant it not doubled.
A general rule to remember is that, if the base word contains a short vowel, there must be two consonants
between the first vowel and a suffix beginning with e or i.
Dictionary work: Have the children find the word bat in a dictionary. They should find at least three
definitions, “a club used to hit (noun), to hit (verb), and an animal (noun).” Another definition is “to wink”
(verb). Discuss the various meanings and how they could be used in sentences.
Written expression: Discuss paragraphs – a paragraph consists of several sentences about a single idea.
Model a short paragraph (i.e., I have a cat named Ambush. The word ‘ambush’ means to attack by surprise.
He was given that name because, when he was little, he liked to hide and then jump out of his hiding place
when someone walked by. When they are outdoors, cats often lie very quietly and wait for a bird or mouse to
come near. Then they will jump swiftly to grab a meal. Do you think Ambush is a good name for a cat?)
Have each child write a three sentence paragraph using the word bat. Save these paragraphs for the next day.
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Day 6:
Paragraph work: Ask for a student to volunteer to have a paragraph copied on the chalkboard. Copy this
exactly as the child has written it. Have students critique the paragraph for punctuation, spelling, etc. Make
sure every child has a chance to offer assistance. Are there run-on sentences where ‘and’ can be omitted and
periods and capital letters inserted? Critiquing two paragraphs will take up most of the allotted time. Move
directly to the next activity.
Explain: Today the children will brainstorm or hunt for longer words containing the single vowel a, using
beginning and ending blends. This assignment resembles the one from Day 2. Most children should need no
further direction. If you feel it necessary, you may choose to give the children a list of beginning blends and a
list of word families. However, a class chart of these should be sufficient (See p. 103-104). As soon as a few
examples have been given, allow the children to work either alone or in small groups or assign as homework.
Their lists will be discussed on the following day.
Day 7:
Discuss with the children the large number of word families they have found. Either have the children
rearrange their words into families as a small group project or make a chalkboard list similar to the one shown
below. Words which children may have selected from the resource list include (Some will reveal patterns with
variant pronunciations.):
add
bad
glad
had
lad
mad
sad
(all)
(ball)
(call)
(fall)
(hall)
shall
(small)
(stall)
(tall)
(wall)
am
clam
gram
slam
tam
an
can
fan
man
plan
ran
(swan)
tan
than
van
crab
grab
tab
back
black
pack
track
bag
flag
tag
act
fact
raft
calf
half
branch graph
ant
can’t
pant
plant
shan’t
(want)
cap
clap
map
nap
slap
snap
strap
tap
(bark)
(dark)
(lark)
(mark)
(park)
(shark)
(spark)
(chalk) bang
(talk) hang
(walk) rang
sang
ash
crash
trash
(wash)
(car)
(far)
(star)
(tar)
(card) (arm) blast
(hard) (charm) fast
(yard) (farm) last
(warm) past
(palm) (salt)
bank
thank
(barn) (starch) (sharp) ask
(yarn)
(hawk) (lawn)
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
and
band
brand
grand
hand
land
stand
(art)
(cart)
(dart)
(part)
(smart)
(as)
bass
class
gas
glass
grass
(has)
pass
(was)
at
bat
cat
fat
hat
rat
sat
that
(what)
(bay)
(clay)
(day)
(gray)
(lay)
(may)
(pay)
(play)
(say)
(stay)
(sway)
(tray)
(way)
camp
damp
lamp
stamp
(swamp)
catch bath
hatch path
match
(watch)
ax
fax
tax
wax
clasp bath
(wasp) path
jazz
Discuss: Note words which do not fit pronunciation patterns (i.e., want, wash, wasp, was, watch, what,
swan, swamp). What do these words have in common (They begin with ‘wa’, ‘wha’, or ‘swa’). Note that
when w precedes a single a, the vowel usually changes its sound. Note patterns ending with all, alk, alm, alt,
aw. The vowel sound also changes when l follows a single a. Note words ending with ar. This illustrates an
r-controlled vowel. Have children put parenthesis around all of these words. They will have to learn to read
and spell them as sight words. Add want, was, and what to the list of sight words the children are expected to
spell correctly in all written work. Save this list for the next day’s work.
Day 8: (Children will need Forms 1, 2, 3, 4, 21, 42, 44, 45, 46)
Forms: Have the children enter all short vowel words into the proper grids on Forms 1, 2, 3, 4. If they run
out of space for any pattern, flip the paper over and continue on the back side. Words ending with ay may be
entered on Form 21. When a is followed by lk, ll, lm or lt and takes the \ô\ sound, enter these words on Forms
42. Words ending with aw, awk, awl, and awn should be entered on Form 44. Enter r-controlled vowels on
Forms 45and 46.
Day 9:
High frequency words: am, an, and, as, at, back, can, dad, had, has, than, that (p. 101), all, call, part,
saw, says, want, was, what (p. 102)
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Ask the children to choose at least five words from their lists which name
something. Have them choose another five words which denote action. Have them find five words that
describe something. Combine some of these words to make sentences.
Affixing: s, es, ’s, er, ing, est: Choose one or two words to illustrate how to add suffixes to words from
this unit. Have the children look over their word lists and think about words which can be affixed. Give
preference to the children’s suggestions but a sampling of possibilities is listed below. After the teaching
exercise is completed, children may enter some examples in their spelling notebooks. They may create
columns on blank pages or you may reproduce Forms 52 and 53 for students to use.
They
add
pack
star
bag
He/she
adds
packs
stars
bags
Is/are
adding
packing
starring
bagging
Past
added
packed
starred
bagged
Base
trash
small
warm
black
Adjective
trashy
small
warm
black
Comparative
trashier
smaller
warmer
blacker
Superlative
trashiest
smallest
warmest
blackest
Noun
adder (snake)
packer
Possessive
packer’s
star’s (light)
bagger (at the store)
Process
blacken
Compound words: grandstand, backpack, catnap, handstand What do these mean?
Prepositions: after, all, as, at, past Have children make small cards with train engines for these, write
them in the engines, and place in envelope (See p. 5). Use these in creating phrases and sentences.
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Contractions: Which two words did you find that are contractions? (can’t, shan’t) From what words are
these contractions formed? (can not, and shall not) The words had not, has not, that is, was not and what is
also form contractions. What are they? (hadn’t, hasn’t, that’s, wasn’t what’s) May not becomes mayn’t.
Mayn’t is a word we don’t use very often. Students should create a “Contractions” page in their spelling
notebooks and include these on that page.
Pronouns: all, that, what When and why do we use pronouns? Help children create pairs of sentences
using these. Examples could be:
I saw Hal, Pat, and Pam at the playground. All of them are my friends.
I had a ride on the merry-go-round. That was fun.
What did you find? I found a penny on the floor.
Dictionary skills; vocabulary expansion: grand, palm Find palm in the dictionary. How many
different meanings can you find?
Have the children find the word grand in a dictionary. What does it mean? Write a sentence using the word
grand (i.e., I had a grand time at the party). Look at other words following the word grand. List all those
that could be members of a family (Words that might be found include: grandam, granddaughter, grandaunt,
grandbaby, grandchild, granddad, granddaddy, grandfather, grandma, grandmother, grandnephew,
grandniece, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, granduncle.) What are three other words for grandchild?
(grandson, granddaughter, grandbaby) Name all the words for grandfather. (granddad, granddaddy,
grandfather, grandpa) Name all the words for grandmother. (granddam, grandma, grandmother)
Have children select five words from the “grand” list and write a sentence including each (i.e., “My
grandmother has three granddaughters at our school.” or “My grandfather’s name is Al.”) Suggest that they
try to add prepositional phrases, using after, at, and/or past to make their sentences more interesting. Save
sentences for the next day’s work.
Day 10:
Sentence correcting and building: (See p. 5) Work on sentences the children wrote using the word
grand. Choose students who have not yet had an opportunity to have their work critiqued.
Day 11:
Posttest. Re-administer Assessment 1. Score and record as before.
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Unit 2:
(Short e words)
Day 1: Assessment 2: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Encourage the children to say the words quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure
to work ACROSS the page.
web
hen
felt
edge
stamp
check
dress
spent
shelf
left
bench
blast
them
fetch
spell
when
rest
track
held
next
blend
help
scratch
sled
A spider spins a web.
A mother chicken is a hen.
The little boy felt sad when he was left alone.
The ball rolled off the edge of the table.
We need to put a stamp on a letter before we mail it.
Please check to make sure you have all of your books.
You need to dress warmly on cold days.
I spent all of my allowance on books.
Be sure to put your hat on the shelf.
Mary left home at seven o’clock this morning.
You may sit on the bench on the playground.
I jumped when I heard the blast of the horn.
I saw them at school yesterday.
I threw a stick and my dog went to fetch it.
It is good to be able to spell words correctly.
I will tell you when it is time for lunch.
In warm climates, people rest during the hottest part of the day.
A train moves along a track.
The child held a toy in his hands.
We will repeat this test next week.
When we have two consonants at the beginning of a word, we have to blend them together.
It is always good to help a friend.
If you have an itch, you may want to scratch it.
We went down the snowy hill on a sled.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Spelling Unit 2:
Pretest
Post-test
Word list:
web
hen
felt
edge
stamp
check
dress
spent
shelf
left
bench
blast
them
fetch
spell
when
rest
track
held
next
blend
help
scratch
sled
Number of words spelled correctly (24) ________
Used appropriate vowel a (4) ______
e (20) ________
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
bl (2) ______
ch (1) ______ dr (1) ______
scr (1) ______ sh (1) ______
sp (2) ______
st (1) ______
tr (1) ______
Used correct ending blends and digraphs:
ch (1) _____
ck (2) ______
dge (1) _____
ft (1) ______
ll (1) ______
lp (1) ______
lt (l) ______
ss (1) ______
st (2) ______
tch (2) ______
th (1) ______
sl (1) ______
wh (1) ______
ld (1) ______ lf (1) ______
mp (1) ______ nd (1) _____
nt (1) ______
xt (1) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d e f g h k l m n p r s t w x
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Fair
Poor
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 2, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. (See instructions on p. 3.)
Explain: Today the children will brainstorm, then hunt either in their reading materials or the Resource List
for words containing the single vowel e, using single consonants as well as beginning and ending blends.
They are to find words that are composed of one closed syllable. Children will most likely include rcontrolled words or those ending with ew and ey. Most children should need no further direction. Again, if
you feel it necessary, you may choose to give the children a list of beginning blends and a list of word
families. However, a class chart of these should be sufficient. They may work individually or in small
groups to find words. Have the children save their lists for the next day’s work.
Day 3:
Discuss with the children the word families they have found. Either have the children rearrange their words
into families as a small group project or make a chalkboard list similar to the one shown below. Words which
children may select from the resource list include (Some will reveal patterns with variant pronunciations.):
Sort: Words which children may select from the resource list include:
check bed
edge beg
deck fed
hedge egg
neck (he’d)
leg
red
(she’d)
sled
(we’d)
bell
cell
fell
sell
shell
smell
spell
tell
well
yell
belt
felt
knelt
melt
den
hen
men
pen
ten
then
when
wren
web
left
held
self
shelf
stem
them
bench desk
wrench
elk
elm
help
length fetch
blend
end
send
bent
cent
rent
sent
spent
tent
went
dress
less
yes
best
chest
nest
rest
test
vest
west
bet
get
jet
let
met
net
pet
set
wet
yet
(her) (verb) (perch) (germ) (fern)
(hers)
(blew)
(dew)
(dew)
(few)
(flew)
(grew)
(new)
(knew)
(key)
(they)
next
Discuss: Did the children find any words with variant vowel pronunciations? (r-controlled, ey, and ew
families) Did they find any silent letters? (wrench, knelt) Assist them in thinking about the word wrench. A
wrench helps a person turn something. Words that begin with wr usually describe a twisting or turning
motion. Have students save their lists until the next day.
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Day 4: (Students will need Forms 5, 6, 7, 8, 21, 24, 36, 47)
High frequency words: get, help, red, them, then, went (p. 101) her, new, they, when (p. 102)
Forms: Have children enter words from Day 3 on Forms. They should arrange as many of these in
alphabetical order as possible. Short e words go in grids on Forms 5, 6, 7, 8. Enter they on Form 21 and key
on Form 24. Enter -ew words on Form 36. Enter -er words on Form 47.
Day 5:
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Have the children work in pairs to underline nouns, put wavy lines under verbs,
and put a line under and a dome over adjectives. After a brief work period, discuss these words with them.
Have children choose 5 nouns, 5 verbs, and 5 adjectives from their lists. Have them attempt to combine these
to make sentences.
Affixing: (s, es, ‘s, er, ing, est, en) As before, have children suggest words which they think can be
affixed. Examples are provided below. Children may add some of these to their spelling notebooks.
they
spell
melt
rent
bench
blend
dress
wrench
he/she
spells
melts
rents
benches
blends
dresses
wrenches
is/are
spelling
melting
renting
blending
dressing
wrenching
past
spelled
melted
rented
benched
blended
dressed
wrenched
base
wet
smell
fast
adjective
wet
smelly
fast
comparative
wetter
smellier
faster
superlative
wettest
smelliest
fastest
noun
speller
possessive
speller’s (list)
renter
renter’s (things)
bench’s (legs)
blender
dresser
dress’s (sleeve)
process
fasten
Creating two-syllable words (cvccvc): Notice what happens to words like melted, renter, rented, wetter.
When suffixes beginning with a vowel are added, these become two-syllable words.
Dictionary: perch, wrench Have the children find perch in the dictionary. It becomes a verb (bird will
perch) or nouns with completely different meanings (stick on which bird perches) and (fish). As a noun,
wrench can be a sudden hard twist or turn or it may be a tool. As a verb it means to pull or turn suddenly with
force. They may also write sentences using perch.
Homophones: Homo means ‘alike’; phone means ‘sound’. In this unit they may find cent-sent and newknew. Students may create a page for homophones (homonyms) in their spelling notebooks. The children
may also write sentences using the homophones cent-sent and new-knew (i.e., I put a one-cent coin in a letter I
sent to my friend. I knew we had a new student in our class).
Pronouns: them, then, when, her, hers, they, he’d, she’d, we’d, herself. Discuss these and have the
children write a sentence about a person or people. Write another sentence using a pronoun to represent them
(i.e., Bob and Mary went to the store. We saw them there.)
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Compound words: herself
Contractions: let’s, he’d, she’d, we’d, they’d, they’ll, they’re, they’ve How many contractions can be
found in students’ lists? How many others can be made from they? (they’ll, they’re) From he? (he’ll, he’s)
From she? (she’ll, she’s) From we? (we’ll, we’re) Write two or more related sentences. The first sentence
should use names and the second sentence should use contractions and pronouns. Have them incorporate
words in series as, “Jack, Ann, Sam, and Beth went to the store. They’ll get things for school there. They’re
getting ready for second grade. They’ve finished summer vacation at camp. They’d all had a good time there.
Jack bought a pencil. He’d broken his last one. Beth bought crayons. She’d lost hers at camp.”
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 6: Posttest
Re-administer Assessment 2. Score and record as before.
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 3:
(Short i words)
Day 1: Assessment 3: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Encourage the children to say the words quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure
to work ACROSS the page.
thick
spring
shift
bridge
drink
skin
pink
inch
sniff
fix
chill
swing
milk
wish
quit
grand
bench
hatch
spell
glass
help
best
strap
gift
There was a thick layer of ice on the ground.
The weather will get warmer in spring.
I felt the wind shift direction.
Water flows under the bridge.
We will drink milk with our lunch.
Your skin covers your body.
You have a pink crayon.
Sometimes we go forward only an inch at a time.
A dog will sniff its food before it eats.
We can fix the broken toy.
In fall there is a chill in the air.
We hung a swing from a tree branch.
We will drink milk with our lunch.
I wish I had more time.
We will quit working at three o’clock.
We had a grand time at the party.
You may sit on the bench on the playground
A chicken will hatch from this egg.
You will soon spell all of these words correctly.
He gave the thirsty man a glass of cold water.
May I help you find your coat?.
You are the best class ever.
My bookbag has a strap on it.
You often take a gift to a birthday party.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 3:
Pretest
Post-test
Word list:
thick
spring
shift
bridge
drink
skin
pink
inch
sniff
fix
chill
swing
milk
wish
quit
grand
bench
hatch
spell
glass
help
best
strap
gift
Number of words spelled correctly (24): ________
Used appropriate vowel:
e (4) ______
i (16) ______
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
br (1) ______
ch (1) ______ dr (1) ______
gl (1) ______
sk (1) ______
sn (1) ______
gr (1) ______
a (4) ______
sh (1) ______
sp (1) ______
spr (1) ______ str (1) ______ sw (1) ______ th (1) ______
Used correct ending blends and digraphs:
ck (1) ______
dge (1) ______ ff (1) ______
ft (2) ______
lp (1) ______
nch (2) ______ nd (1) ______
ss (1) ______
st (1) ______
lk (1) ______
ll (2) ______
ng (2) ______ nk (1) ______ sh (1) ______
tch (1) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d e f g h i k l m n p r s t x
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
Fair
Poor
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Day 2
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 3, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Explain: Today the children will brainstorm or hunt for words, either in their reading materials or the
Resource List, containing the single vowel i, using single consonants as well as beginning and ending blends.
Most children should need no further direction. Again, if you feel it necessary, you may choose to give the
children a list of beginning blends and a list of word families. However, a class chart of these should be
sufficient. Have the children save their word lists for the next day.
Day 3:
Discuss with the children the word families they have found. Either have the children rearrange their words
into families as a small group project or make a chalkboard list similar to the one shown below. Words which
children may select from the resource list include (Some will reveal patterns with variant pronunciations.):
Sort: Words which children may select from the resource list include:
chick
pick
quick
sick
stick
thick
did
hid
kid
lid
slid
gift
lift
shift
swift
big
dig
pig
twig
wig
(fight) bill
(light) chill
(might) fill
(night) gill
(right) hill
(sight) ill
(tight) mill
spill
still
will
chin
fin
grin
in
pin
shin
skin
thin
twin
win
(find)
(kind)
(mind)
wind
bring
king
ring
sing
spring
string
swing
thing
wing
drink
ink
link
mink
pink
sink
think
wink
chip
dip
drip
hip
lip
rip
ship
skip
trip
(his)
(is)
miss
this
fit
hit
it
quit
sit
(bird) (dirt) dish
(third) (shirt) fish
(skirt) wish
fist
list
wrist
itch
hitch
fix
six
rich
if
which sniff
(high) (child) milk
(thigh) (wild) silk
finch
inch
hint
(pint)
rib
him
(fir)
(birch) (girl) (first)
width
shrimp disk
its
with
Discuss: Which words don’t fit the pronunciation pattern? (find, kind, mind, and sometimes wind, also
pint, igh patterns, and r-controlled vowels. Were there any words beginning with wr? (wrist) Remember
that to use a wrench involves using a twisting or turning motion. Is that true with wrist? (Yes) Most short
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
vowel words which end with the \ch\ sound need another consonant before ch. These words may end with
lch, nch, rch or tch. Find words in the lists that end with tch. (itch, hitch) Find two words that use only ch to
represent this sound. (rich, which) There are only five short vowel words in our language which do not use
the tch spelling. These are rich, which, such, much & touch.
In which words does the s represent the \z\ sound? (his, is)
Day 4: (Children will need Forms 9, 10, 11, 12, 29, 49)
Forms: Have children enter words on Forms. They should attempt to write these in alphabetical order.
Short i words go on Forms 9, 10, 11, 12. Tell the children that there are two more words to include on Form
9. These are ridge and bridge. Help children to understand that, after short vowels, the \j\ sound is spelled
dge. Words ending with -igh and -ight,go on Form 29. Words ending with -ild and -ind may also go on Form
29. Words containing -ir go on Form 49.
Day 5:
High frequency words: big, did, him, his, if, in, is, it, its, this, which, will, with (p. 101). find, first, might
(p. 102)
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Find at least five words that name an object. Find five words that show action.
Find five words which describe something. Write a sentence using some of the words: (i.e. I can lift the lid of
the tin can and use a thick stick to pull out a big fish.) Draw a picture to illustrate your sentence.
Affixing words: (s, es, ‘s, er, ing, est)
they
pick
fish
he/she
picks
fishes
is/are
picking
fishing
past
picked
fished
noun
picker
fisher
base
big
swift
sick
adjective
big
swift
sick
comparative
bigger
swifter
sicker
superlative
biggest
swiftest
sickest
process
possessive
fish’s (gills)
sicken
Note that after fish, ones needs to add es to form the plural. This creates a two-syllable word and es is used
with short vowel words ending with ch, sh, and s or ss.
Compound words: itself, himself, catfish, catbird, tonight
Pronouns: his, it, its, this, which, Discuss these pronoun and demonstrate their use. Have children write a
sentence; then write a second sentence using it in place of the noun (i.e., The cat is funny. It chased my ball
of yarn. OR I lost my pencil. I left it on my desk.). They may write additional pairs of sentences using the
other pronouns.
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Contractions: Which words can you combine with the word not and then take away a letter to form a
contraction? (did, is) Which letters do you take away? (o) What do you put in its place? (’) For example:
did not = didn’t, is not = isn’t. Other contractions are formed by combining words and leaving out letters.
How many contractions can be made from the word it? (it would = it’d, it will = it’ll, it is = it’s) From
might? ( might not = mightn’t, might have = might’ve) Discuss with the children the fact that we often hear
people say might of when in reality they are saying might’ve. The sentence, “I might have gone,” becomes “I
might’ve gone.” While we seem to hear might of, we need to remember that this is a contraction which needs
to be spelled correctly.
Prepositions: amid, behind, in, with, within Have children draw train engines on cards, print the words
on the engines, and insert them into their envelopes of prepositions. Use these in sentence writing activities.
Dictionary: swift How many definitions can they find for this word? What parts of speech do these
definitions represent?
Homograph: ‘Homo’ means ‘alike’ and ‘graph’ means ‘to write’. This means that words can be written in
the same way but have two different pronunciations. What word in this unit has two pronunciations? (wind)
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Curriculum Links: Which words in this unit can be parts of your body? (hip, lip, rib, shin, skin, thigh,
wrist, fist) Go back to your a and e words to find other parts of your body. Possibilities include: arm, back,
calf, fat, hand, palm, cell, chest, leg, neck. Have children draw pictures of a body and label all of the parts
they can write.
Day 6:
Posttest: Re-administer Assessment 3. Score and record as before.
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 4:
(Short o words)
Day 1: Assessment 4: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Encourage the children to say the words quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure
to work across the page.
block
dog
strong
drop
grass
frost
think
hot
job
rod
shell
rock
off
soft
pond
on
twin
toss
catch
cloth
box
bench
smog
song
We ran around the block.
I have a dog for a pet.
He is a very strong animal.
A drop of rain fell from a cloud.
In summer the grass is green.
On fall mornings the grass may be covered with frost.
You need to think about each word before you write it.
Never touch a hot pan.
You are doing a good job.
You fish with a rod and reel.
A turtle has a shell.
The turtle will sun himself on a rock.
Please turn off the light.
My pillow is very soft.
Frogs live in the pond.
Please turn on the light.
I have a twin sister.
You can toss the ball to me.
I will catch it.
Your clothes are made from cloth.
Put your work in this box.
You can sit on a bench on the playground.
A mixture of smoke and fog is called smog.
We will sing a song.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
29
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 4:
(Circle) Pretest
Word list:
block
dog
strong
drop
grass
frost
think
hot
job
rod
shell
rock
off
soft
pond
on
twin
toss
catch
cloth
box
bench
smog
song
Number of words spelled correctly (24): ________
Used appropriate vowel
e (2) ______
i (2) ______
o (18) ______
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
bl (1) ______
cl (1) ______
dr (1) ______
fr (1) ______
sm (1) ______ str (1) ______ th (1) ______
gr (1) ______
a (2) ______
sh (1) ______
Used correct ending blends and digraphs:
ck (2) ______
ff (1) ______
ft (1) ______
ll (1) ______
nch (1) _____ nd (1) ______ ng (2) ______ nk (1) ______ ss (2) ______
st (1) ______
tch (1) ______ th (1) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t x
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Fair
Poor
Posttest
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 4, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Explain: Today the children will brainstorm or hunt, either in their reading materials or in the Resource List,
for longer words containing the single vowel o, using single consonants as well as beginning and ending
blends. If they use the brainstorm technique, they may want to refer to the chart of beginning and ending
blends. Have children save their lists for the next day’s work.
Day 3:
Discuss with the children the word families they have found. Either have the children rearrange their words
into families as a small group project or make a chalkboard list similar to the one shown below. Words that
children may select from the resource list include (Some will reveal patterns with variant pronunciations.):
Sort: Words which children may select from the resource list include:
block
clock
lock
rock
sock
clog
dog
fog
frog
log
smog
(cold)
(fold)
(gold)
(hold)
(mold)
(old)
(told)
on
(son)
(ton)
(won)
long
song
strong
thong
job
rob
odd
rod
(of)
off
golf
doll
(wolf) (roll)
soft
oh
(comb) pond
crop
drop
hop
shop
stop
top
(corn)
(horn)
(thorn)
(torn)
(fort)
(short)
(sort)
(sport)
from
(don’t) (for)
(whom) front (or)
(won’t)
cross
loss
moss
toss
cost
frost
(ghost)
lost
(most)
dot
got
hot
knot
lot
not
plot
spot
(blow) (brown)
(bow) (bow)
(crow) (cow)
(grow) (crown)
(know) (down)
(low) (drown)
(own) (how)
(row) (now)
(show) (town)
(shown)
(slow)
(snow)
(work) (form) (north) (both) (boy)
(stork) (storm)
cloth (joy)
(worm)
moth (toy)
month (who’s) (word) (world) (crowd) (bowl) box
(owl) fox
Discuss: Which words don’t fit the pronunciation pattern? (All old, or, ow, and oy words; of is a sight
word which must be memorized. Both, wolf, whom, and comb are irregular higher-level sight words. Don’t,
won’t and who’s are contractions.) Even after word families have been worked out, the ow words need to be
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separated into pronunciation patterns. The homograph bow fits both pronunciations. Look at the words
word, work, world, worm; when w comes before or, the o often takes the schwa sound.
Day 4: (Students will need Forms 13, 14, 15, 30, 33, 34, 41)
Forms: Have children enter words into grids. They should attempt to write these in alphabetical order.
Short o words will go on Forms 13, 14, and 15. Words containing old and -olf will go on Form 30. Words
containing or will go on form 34. Words containing ow need to be divided into sound patterns and written on
forms 33 and 41. Be sure to put parenthesis around words that do not fit standard pronunciation patterns.
Save the revised lists for the next day’s work.
Day 5:
High frequency words: got, long, mom, not, on (p. 101) down, of, old, or, for, from, how, know, most,
now, word (p. 102)
Curriculum links: Consider doing a session using weather words: fog, smog, cold, frost, hot, blow, snow
low (temperature). What other weather words do they know? Make available and/or read weather books to
children. Write a story about the weather, using several words from this unit.
Homophones: knot-not Create a sentence using both of these words.
Homograph: bow What are its two pronunciations?
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Find five of each. Combine some of these to write sentences.
Affixing: s, es, ‘s, er, ing, est
they
hop
cross
mow
he/she
hops
crosses
mows
is/are
hopping
crossing
mowing
past
hopped
crossed
mowed
base
smog
moss
knot
adjective
smoggy
mossy
knotty
comparative
smoggier
mossier
knottier
superlative
smoggiest
mossiest
knottiest
noun
hopper
mower
Compound words: Have children try to find words which can be combined with earlier words to create
compound words such as nothing, popcorn, sandbox, snowstorm, bowknot
Contractions: If children have included who’s, don’t and/or won’t in their Resource List search, this is a
good time to talk about these. Who’s combines who and is, omitting the i. Don’t simply omits the o but
won’t combines the two words will and not, rearranges letters, and needs to be memorized as a contraction.
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Prepositions: of, off, on, onto, for, along, across, among. Have children draw train engines on cards, print
the words on the engines, and insert them into their envelopes of prepositions. Use these in sentence writing
activities.
Dictionary: block, rod, cross. Have children look for one or more of these words in the dictionary. Talk
about the different meanings of each word. Have children measure 16.5 feet on classroom floor as distance
measure for rod. Write a sentence using two or more meanings of a single word.
Usage: Note that got is an overused word. Explain to the children that have and got have similar meanings.
Either we already have something or we recently got it. These two words should not be used in the same
sentence except in the combination have gotten.
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 6:
Posttest: Re-administer Assessment 4. Score and record as before.
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 5:
(Short u words)
Day 1: Assessment 5: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Encourage the children to say the words quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure
to work across the page.
lunch
drum
brand
much
moth
tusk
edge
hunt
bulb
quick
hut
skull
string
dust
chest
thrush
bug
fun
wax
truck
just
mud
clock
cup
You may have a sandwich for lunch.
In a band, the beat of the drum keeps the time for the other players.
What brand of toothpaste do you use?
We have much work to do.
A moth is an insect.
The elephant has a long tusk.
Can you make a penny stand on its edge?
Cats like to hunt for their food.
I planted a tulip bulb in the ground.
Mother made a quick stop at the grocery store.
In hot countries a family may live in a mud hut.
Your skull is part of your head.
You can put beads on a string.
The wind blew dust onto the window sill.
Your heart is located inside your chest.
A thrush is a kind of bird.
An insect is sometimes called a bug.
We had fun at the zoo.
We wax the car to keep it shiny.
A gravel truck went down the highway.
There are just (two) days until the weekend.
Water and dirt combine to make mud.
You use a clock to tell the time.
The recipe calls for one cup of sugar.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
34
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Spelling Pretest 5:
Word list:
lunch
drum
brand
much
moth
tusk
edge
hunt
bulb
quick
hut
skull
string
dust
chest
thrush
bug
fun
wax
truck
just
mud
clock
cup
Number of words spelled correctly (24): ________
Used appropriate vowel: a (2) ______ e (2) ______
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
dr (1) ______
sk (1) ______
i (2) ______
br (1) ______
o (2) ______
u (16) ____
ch (1) ______ cl (1) ______
str (1) ______ thr (1) ______ tr (1) ______
Used correct ending blends and digraphs:
ch (1) ______ ck (3) ______
dge (1) ______
lb (1) ______
ll (1) ______
nch (1) _____ nd (1) ______ ng (1) ______ nt (1) ______
sh (1) ______
sk (1) ______
st (3) ______
th (1) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u w x
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
Fair
Poor
35
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 5, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Explain: Today the children will brainstorm or hunt for longer words containing the single vowel u, using
beginning and ending blends. Most children should need no further direction. If they use the brainstorm
technique, they may want to refer to the chart of beginning and ending blends. Have the children save their
lists for the next day’s work.
Day 3: (Students will need Forms 16, 17, 18, 39, 50)
Discuss with the children the word families they have found. Either have the children rearrange their words
into families as a small group project or make a chalkboard list similar to the one shown below. Words that
children may select from the resource list include (Some will reveal patterns with variant pronunciations.):
such
much
duck
luck
truck
bud
mud
bug
hug
rug
(bull)
(full)
gull
(pull)
skull
drum
rub
shrub
bulb
bulk
jump
pump
bunch lung
lunch
fun
run
sun
cup
up
skunk hunt
trunk
bus
plus
us
(bush) husk
(push) tusk
rush
thrush
dust
just
must
rust
but
cut
hut
nut
(put)
shut
(fur)
(turn)
hutch
much
such
(hurt)
Discuss: Which words do not fit the pronunciation pattern? (put, bull, full, pull, bush, push, fur, hurt, turn)
What sounds does u represent in these words? (oo short and r-controlled u) Enter the short u words on
Forms 16, 17, and 18. Enter the errant -ull and -ush words in parenthesis Forms 16 and 18 and again on
Form 39. Enter ur words on Form 50. Review concept of needing another letter before ch for after short
vowels (nch, rch, tch in this group of words). There are five exceptions to this generality. Two are in today’s
words. What are they? (much, such) What are the other three words (rich, which, touch) Because much and
such are sight words, they will not be entered on Forms. Make word cards for put, push, pull, much, and such
and hang with sight words. Add these to the list of words children are expected to spell correctly in all
written work.
36
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Day 4:
High frequency words: but, just, up (p. 101) put (p. 102)
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Have students find five of each and combine some of these to write sentences.
Affixing: s, es, ’s, er, ing, est
they
drum
hunt
truck
he/she
drums
hunts
trucks
is/are
drumming
hunting
trucking
past
drummed
hunted
trucked
noun
drummer
hunter
trucker
base
luck
dust
rust
adjective
lucky
dusty
rusty
comparative
luckier
dustier
rustier
superlative
luckiest
dustiest
rustiest
process
Dictionary: duck, trunk. Find the different meanings for these words in the dictionary. Write sentences
using at least two meanings of each word.
Compound words: Have students try to find words which can be combined with words from earlier units
to create compound words such as manhunt, sunfish, understand, upon.
2 syllables: Introduce and discuss hundred and under. This is a good place to teach a common separation
of syllables. When there are two vowels in a word and there are two consonants between those vowels, divide
the word between two consonants. Divide un-der between the two consonants. When there are three
consonants between the two vowels, look for a consonant blend. In the case of hun-dred the dr is kept
together.
Homophones: fur-fir Write a sentence using these two words.
Contractions: must not = mustn’t; must have = must’ve. Discuss words that form these contractions. Like
might’ve, must’ve is often spelled must of by those who don’t recognize it as a contraction.
Prepositions: under, until, unto, up. Have children draw train engines on cards, print the words on the
engines, and insert them into their envelopes of prepositions. Use these in sentence writing activities.
Pronoun: us. This pronoun is often used after a preposition such as to or with. Have children write two
sentences. The first should include a series of children. The second should use the pronoun us (i.e., Tom,
Sheena, and Toya met Jay and me at the park. They will play with us.)
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 5:
Posttest: Re-administer Assessment 5. Score and record as before.
37
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 6:
(vccvc & cvccvc words)
Note: This should not be considered a major unit at this time. The goal is to make children aware of words
with two or more syllables. It provides a good opportunity to break words into syllables and to analyze these.
This will be more valuable for decoding words than for accurate spelling. Not all syllables will be closed.
Some will use more complex vowel patterns (i.e., ow, er, ey) which look like closed syllables but which, in
reality, are not. Words like father, gather, mother and turkey will need to be memorized as sight words. No
Forms will be needed for this unit.
Day 1: Assessment 6: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Say each word in a normal fashion, then say it again slowly, emphasizing the break
in syllables and over-pronouncing the unaccented syllable (i.e., bot-tom). Remind the children that
some syllables contain what is called the ‘schwa’ sound but that every syllable must contain a vowel.
Encourage the children to say the words slowly and quietly, breaking them into syllables before writing
them. Be sure to work across the page.
until
after
better
bottom
dinner
forgot
garden
happen
hornet
insect
jacket
forget
kitten
letter
morning
number
order
pencil
person
picnic
rabbit
summer
supper
winter
Wail until you have said your word quietly before you write it.
We will rest after we work.
Your work gets better all the time.
We found a surprise in the bottom of the box.
We have dinner in the evening.
I forgot my gloves in the car.
Flowers grow in a garden.
Good things will happen to you if you work hard.
A hornet is a stinging insect.
An insect has six legs and three body parts.
Hang your jacket on the coat hook.
Don’t forget to take your book home.
My kitten likes to play with a string.
You can write a letter to a friend.
In the morning, you get out of bed.
The number six comes between five and seven.
In order to find words in the dictionary, we need to know alphabetical order.
You need a sharp pencil to write well.
You may write a story about your favorite person.
In summer we will have a picnic in the park.
I saw a rabbit hop across the road.
In summer the weather is warm.
An evening meal is often called supper.
In winter the weather turns cold.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
38
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 6:
Word list: (If the child misspelled a word, write his or her spelling underneath the word.)
until
after
better
bottom
dinner
forgot
garden
happen
hornet
insect
jacket
forget
kitten
letter
morning
number
order
pencil
person
picnic
rabbit
summer
supper
winter
Number of words spelled correctly (24): ________
Where did the majority of errors occur?
1) Doubling of middle consonant (9) __________
2) In syllables containing ar (1) __________
3) In syllables containing er (9) __________
4) In syllables containing or (5) __________
5) Vowels in unaccented syllables?
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
Fair
Poor
39
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 6, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Discuss: In this unit the children will hunt, either in their reading materials or the Resource List, for words
using either the vccvc or the cvccvc pattern. Usually these will be words of five or six letters. If the children
offer words using blends or digraphs (i.e., children, problem), these words may also be included.
Day 3:
Discuss: Refer the children back to the discussion of hundred and under in the last unit. When there are
two vowels in a word and there are two or more consonants between those vowels, divide the word between
two consonants. When there are three consonants between the two vowels, look for a consonant blend. This
will be true for most of the words in this unit.
Activity: Have the children work in pairs to divide their word lists into syllables. They may need substantial
assistance with this. Allow time for shared discussion. An incomplete list of words from the Resource List
includes:
after
cannot
cotton
finger
hammer
ladder
martin
pencil
sister
wigwam
atlas
carpet
dinner
forget
happen
letter
matter
person
summer
winter
better
carrot
dollar
forgot
harbor
litter
mitten
picnic
supper
border
center
elder
gallon
hornet
magnet
number
rabbit
under
bottom
circus
enter
gallop
jacket
mantis
order
rubber
until
butter
common
falcon
garden
kitten
marmot
otter
salmon
walnut
The following words have blends and/or digraphs in place of a single consonant:
always
contest
pattern
answer
cricket
perhaps
chicken
dolphin
pilgrim
children
hammock
slipper
chipmunk
insect
subtract
command
morning
thunder
The following words fit the spelling pattern but may have variant syllable divisions or pronunciations:
(father)
often
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Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
follow
(turkey)
(gather)
system
hollow
(willow)
(mother)
(window)
(nickel)
(yellow)
Day 4:
High frequency words: after, number, other, under (p. 102)
Curriculum link: There are several names for animals in this unit. Children may search for and classify
them according to genre: fish, mammals, birds, insects, etc. Names of some of these animals are included in
the dictionary search. They may create pages in their spelling notebooks for these and add to them as more
words appear in later units.
Affixing: s, ’s, er, ing: Have the children hunt for words to which they think they can add suffixes. This
will be a bit of a challenge for them because they have just been taught the need for two consonants between
vowels in affixed short vowel words. This leads to an introduction to accented and unaccented syllables. The
generality is that, if a syllable is unaccented and contains the schwa vowel sound, it does not need to have a
double consonant before the suffix, i.e., galloping, carpeted, forgetting. In forgetting, the accent is on get so
it needs to have the final consonant doubled. Affixing many of these words also produces words of three
syllables. This is generally true with words ending with -ing. Notice that when -ed added to words ending
with d or t, another syllable is added.
Syllabication: The purpose of breaking words into syllables is to make them easier to read and spell. Some
linguists advocate that the base word must be preserved in this process. Purists would break galloping as gallop-ing. An alternative would be to divide it as gal-lo-ping. In this case, the first vowel is closed and has a
short vowel sound, the second syllable is open with a long vowel sound, and p is attached to the suffix as is
true in the word lo-ping, also a horse’s gait. Such analysis can be valuable to help some students create
mnemonics as they attempt to spell words. Again, the purpose is to help children decode polysyllabic words
and to approximate their pronunciations and spellings rather than guessing.
Dictionary: cricket, marmot, mantis, dolphin These are among several names for animals in this unit.
Which has more than one meaning?
Compound words: cannot, understand ‘Understand’ is not a true compound word since one does not
literally ‘stand under’ something. Rather, it means to comprehend. Many words look like compound words
but, in reality, are not. Can children think of any other such words, i.e. butterfly?
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 5:
Posttest Re-administer Assessment 6. Score and record as before.
41
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 7:
(Words ending with _le)
Note: This unit, like Unit 6, should be looked upon only as an introduction to a more advanced spelling
concept. It is intended to only introduce the students to the _le syllable. Mastery of this concept should not
be required until fourth grade or above.
Day 1: Assessment 7: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Alert the children to the fact that all words will end with _le. Say each word in a
normal fashion, then say it again slowly, emphasizing the break in syllables. Encourage the children to
say the words slowly and quietly, breaking them into syllables before writing them. Be sure to work across
the page.
ankle
able
bottle
eagle
apple
candle
bugle
handle
needle
jungle
table
simple
circle
people
turtle
little
maple
puzzle
uncle
saddle
beetle
marble
angle
rattle
Your ankle connects your foot to your leg.
You are able to do good work.
You can buy water in a bottle.
The bald eagle is our national bird.
I will have an apple with my lunch.
Abraham Lincoln had to study by candle light.
A drum and bugle corps marched in the parade.
A bottle with a handle is called a jug.
You sew with a needle and thread.
Monkeys live in the jungle.
Put your lunch on the table.
For most people, walking is a simple task.
I drew a circle and created a smiling face in it.
Most people I know are very friendly.
A turtle is a kind of reptile.
A little seed can grow into a mighty tree.
There is a maple tree in my back yard.
Sometimes it’s fun to work a crossword puzzle.
Your father’s or your mother’s brother is your uncle.
You sit in a saddle when you ride a horse.
A beetle is a member of the insect family.
Many statues are made from marble.
When two lines extend from the same point, they form an angle.
The baby played with his rattle.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
42
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 7:
Pretest
Posttest
Word list: (If the child misspelled a word, write his or her spelling underneath the word.)
ankle
able
bottle
eagle
apple
candle
bugle
handle
needle
jungle
table
simple
circle
people
turtle
little
maple
puzzle
uncle
saddle
beetle
marble
angle
rattle
Number of words spelled correctly (24): ________
Where did the majority of errors occur?
Substituted l or el for le __________
Misspelled r-controlled vowels __________
Long vowel patterns __________
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
Fair
Poor
43
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 7, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Discuss: Words with a vowel followed by one or more consonants and ending with -le always consist of
two or more syllables. This lesson features both closed and open syllables. In this list, in the majority of
words with -le endings, the first syllable will be closed (having a consonant after the vowel). In addition,
there are a number of words which have only one consonant between the first vowel and the _le ending. In
these words, the first syllable is open and the first vowel takes its long sound. Children should be led to
understand that more often than not, when they hear a two-syllable word which ends with the \l\ sound, that
syllable will be spelled _le. Exceptions will need to be learned as sight words.
Explain: Today the children will brainstorm or hunt for words, either in their reading materials or the
Resource List, which end with _le. Remind the children that these will be words with two or more syllables.
Have the children save their wordlists for the next day.
Day 3:
Curriculum link: There are several more names for animals in this unit. Children may search for and
classify them according to genre (fish, mammals, birds, insects, etc.), then add them to the lists from Unit 6.
Names of some of these animals are included in the dictionary search.
Discuss: Remind the children that words ending with _le may include several kinds of syllables. Children
may break words from their lists into syllables, then classify them according to the types of syllables they
find. This may be done in small groups or as a whole-class teacher directed activity. In some cases, what
may first appear to be a closed syllable will, in actuality, be r-controlled and these words should be placed in
a separate category. When the activity is completed, you may want to note a few exceptions to the _le
endings which are listed below.
First syllable is closed:
Say a word
Break a word
Say a word
Break a word
angle
ankle
apple
bottle
candle
drizzle
grackle
handle
juggle
an-gle
an-kle
ap-ple
bot-tle
can-dle
driz-zle
grack-le
han-dle
jug-gle
jungle
little
muscle
puddle
puzzle
rattle
saddle
simple
uncle
jun-gle
lit-tle
mus-cle
pud-dle
puz-zle
rat-tle
sad-dle
sim-ple
un-cle
44
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
First syllable is open:
First syllable contains vowel team:
Say a word:
able
bugle
maple
table
Break a word:
a-ble
bu-gle
ma-ple
ta-ble
Say a word:
beetle
eagle
needle
people
First syllable is r-controlled:
Exceptions:
Break a word:
bee-tle
ea-gle
nee-dle
peo-ple
Say a word:
Break a word:
Say a word:
Break a word:
circle
marble
purple
turtle
cir-cle
mar-ble
pur-ple
tur-tle
nickel
pencil
squirrel
total
weasel
nick-el
pen-cil
squir-rel
to-tal
wea-sel
Three syllable words:
Say a word:
Break a word:
example
possible
ex-am-ple
pos-si-ble
Day 4:
High frequency words: little, people (p. 102)
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Have children sort as many words as possible according to nouns, verbs, and
adjectives. Possibilities include:
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
angle
ankle
bottle
candle
circle
grackle
handle
jungle
maple
marble
muscle
uncle
angle
circle
drizzle
handle
juggle
marble
little
purple
simple
marble
Dictionary: bugle, grackle, maple, marble Have children find these words in a dictionary. Each of these
items has particular characteristics that identify them as being different from other similar items. What are
45
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
these characteristics? (i.e., A bugle has no valves as do cornets and trumpets; a grackle has shiny black
feathers and a distinct voice; maple leaves are broad with deep notches; marble has streaks of color through
it.) Have students choose some of these words and write sentences to illustrate their meaning.
Affixing s, ed, er, est, ing: Have children discuss which words in this unit can have these suffixes added
to create longer words. Do any of these suffixes change the number of syllables in the word?
simple simpler simplest
circle, circles, circled, circling
handle, handled, handles, handling
juggle, juggled, juggler, juggles, juggling
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 5:
Post-test Re-administer Assessment 7. Score and record as before.
46
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 8:
(Long vowel a_e patterns)
Day 1: Assessment 8: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Alert the children to the fact that all words will end with -le. Encourage the children to
say the words slowly and quietly, breaking them into syllables before writing them. Be sure to work across
the page.
space
grade
whale
square
black
have
face
are
plate
wave
take
crash
bang
made
page
cane
taste
trade
bank
sale
game
hare
past
state
You need to leave a space between each word when you write.
We are in (second) grade.
A whale is a large mammal that lives in the ocean.
A square is a shape with four equal sides and four equal angles.
Please use a black crayon to outline your picture.
You have plenty of time to write these words.
Your face is the front part of your head.
You are doing a great job.
Please put your sandwich on a plate.
When the wind blows, the flag will wave.
Please take a moment to check your words after you have written them.
Two automobiles were involved in the crash.
There was a loud bang as the vehicles collided.
Mother made pizza for the party.
On what page will we find information about mammals?
The cripple man walked with a cane.
I like the taste of vanilla ice cream.
You can trade your dime for two nickels.
Many people keep their money in a bank.
Our school held a book sale.
You may play a game during recess.
Did you read the story about the hare and the tortoise?
The hare ran past the tortoise while he slept.
We live in the state of (Illinois).
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
47
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 8:
Pretest
Post-test
Word list: (Write child’s spelling under words missed.)
space
grade
whale
square
black
have
face
are
plate
wave
take
crash
bang
made
page
cane
taste
trade
bank
sale
game
hare
past
state
Number of words spelled correctly (24) ________
Used appropriate vowel a (24) ________
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
pl (1) ______
sp (1) ______
bl (1) ______
cr (1) ______
gr (1) ______
squ (1) ______ st (1) ______
tr (1) ______
wh (1) ______
Used correct ending blends and digraphs:
sh (1) ______
ck (1) ______
ng (1) ______ nk (1) ______
st (2) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d e f g h k l m n p q r s t v w x
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
48
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Fair
Poor
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 8, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Explain: Today the children will brainstorm or hunt, either in their reading materials or the Resource List,
for words containing the single long vowel a, including those with beginning and ending blends. Most
children should need no further direction. If they use the brainstorm technique, they may want to refer to the
chart of beginning and ending blends. Have children save these papers for the following day.
Day 3: (Students will need Forms 19, 20, 21.)
Work with students to arrange words on chalkboard according to families. Words found in the Resource List
include:
face
space
trace
place
grade
made
trade
shade
age
cage
page
bake
cake
lake
make
snake
stake
take
rake
wake
safe
tape
base
change
gale
sale
scale
whale
came
fame
game
name
tame
same
cane
crane
(are) paste
care
taste
hare
square
ate
date
gate
late
plate
state
cave
gave
(have)
save
wave
Discuss: How many words do not fit the pronunciation patterns (are, have). Discuss change. A limited
number of words end with ange. Among the more familiar of these are range, strange, and orange although
orange has its accent on the first syllable so the a represents a slightly different sound. Have children enter
words in the grids on Forms 19, 20, and 21.
Day 4:
High frequency words: came, made, make (p. 101) a, are, have (p. 102)
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Have students find five examples of each and write sentences combining some
of them.
Affixing: s, es, ’s, er, ing, est (With final silent e simply add s or d. If suffix begins with a vowel, delete
the final silent e.) Note that when these words are suffixed they may or may not become two-syllable words
(faces, safest, trades, tastes).
49
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
they
face
trade
taste
he/she
faces
trades
tastes
is/are
facing
trading
tasting
past
faced
traded
tasted
base
safe
tame
adjective
safe
tame
comparative superlative
safer
safest
tamer
tamest
noun
possessive
trader
taster
trader’s (wares)
taster’s (tongue)
Dictionary: crane, grade, plate, scale. Have children find these in their dictionaries. How many meanings
can they find for each? How many parts of speech for each?
Compound words: became, careful, carefully
Contraction: haven’t From what words is this contraction formed?
Derivative words: awake What is the base word. Illustrate in a sentence, “After I wake up, I am awake.”
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 5:
Posttest: Re-administer Assessment 8. Score and record as before.
50
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 9:
(ai, ay)
Day 1: Assessment 9: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Encourage the children to say the words quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure
to work across the page.
laid
said
gray
hair
face
again
safe
fail
brain
grade
paint
whale
air
play
taste
shade
grain
quail
tray
paid
trail
awake
wait
chair
The mother robin laid three blue eggs in her nest.
Do you remember what I said?
A little gray squirrel scampered up the tree.
All mammals have hair or fur.
Your nose is a part of your face.
Please read that question again.
You need to put your school supplies in a safe place.
If you fail to put your things away, your pencils will be lost.
Your brain controls your body.
You are now in (second) grade.
There was a blob of red paint on the floor.
A whale is a large mammal that lives in the ocean.
There is air all around us.
You can play during recess.
Ice cream and chocolate taste good.
We sat in the shade of a huge oak tree.
Rice is a grain; corn, wheat, and oats are also grains.
A quail is a bird
Mother put the cookies on a tray.
Have you paid for your lunch.
We followed the trail through the woods.
Sometimes it’s hard to stay awake when you are tired.
Please wait for me on the playground.
You use a chair when you sit.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
51
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 9:
Pretest
Post-test
Word list: (Write child’s spelling under words missed.)
laid
said
gray
hair
face
again
safe
fail
brain
grade
paint
whale
air
play
taste
shade
grain
quail
tray
paid
trail
awake
wait
chair
Number of words spelled correctly (24) ________
Used appropriate vowel a (24) ________
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
pl (1) ______
sh (1) ______
br (1) ______
ch (1) ______ gr (3) ______
wh (1) ______
Used correct ending blends and digraphs:
nt (1) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d e f g h i k l m n p q r s t u v w y
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
52
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Fair
Poor
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 9, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Explain: Today the children will brainstorm or hunt, either in their reading books or the Resource List, for
longer words containing the vowel team ai, using beginning and ending blends. Most children should need
no further direction. If they use the brainstorm technique, they may want to refer to the chart of beginning
and ending blends.
Day 3: (Students will need Form 22)
Work with students to arrange words on chalkboard according to families. Words that children may select
from the Resource List include:
laid
maid
paid
(said)
fail
hail
mail
nail
pail
quail
rail
snail
tail
trail
brain
grain
main
rain
train
air
chair
fair
hair
pair
stair
paint
wait
(2 syllables)
again
Discuss: Does ai consistently represent the long a sound? (In single syllable words, yes, with the exception
of said which must be learned as a sight word. To help children remember this have them compare say and
said with pay and paid or lay and laid.) Note the limited number or word families that are formed. Which
consonants can legally follow ai? (d, l, m, n, nt, r, t). Words such as aim, claim, and maim create a limited
family but none have appeared here. Others endings occur in rare incidences as f in waif, st in waist, and ve
in waive) Enter long a words with ai spellings into grids of Form 22. Put parenthesis around said.
Other long a words with the ay spelling were found in Lesson 1. Children may want to review these on Form
21 in their notebooks.
Day 4:
High frequency words: day, may, play, way (p. 101) said, away (p. 102)
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Have children find five of each and attempt to combine these in sentences.
53
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Affixing: s, es, ‘s, er, ing, est (ai is always followed by a consonant or consonants so affixing takes place
in the same way as with closed syllables. Note that when many of these words are suffixed, they become twosyllable words.)
they
paint
nail
wait
he/she
paints
nails
waits
is/are
painting
nailing
waiting
past
painted
nailed
waited
base
fair
rain
adjective
fair
rainy
comparative superlative
fairer
fairest
ranier
raniest
noun
painter
nailer
waiter
possessive
paint’s (color)
nail’s (head)
Homophones: There are many homophones for ai words. Have children hunt for these among the a_e and
ai words. They should be able to find hair-hare and made-maid. Help them discover other homophones
from their general word knowledge. These may include fair-fare, pair-pare, stair-stare, mail-male, pail-pale,
tail-tale, main-mane, wait-weight, laid-lade, hail-hale, rail-rale. Discuss the ones you feel they may
understand. If they have started a homophone page in their spelling notebooks, they may add some of these
to their lists.
Compound words: upstairs, airport,
Derivative words: yesterday
Preposition: against Have children draw a train engine on a card, print the word on the engine, and insert
it into their envelope of prepositions. Use these in sentence writing activities.
Dictionary: hail, train, trail For each of the three words found in the dictionary, write two sentences to
depict different meanings. The use of derivatives of these words should be encouraged such as, “Hail fell
from the sky,” “It may hail again tomorrow,” and “We hailed the approach of the new year,” or, “We
followed the trail,” and “The dog is trailing the scent of the lost child.”
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 5:
Posttest: Re-administer Assessment 9. Score and record as before.
54
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 10:
(\!\ with e and ee spellings)
Day 1: Assessment 10: (Pretest)
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Encourage the children to say the words quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure
to work across the page.
been
cheek
be
freeze
the
week
street
she
screen
bee
sweet
free
queen
we
three
sheep
deer
speed
breeze
he
geese
weed
knee
heel
I have been here before.
Your cheek is part of your face.
You can be whatever you want.
We need to freeze the ice cream.
Please hand me the book.
A week has seven days.
A car came down the street.
Betty yelled when she hurt her toe.
We put a screen on the window to keep out insects.
The dog was stung by a bee.
This candy is very sweet.
America is called “the land of the free.”
The queen bee rules the hive.
What shall we have for lunch?
There were three children in the play.
A mother sheep is a ewe.
A deer is a graceful animal.
The car traveled at a fast speed.
A gentle breeze swayed the flowers.
Joe told me he liked playing basketball.
A flock of wild geese flew overhead.
An ugly useless plant is called a weed.
Your knee is part of your leg.
Your heel is part of your foot.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
55
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 10:
Pretest
Post-test
Word list: (Write child’s spelling under words missed.)
been
cheek
be
freeze
the
week
street
she
screen
bee
sweet
free
queen
we
three
sheep
deer
speed
breeze
he
geese
weed
knee
heel
Number of words spelled correctly (24) ________
Used appropriate vowel ee (24) ________
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
br (1) ______
ch (1) ______
kn (1) ______ scr (1) ______ sh (2) ______
sp (1) ______
str (1) ______ sw (1) ______
thr (1) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
b c d e f g h k l n p q r s t u w z
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
56
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Fair
Poor
fr (2) ______
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 10, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Explain: In this lesson the children will brainstorm or hunt for words containing the long vowel team ee,
including those with beginning and ending blends, and two- and three-letter words ending with a single e.
Have children save their lists for the next day’s work.
Day 3: (Students will need Forms 23, 24.)
Help students arrange words on the chalkboard according to families. Words that children may select from
the Resource List include:
be
me
he
she
(the)
we
bee
free
knee
see
three
tree
feed
need
seed
speed
weed
cheek eel
peek feel
week heel
seem
(been)
green
queen
screen
seen
beet
feet
sheet
sleet
street
sweet
deep
keep
sheep
sleep
deer
geese
breeze
(cheese) freeze
Discuss: There are a few words that contain ee plus a final silent e. Look at the words geese, cheese,
breeze, and freeze? (Even though they contain the ee vowel team, there is a silent e at the end). This final
silent e often occurs in base words containing vowel teams and which end with the sound of \s\ or \z\.
Sometimes the s retains its sound as in geese and sometimes takes the \z\ sound as in cheese. When a vowel
team is followed by a c, s, or z, there is usually an e at the end of the word.
What words do not fit the long e pronunciation? (been, the) Explain that in England, Canada, and Australia,
people usually pronounce this word with the long e. The is usually pronounced ‘thuh’ but before words
beginning with a vowel sound takes the long e sound (i.e., the end, the apple, the umbrella).
Have students enter all ee words into grids on Forms 23 and 24.
Day 4:
High frequency words: be, he, me, she, we, see, three, tree (p. 101) been, the (p. 102)
Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives: Have children find three of each and write short sentences using
them. They may write a sentence using a noun and another sentence using a pronoun which represents it.
57
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Affixing: s, es, ‘s, er, ing, est: (With final silent e as in freeze, simply add s or d. If suffix begins with a
vowel, delete the final silent e. Sometimes the past tense is a completely different word as fed, froze, slept.)
They
feed
freeze
sleep
he/she
feeds
freezes
sleeps
is/are
feeding
freezing
sleeping
past
(fed)
(froze)
(slept)
noun
feeder
freezer
sleeper
base
deep
green
breeze
adjective
deep
green
breezy
comparative
deeper
greener
breezier
superlative
deepest
greenest
breeziest
process
deepen
Compound words: maybe
Contractions: she’d, she’ll, she’s; he’d, he’ll, he’s’ we’d, we’ll, we’re, we’ve
Have the children make a list of all the contractions and, behind them, write the base words from which they
are formed.
Prepositions: below, between, beyond Have children draw train engines on cards, print the words on the
engines, and insert them into their envelope of prepositions. Use these in sentence writing activities.
Homophones: heel-he’ll Have children add these to the homophone page in their spelling notebooks.
Derivative words: asleep, being, before, belong
Dictionary: knee, screen, speed Have children find these words in the dictionary and discuss or write
sentences using their different meanings.
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 5:
Posttest: Re-administer Assessment 10. Score and record as before.
58
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 11:
(ea patterns)
Day 1: Assessment 11: Pretest
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. For the pretest, alert the children to the fact that every word in this test will contain the ea
vowel combination. (This should not be necessary in the posttest.) Encourage the children to say the words
quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure to work across the page.
year
clean
bread
great
hear
there
heard
please
eagle
earth
fear
bear
here
really
head
wear
where
east
leave
ready
early
peanut
heat
easy
Three-hundred-sixty-five days are in a year.
It is good to have a clean desk.
You use bread to make toast.
We had a great time at the party.
You hear with your ears.
You can play over there.
I heard the airplane fly overhead.
You can please me by doing good work.
An eagle is a large bird.
Ants and worms live in earth.
To fear means to be afraid.
We saw a bear at the zoo.
Mother said, “Come here.”
You are doing really well with these words.
Your head is a part of your body.
Many children wear uniforms to school.
You need to know where to find words in a dictionary.
John lives on the east side of town.
We will leave for the movie at six o’clock.
We will need to be ready to go by 5:45.
We want to arrive early to get good seating.
I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.
It is cold in here; please turn up the heat.
I know an easy way to get to the store.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
59
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 11:
Pretest
Post-test
Word list: (Write child’s spelling under words missed.)
year
clean
bread
great
hear
there
heard
please
eagle
earth
fear
bear
here
really
head
wear
where
east
leave
ready
early
peanut
heat
easy
Number of words spelled correctly (24) ________
Used appropriate vowel: ea (22) ________
e_e (2) ________
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
br (1) ______
cl (1) ______
rd (1) ______
th (1) ______
pl (1) ______
th (1) ______
wh (1) ______
Used correct ending blends and digraphs:
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
a b c d f g h l n p r s t v w y
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
60
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Fair
Poor
gr (1) ______
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 11, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Have children hunt for words containing the ea vowel team. This pattern provides a good opportunity to have
children search their own reading materials to find words. The children may work in pairs to find words.
Both children may have their reading books available. Let the slower child be the scribe so s/he receives the
extra benefit from writing the words. Children may either spend a few minutes hunting for words and discuss
their words immediately or they may save the lists for the following day.
Day 3:
Discuss: This vowel team has more pronunciations than any other. Words the children gather can be
arranged into patterns similar to the following, which are found in the Resource List:
(long e, 1 syllable)
flea
pea
sea
beach bead
teach lead
read
leaf
beak
deal
real
seal
cream bean
dream clean
steam mean
stream
please east
least
eat
wreath leave
heat
meat
neat
treat
wheat
(short e, 1 syllable)
(long e, r-controlled)
(long a, r-controlled)
(long a, sight words)
bread
dead
head
lead
read
thread
clear
dear
ear
fear
hear
near
tear
year
bear
wear
break
great
steak
(r-controlled, \er\)
(r-controlled, \ar\)
(long e, 2 syllables)
(short e, 2 syllables)
early
earth
heard
learn
search
really
weasel
heart
hearth
hearty
beaver
beneath
eagle
easy
peanut
heavy
instead
pheasant
pleasant
ready
sweater
sweatshirt
weather
(long u)
(schwa)
(Compound)
(ea becomes 2 syllables)
beautiful
ocean
meadowlark
already
area
idea
61
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Discuss: What are the two most common pronunciation patterns? (long e + r-controlled long e)
What is the third most common pronunciation pattern? (short e)
How many pronunciation patterns does r control? (four: ear, bear, heart, earth)
Other than some r-controlled words such as bear and wear, break, steak, and great, along with their
derivatives (i.e., breaking, greatly), are the only 3 words in the language to have ea pronounced \æ\.
When you meet these ea words in your reading, which pronunciation would you try first? (\!\) Which would
you try next? (\e\)
Save the lists for the following day.
Day 4: (Students will need Forms 8, 21, 25, 26, 46, 48)
Forms: Separate words into families and enter on Forms 8, 21, 25, 26, 46, and 48 . Enter only the singlesyllable words. When ea takes the long e sound, enter the words on Forms 25 and 26. When ea takes the
short e sound, enter the words in the last columns of Form 8. When ea takes the long a sound, enter the
words in the last column on Form 21. Where the ear takes the ar sound, enter the words on Form 46. When
ear takes the
-er sound, enter the words on Form 48.
Day 5:
High frequency words: each, eat, here, these (p. 101), there, were, where (p. 102)
Nouns, verbs, adjectives: Have students find five of each and combine some of them to write sentences.
Affixing s, es, ’s, er, ing, est:
they
teach
stream
he/she/it
teaches
streams
is/are
teaching
steaming
past
[taught]
streamed
base
early
mean
hearty
adjective
early
mean
hearty
comparative
earlier
meaner
heartier
superlative
earliest
meanest
heartiest
noun
teacher
streamer
possessive
teacher’s
stream’s
Dictionary: Look up please, pleasant. These two words are related. What happens to the pronunciation of
ea when the e is dropped and ant is added? (It changes from long e to short e.) Look for other words that
relate to please. (pleasing, pleasure) Look up stream. How many meanings did they find? How many parts
of speech?
Compound word: seagull
Prepositions: near, beneath Have children draw a train engines on cards, print the words on the engines,
and insert hem into their envelopes of prepositions. Use these in sentence writing activities.
62
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Homophones: Can students find a word that is a homophone for a word in this unit from among their ee
words? (deer-dear) Discuss other possible homophones such as flea-flee, meat-meet, read-reed, real-reel,
hear-here, bear-bare, wear-ware, break-brake, great-grate, steak-stake, heard-herd. Children may enter
some of these on the homophone page in their spelling notebooks.
Homographs: Homo means ‘alike’; graph means ‘to write’. Two of these words are homographs, words
which are spelled the same but can be pronounced in different ways and have different meanings. Can you
find them? (lead, read) Note: Tear-tear is another common homograph but doesn’t appear on this list.
Curriculum Link: Find all the words in this lesson that name animals or animal parts. (beak, eagle, seal,
pheasant, bear, flea, beaver, weasel)
Sentence building and correcting: (See p. 5)
Day 5:
Discuss: There are a limited number of long e words that are spelled e_e. These may be written on the
chalkboard for children to discuss and can be entered as a single group in column 5 of Form 24. Words in
parenthesis should be added to sight word list in classroom.
(eye)
here
these
sphere
(there)
(were)
we’re
(where)
we’ve
Contractions: here’s, there’s, we’re, where’s Have the children make a list of these contractions and write
behind them the words from which they are formed.
Day 6:
Posttest: Re-administer Assessment 11. Score and record as before.
63
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Unit 12:
(i_e)
Day 1: Assessment 12: Pretest
Separate children so that each works independently. Give each child a sheet of manuscript paper. Have them
fold it to create four vertical sections. Dictate the following words, making sure that each child places words
in the proper grids. Encourage the children to say the words quietly and slowly before writing them. Be sure
to work across the page.
write
tie
five
my
pie
while
fine
give
dime
wise
fly
bike
try
I’ve
time
mile
slide
like
by
live
white
nine
cry
hide
Today we will write several words.
Be sure to tie your shoes.
You may exchange a nickel for five pennies.
This is my book.
Do you like apple pie?
Some people like to listen to music while they work.
I like a pen with a fine point.
When you go to a birthday party, you often give a gift.
You may exchange two nickels for a dime.
A wise person knows when not to talk.
Birds fly great distances between their summer and winter homes.
Another name for a bicycle is bike.
Please try to do your best work.
I’ve is a contraction for “I have.”
It will soon be time for recess.
If we put 5280 rulers end to end, we would measure a mile.
We need to slide this box to the other side of the room.
I like the way you are working.
The dog stood by his master.
You find live animals in a zoo.
Snow is white.
There are nine puppies in the box.
A baby may cry when it is hungry.
You can play ‘hide and seek’ at recess.
Duplicate portfolio record sheet (See next page) so there is a sheet for each child. Collect children’s papers
and assess according to portfolio record. Staple assessment record to child’s paper and insert into portfolio.
64
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Name ___________________________________________________
Date __________________
Portfolio record for Unit 12:
Pretest
Post-test
Word list: (Write child’s spelling under words missed.)
write
tie
five
my
pie
while
fine
give
dime
wise
fly
bike
try
I’ve
time
mile
slide
like
by
five
white
nine
cry
hide
Number of words spelled correctly (24) ________
Used appropriate vowel: i (19) ______ y (5) ______
Used correct beginning blends and digraphs:
fl (1) ______
sl (1) ______
wh (2) ______ wr (1) ______
Printed correct letter forms for (Circle letters where problems occurred.):
b c d f g h i k l m n p r s t v w y
Paper guideline use: Excellent Good
Fair
Poor
65
Grace Haskins (order #3646224)
Day 2:
Individualize: After scoring Pretest 12, select words for each child from those missed on the pretest and
enter five of these on an insert sheet for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. These will be the child’s individual
words for the week. If a child scored 100% on the pretest, select misspelled words from his or her daily work
or journal writing to use for Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
Explain: In this lesson the children will brainstorm or hunt for words containing the vowel patterns ie, i_e,
and -y, using beginning and ending blends. Most children should need no further direction. If they use the
brainstorm technique, they may want to refer to the chart of beginning and ending blends.
Day 3:
Discuss: Assist children with categorizing words according to families on chalkboard or in small groups.
Words which children may select from the Resource List include:
tribe
ice
mice
nice
price
rice
hide
ride
side
slide
tide
wide
life
size
bike
hike
like
pike
str