—WORD BEGINNINGS— SPELLING WITH C AND K When the vowels a, o, or u follow the sound /k/, it is spelled with a c. When the vowels i or e follow the sound /k/, it is spelled with a k.
c – a, o, u k – i, e cat kin cot Ken cut
“CRAZY W” When it directly precedes the vowel a, the letter w affects the a. Subsequently, w affects the “murmur diphthongs” ar and or.
w before a = /o/ want wasp
w before ar = /or/ wart ward w before or = /er/ word worm
When the sound /w/, spelled qu, precedes an a, the sound of the a changes to the sound of an o, such as in the words squat, quad, and quarter.
—WORD MIDDLES— SHORT-VOWEL RULE When one-syllable words have a vowel in the middle, the vowel usually has a short sound. Examples: cat, dog, man, hat, mom, dad, got
When they appear after a vowel, the letters f, l, and s are often doubled. Examples: staff, ball, pass
Building Blocks for Teaching Adolescents with Reading Difficulties
VOWEL-CONSONANT- E PATTERN When a short word, or the last syllable of a longer word, ends in the vowel-consonant-e pattern, the first vowel is usually long and the e is silent. Examples: place, cake, mice, vote, mute
I BEFORE E For the long e sound, spell i before e, except after the letter c. Examples: relieve, relief, reprieve Letter c exception: receipt, receive, ceiling, deceive, conceive
E BEFORE I For the long a sound, spell e before i. Examples: weight, freight, reign
OI OR OY Use oi in the middle of a word and oy at the end of a word. Examples: boil, soil, toil, boy, toy
OU OR OW Use ou in the middle of a word and ow at the end of a word, except words that end in n or d. Examples: mouse, house, found, mount, borrow, row, throw, crow
AI OR AY Use ai in the middle of a word and ay at the end of a word. Examples: main, train, way, Monday
Building Blocks for Teaching Adolescents with Reading Difficulties
Y AS LONG I At the end of a short word that has no other vowel, the letter y makes the long i sound. Examples: cry, try, my, fly, by
Y AS LONG E At the end of a word in an unaccented syllable, y or ey makes the long e sound. Examples: money, honey, many, key, funny
DOUBLE S, F, AND Z In single-syllable, short-vowel words that end in the letters s, f, or z, the ending consonant is usually doubled. Examples: kiss, staff, mess, fluff, jazz Exceptions: There are 21 exceptions to this rule. Many of these words are sight words. S: is, as, his, has, was, gas, bus, yes, us, plus, pus, this, goes, does, says F: if, of, clef, chef Z: whiz, quiz
SPELLING WORDS THAT END IN THE SOUND /J/
English words never end in the letter j. When the sound /j/ is at the end of a word, it is always spelled ge. Examples: age, huge, strange
Most one-syllable, short vowel words ending in ge are preceded by a silent d.
Examples: fudge, bridge, wedge
Building Blocks for Teaching Adolescents with Reading Difficulties
1) In a short vowel word ending in a single consonant, that consonant must be doubled before adding the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, or -est. run—runner hop—hopping
2) If a short vowel word already has two consonants at the end, simply add the suffix. jump—jumping hunt—hunted
3) To add suffixes to words that end in a vowel, just add the suffix. go—going be—being
4) When adding the suffixes –ing, –ed, –er, or –est to silent-e words, drop the silent e and add the suffix. smile—smiling pile—piled
5) When adding the suffixes –ing, –ed, –er, or –est to adjacent vowel words, simply add the suffix. boat—boating mail—mailing
Building Blocks for Teaching Adolescents with Reading Difficulties
If the vowel is short and no other sound is before the /k/ sound in a single-syllable word, the spelling is ck. Examples: back, sock, trick
Words end in the sound /k/ spelled k when it is preceded by a murmur diphthong (ar, or, er, ir, ur), adjacent vowel, special vowel sound, or the letter l or n . Examples: park, seek, hawk, hunk, milk
In the middle of a word, the sound /k/ is spelled c.
Examples: deduct, locate, subtraction, correct
Only multisyllabic words end in the sound /k/ spelled c.
When adding ing to words ending in c, first change the ending to ck. Examples: picknicking, trafficking
PLURALS To form a plural, add s to the ends of words ending in a consonant and add es to words ending in ss, zz, x, sh, or ch. Try underlining the ending to draw attention to it as you teach the correct pronunciation. kits jobs classes buzzes boxes wishes peaches Note: The pronunciation of s is determined by whether it follows a voiced consonant. If the ending consonant is voiceless, the sound of the plural s is /s/ (e.g., hats). If the ending consonant is voiced, the sound of the plural s is /z/ (e.g., pens).
