Spelling

Spelling tests will begin the week of October 5th.  Each student is 
responsible for writing "red" words (sight words), real words, and 
spelling rule 
for the week in his/her agenda every Monday.  A weekly spelling test 
will be given every Friday and will include the week's red words, 
nonsense words using the week's rule, as well as, real words using 
the week's rule.  Students will only be given red words and real 
words on 
Monday.  The nonsense words will allow the teacher, parents, and 
student to know if the week's concept were learned well enough to be 
applied.  Students will also be required to write 2 sentences as a 
part of the test.  I will  be looking for correct capitalization, 
punctuation, and spelling on words that were on the list only.  
Sentences should also make sense.  

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!:)

Vowel Valley:
/ee/ as in cheese
/i/ as in igloo
/e/ as in egg
/a/ as in apple
/u/ sound as in umbrella
/o/ as in octupus
/au/ as in August and /aw/ as in paw 
/oe/ as in toe
/oo/ as in foot
/oo/ as in boot
/ie/ as in tie
/ue/ as in blue
/oi/ as in coin
/oy/ as in boy
/ou/ as in ouch
/ow/ as in cow


Consonant blends: 2 or more consonants with no vowel between them 
that keep 
their own sound.  Blends can come at the beginning and at the end of 
words.
i.e. st as in stop or fl as in flip


Borrowers: They are called borrowers because the letters y, x, c, 
and qu do 
not have their own sound, but have to borrow sounds from other 
letters.  For 
example, when you hear the /k/ sound, it is usually spelled with a c 
before 
the letters a, o, or u and with a k before the letters e or i.  


R controlled vowels growling r's:  The combination 'er', 'ur', 
and 'ir' all 
make the same sound.  The r controls the vowel, altering its 
sound.  'er' is 
the most common spelling (40%), 'ur' is the second most commom 
spelling 
(26%), and 'ir' is the least common spelling (13%).  This will help 
your 
child make an educated spelling guess.  We are also learning 
about 'or'as in 
stork and 'ar' as in armadillo.


REVLOC
Closed Syllables: Syllables containing one vowel and at least one 
consonant to the right of the vowel.  Examples: it, hat, fish, 
branch.  
Closed syllables are the most frequent syllable type.  Words like 
how, boy, 
and arm are not closed syllables because the 'w' and 'y' are a part 
of the 
vowel team and the 'r' is a part of an r controlled vowel.
Open Syllables: Syllables containing one vowel with nothing to the 
right of 
the vowel.  The vowel will say its name.  Open syllables are the 2nd 
most 
frequent syllable type.  Examples: we, try, no
Consonant 'le' Syllables: Syllables containing a consonant + le.  
Students 
count back 3 from the 'e' and divide the syllable.  Consonant le 
takes 
precedence over Closed and Open syllables so try it first when 
reading a 
word.  Examples: lit/tle, ta/ble
Vowel Team: A syllable containing 2 vowels that make 1 sound.  A 
vowel team 
takes precedence over consonant le, open, and closed syllables so 
try it 
first.  examples: re/main, poo/dle, cof/fee
Bridge 'e' Syllable: contains a single vowel followed by a consonant 
+ e and 
the e makes the vowel say its name.  
Examples: make, bike, handmade
Growling r Syllables: Syllables containing a vowel followed by an 
r.  The r 
controlls the vowel and does not let it say it's name or sound.


Hard and Soft 'c': When 'c' is before an 'i', 'y', 'e', it makes 
the /s/ 
sound, as in city.  When 'c' is before any other letter, it makes 
the /k/ 
sound as in cat.


Hard and Soft G: When 'g' is before 'i', 'y', or 'e', it makes 
the /j/ sound 
as in genie.  When 'g' is in front of any other letter, it makes 
the /g/ 
sound as in go.


Begin Clockface: 
1:00 c or k spelling rule: At the beginning or middle of a word, 
when you 
hear the /k/ sound, it is usually spelled with a 'c' and you use 'k' 
if it 
is followed by an 'i', 'e', or 'y'.

2:00 ge or dge Rule: To spell /j/ at the end of a one syllable word 
use 'dge' so the 'd' blocks the 'e' from making one vowel say its 
name.  
(example: fudge) se 'ge' everywhere else.  (example: huge, barge)

3:00 u, v, or j rule
Words in English do not end in u, v, or j.
At the end of the word, if you hear: 
/ue/ add an 'e' (Ex. venue, cue)
/u/ it is most likely spelled with an 'a' (Ex. panda, agenda)
/v/ add an 'e' (Ex. active, give)
/j/ apply the ge/dge rule 

4:00 Floss Rule
Double the final consonant if the word: 
1. is one syllable (Ex. fluff, miss)
2. has one vowel (Ex. less, fill)
3. ends in f, l, s (or z)

5:00 ck Rule
To spell /k/ at the end of a one syllable word use: 
1. 'ck' after one vowel (Ex. stack, sick)
2. 'k' everywhere else (Ex. sneak, hawk, stork, milk)
To spell /k/ at the end of a multisyllable word, use 'c' (Ex. 
fantastic, 
plastic)

Red words: a, I, the, do, to, of, was, you, be, he, me, 
she, we, as, has, his, is, been, have, said, were, what, come, from, 
some, 
word, your, one, two, all, into, who, and, find, could, should, 
would, give, 
water, their, there, go, no, so, are, many, they, my, by, want, 
work, four,
eight, pull, gone, thought, put, both, brought, done, friend, does, 
know,
world, new, please, few, once, where, buy, sure, clothes, wash, 
poor, wear,
door, early, pretty, ready, very, enough, something, because, cause, 
any,
anything, carry, half, warm, though, eyes, course, built, more, 
front, before
country, today, sometimes, people, mother, father, brother, 
together, 
another, head, learn, suit, woman, questions, national, condition, 
labor,
doctor,wonder, certain, company, love, move, office, service, above, 
across,
against, again, among

Extended SMART activities: Here are some suggestions for reinforcing 
the phonics skills we are 
learning in school each week.  Our phonics time is limited everyday 
but very important for the 
child to become a fluent reader.  These are fun ways to review 
phonics with your child outside 
of school.  

*Discuss the sound of the week.  Have your child tell you the story 
and the rule at the dinner 
table.  
*Brainstorm words that have the sound of the week in the beginning, 
middle, or end.  Dictate 
words to them and them tell you if it is in the beginning, middle, 
or end of the word.  
*Dictate real or nonsense words for your child to write in sand, 
shaving cream, paper/pencil, 
chalk/chalkboard, whiteboard/expo marker, etc.
*When your child is reading or you are reading with the, have them 
identify words with the 
sound of the week in the story as well as red words.
*Write the consonants all over a beachball or any other ball.  Toll 
the ball and say the sound 
of each letter your thumb lands on.  Then have your child put the 
vowel sound in between each 
consonant and make a word.  i.e. my thumbs land on /p/ and /f/.  I 
make the individual sounds 
of each letter and then put the /ee/ sound in between to make 'peef' 
and 'feep'.
*Do a mad lib asking for words with specific sounds.  i.e. give me a 
noun with the /ee/ sound 
in it.
*Play CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) war with card decks.

*Your child will write spelling words in his/her agenda every Monday. There will also be nonsense words on the test that use the week's spelling skill or rule.
*Your child will need to be able to spell and use spelling words in a sentence and be able to identify the meanings of the vocabulary words using context clues.
*www.spellingcity.com is a fun way to practice spelling words!