helpful spelling tips for teachers
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This was created by Mr. Donnelly. Thank you.TRANSCRIPT
Mr Donnelly’s Little Book of Spells
Word STUDY
Standard Spelling Development
Spelling is developed through familiarity. The more we are familiar with the word the more recognisable
it is and the easier it is to remember. As word and sound familiarity increases students are able to
generalise ‘sound rules’, like p says “p”, which in time they are able to apply to the spelling of unfamiliar
words. Other ‘rules’ follow.
Visual generalisations follow sound generalisations. Visual generalisations include recognition of
multiple representations for the same sound, silent letters and double letter patterns. The study of word
patterns to this point is often referred to as phonology.
Inflectional endings are the next patterns to be incorporated into our spelling schema. These are the
rules for adding s, ed and ing. While inflection creates plurality and tense, it often creates confusion
when applying conventional syllable knowledge e.g. clapped. To avoid this confusion, inflections should
be removed when syllabifying words.
From their knowledge of inflectional endings the developing speller becomes aware of affixes. Affixes
are made up prefixes and suffixes and either changes the meaning or function of the base words on
which they are affixed. Knowledge of the base word will often reveal the correct letter sequencing in
medial syllables of challenging words e.g. special to speciality. Studying how words change from a base
word is known as morphology.
The final stage of spelling awareness is etymology. Etymology is the study of word history. Why is the
Egyptian word for king, pharaoh, spelt with a ph? “ph” is a Greek reference indicating that at some stage
in the history of Egypt that it was successfully invaded by Greece. English spelling often maintains
spelling patterns for historical purposes.
Over the years English spelling has been plagued by the notion of exceptions. Exceptions are a short
hand way of disregarding irregularities in the phonology. However, far from having a language which is
complicated by exceptions we have a beautifully robust language which is incredibly rule bound. Even
invented words like “humungous”, blend sound groups from the more familiar words “huge” and
“enormous” and maintains the “ous” pattern signifying its use as an adjective. It may be made up but it
requires correct spelling. If a word appears not to be rule bound... look harder!
The stages of spelling development have been various described as: preliminary, semi-phonetic,
phonetic, transitional and independent (First Steps); emergent, letter name/alphabetic, within word
pattern, syllables and affixes, derivational (Words Their Way); phonological, visual, morphemic and
etymological (Spelling: Improving Student Outcomes).
Word STUDY
Word STUDY is a description of the stages if spelling development that can be easily used with very
young spellers. Word STUDY is an acronym which stands for: well-known words, sounds, tricks, use a
rule, derivations and years of age.
Word STUDY Spelling EASY and USEFUL Words
No Excuse Words
W Well-known Words
Word STUDY
We love it!
Real Words
Real Texts
S Sounds
Sound Charts
� Consonants,
a-e-i-o-u (short & long)
Other vowel choices, Doubles, Silent letters, Homonyms & Ə D: Delete A: Add R: Rearrange T: Trade
T
Tricky Bits
Orthographic Knowledge Alphabetic Patterns
Meaning
Use when writing
Use when reading
U
Use a Rule
Use a Rule (+s, +ed, +ing) Inflectional endings:
� Tense � Plurals
Does it have word family?
Base Words
Prefixes Suffixes
D
Derivations
����The Big Five
����Recognise (easiest not all) ����Have a go (show me board) ����Best Guess (DART) ����Check (authoritative text) ����Learn (WACAWAC)
WOW= Excellence!
����5555���� W: Willingly O: Often W: Well
Duration Frequency Intensity
Y
Years of age!
Share the story of words.
Word Origins
Scope and Sequence: Spelling
(Queensland Studies Authority)
Spelling: Improving Student Outcomes CD-Rom
(Literacy Professional Development)
Word STUDY
Pat Donnelly
Well-known words
� Sight words
� Personal words
� KLA words
Phonological knowledge Phonological Sounds
� Consonants
� Short & Long vowels
Visual knowledge Tricks
� Other Long vowels (Diphthongs)
� Silent letters
� Doubles
� Homophones
Word function knowledge Morphemic knowledge Use a rule
� Plurals
� Tense
Meaning knowledge Morphemic knowledge Derivations
� Word level grammar
Word history knowledge Etymological knowledge Years of age
� Word Origins, from history to emerging conventions
Well-Known Words
The words you identify as being well-known is unique to you. However, some well-known words are
shared by most people at certain stages of spelling awareness. The following represents some of the
stages very early learners go through in developing their consciousness of spelling.
1. Word awareness: Words: exist; can be read from left to right; represent a single idea; remain
constant; and contain letters.
2. Words as pictures: Highly personally familiar words that represent something as a whole
without the need for sounding out e.g. Your name, Mum, Dad, Your friends’ names,
McDonalds...
3. High frequency words: Small words used daily in texts like a, the, and, ...
4. Environmental print: Students use authoritative sources for “perfect” spelling by copying labels,
words from the board, words on charts and in books.
Sounds
One way to introduce sounds is through narrative and personification. For example, I like to think of
consonants as calm because of their stable nature and vowels as bossy. It is because of their stable
nature that consonants are the easiest sounds to recognise. Within the group of consonants those that
have a sustained or stretched sound, continuants and nasal continuants, are the easiest to identify
precisely because they can be stretched. The /x/ sound, which is a combination of /k/ and /s/ should be
introduced through words that have /x/ in the final position.
After the stretchable consonants come those that explode. These are also known as plosives. These
exploding sounds are also easy to identify because they are easily separated from their surrounding
sounds.
The final two groups are usually the hardest to distinguish. They are the consonants that whisper and
those that blend.
The Calm Consonants
• Consonants that stretch: f, l, m, n, r, s, v, z, x.
• Consonants that explode: b, k (hard c), d, g, j, p, t.
• Consonants that whisper: h, w, y (sometimes vowel).
• Consonants that blur (consonant digraphs): ch, sh, th, ng (non-distinguishable constituents)
• Consonants that blend: bl, br, cr, cl, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, tr, tw, sc, sk, sm, sn, sp, st, sw, qu (kw)
(distinguishable constituents)
The area of greatest difficulty, especially for young children with non-standard pronunciation, is the
distinction between closely related sounds like /f/ and /v/. The difference between these two sounds is
extremely subtle. They form a pair of sounds that can only be distinguished by the degree of vibration
they cause the vocal chords in the larynx (throat). In certain cases the sense of touch may augment
one’s aural discrimination.
23 Common Australian Pronunciations of Consonants
Unvoiced Voiced Nasal Other
/p/ /b/ /m/
/w/ and /wh/ /qu/ (kw)
/th/ (the, thong) /th/ (feather, then)
/t/ /d/ /n/ /l/
/s/ /z/
/sh/ /y/
/ch/ /j/
/k/ /g/ /ng/ /x/ (ks)
/h/
/r/
Bossy Vowels Every syllable needs one!
Vowel sounds most often appear sandwiched between two consonant sounds however the vowel
links more naturally to the final consonant than the initial one. Sound groups, or syllables, can
therefore be broken into their two distinct parts, the onset and the rime. The onset is the initial
consonant sound and the rime is everything after the vowel. In short words this pattern will typically
be consonant, vowel consonant or CVC. From a single CVC word one can generate lists of words
containing the same onset or the same rime. From the rime one is then able to separate the vowel
sound from the final consonant. These types of lists are known as analogist or like lists.
The study of words with common rimes is the most efficient way to introduces novice spellers to
short vowels. The short vowels are /a/ as in bat, /e/ as in bet, /i/ as in bit, /o/ as in pot and /u/ as in
but. There are a number of ways of categorising vowels however the following is possibly the easiest
way to represent vowels to students.
Common Rimes
The introduction of rimes should start with the simplest and move to the more complex. The
following has been adapted from the work of David Hornsby.
Sounds a e I o u
Short vowel &
final consonant
/at, /an, /ap,
/at
/et, /ed, /ill, /ip, /in, /ot, /op /ug
Short vowel &
final consonant
blend
/ack, /ash,
/ank
/est, /ell /ill, /ick, /ink,
/ing
/ock /uck, /ump,
/unk
Long vowel
(bossy e)
/ake, /ale, ame /ice, /ide,
/ine,
/oke
Long vowel (two
vowels walking)
/ail, /ain /eat
Tricks
Pretend vowel
/y/
/ay
/r/ influenced /aw /ir, /or, /ore
others /ight
The Four Vowel Groups
The four vowel groups are the Rowdy Monkeys which make the short vowel sounds, the Proud
Peacocks which say their own name. These are often referred to as long vowels. The group which
represent the /r/ influenced vowel sounds and the remaining diphthongs can be classified as Tricky
Pirate sounds.
Rowdy
Monkeys
Proud
Peacocks
Tricky
Pirates
Make monkey noises Say their own name Make pirate noises
The short vowels The long vowels The other long vowels
a-a-a
e-e-e
i-i-i
o-o-o
u-u-u
Cap, mat
Bed, then
Bit, mitt
Tom
Glum
ā
ē
ī
ō
ū
Plate, gain
He, reach, key,
lady, field
Pie, high, dry, kind
Note, boat, snow
Cute, due, crew
air
ar
ir
or
Pair, care,
ant
Harm
Dirt, sister,
hurt
For, paw,
talk, auto
oy
oo
ew
ow
Oil, boy,
Book, bull
Moon, drew
Cow, ouch
The consonants, short vowels and long vowels that say their own name constitute the “Sound” stage
of the “Word STUDY” strategy. The Proud Peacocks (vowels that say their own name) follow two
fairly stable patterns, namely:
• Bossy ‘e’ makes other vowels say their own name. (plate, gate)
• When two vowels go walking only one does the talking. (gain, reach, field)
The other long vowel sounds (Tricky Pirates and Woo Hoo the Cuckoo) are a little tricky and fall into
the next major strategy when being learnt developmentally.
Tricks
When it comes to spelling the Identification of sounds will only get you so far. At some point we
internalise that words not only have to sound right but they have to look right as well. Young
students often include unusual arrangements to represent words but a closer look will reveal that
what they have presented is a close visual alternative to the perfect spelling. The writing of visual
alternatives is evidence that the speller has generalised that:
1. The letter sound relationship is not a strict one to one correlation;
2. The same sound may be made using different combinations of letters; and
3. Letter combinations may make more than one sound.
Here are some of the generalisations that spellers can make:
• Bossy ‘e’ softens ‘c’ and ‘g’ e.g. race and bridge.
• Bossy ‘e’ keeps final ‘v’ company e.g. gave.
• Be careful of vowel gangs e.g. the OR Gang: or, aw, au, al
• Be extra careful when consonants hangout in a vowel gang e.g. the Long I Gang: high, fly,
bye, buy
• Sneaky schwa /@/ has little to say. Davd or Dav@d @=/i/, tigr or tig@r @=e
Other Tricks
Doubles e.g. little, kitten, common, paddle...
Silent letters e.g. ghost, gnome, knife...
Homophones (sound the same but spelt differently) e.g. great/grate, their/there,
Use a Rule
All spellers generate rules. Any generalisation which is applied to an unfamiliar word is essentially a
rule. Poor spellers tend to over-generalise and maintain incorrect assumptions longer than others.
For example the overuse of “sounding-out” plagues the spelling of many poor spellers long after
their peers have moved onto to other, more robust, generalisations. Good spellers, however, test
their generalisations and learn the most common rules for use in the future. Keep in mind that it is
less effective to learn a rule and then attempt to apply it when the generalisation hasn’t been
properly established.
Some rules, once discovered, require almost continuous practice. The two main sets of rules revolve
around inflectional endings and syllabification.
a e i o u
Bossy E
Makes other vowels say their own name!
E.g. bake, Eimeo
Softens C and G!
E.g. face and page
Protects v at the end of words.
E.g. have and give
Rules for Inflectional Endings
• Inflectional endings change the number (plurality) or tense of the base word
• /s/ is the most common plural ending
• For words ending in /ch/, /sh/, /z/, /s/ or /x/ add /es/.
• For most words ending in /y/ change the /y/ into /i/ and add /es/
• For words ending in /y/ but preceded by a vowel just add /s/ e.g. monkeys
• /ed/ is the most common tense changing suffix for creating past tense
• For words ending in /e/ drop the /e/ and add /ed/
• For small words containing a short vowel and a single final consonant, double the final
consonant before add /ed/ e.g. hop, hopped
• For words ending in /y/ change the /y/ into /i/ and add /ed/
• /ing/ creates a variety of tense forms e.g. is running, was running, will be running
• For words ending in /e/ drop the /e/ and add /ing/
• For small words containing a short vowel and a single final consonant, double the final
consonant before add /ing/ e.g. hop, hopping
• Identify base word before syllabifying (watch/watched)
Rules for Syllabification
• Every syllable has a vowel sound
• The number of vowel sounds in a word equals the number of syllables e.g. boat (1), re/ject
(2), yes/ter/day (3)
• Consonant blends (nt) and digraphs (ph) are never separated e.g. rant/ing, ge/og/raph/y
• Compound words are divided between their constituent words
• Double consonants (not blends and diagraphs) are split e.g. sis/ter, but/ter
• Syllables separate vowel sounds but not necessarily vowels ge/og in geography
• Remove inflectional endings before syllabifying (much easier to syllabify especially when
/ed/ says /t/ e.g. watched).
• Short vowels have closed syllables (the vowel sound is closed by a consonant) /ge/ in
geography
• Long vowels have open syllables (the syllable ends after the vowel) /og/ in geography
Other Rules
• Limited use rule for past tense words ending in /t/ e.g. crept, slept and /ough/ cough,
enough, fought...
• Adjective, comparative and superlative rule: happy, happier, happiest (y to i rule)
• /y/ is adjective forming e.g. noise+ y = noisy (drop the e rule)
• /ly/ is adverb forming, don’t drop /e/ in the in multisyllabic words e.g. appropriately, keep
/e/ when /e/ softens /g/ e.g. hugely, but drop /e/ in duly.
Derivations
A thorough understanding of inflectional endings creates an awareness of the concept of base
words, other suffixes and the existence of prefixes. The study of the way words change in this way is
known as morphology.
The most common suffixes and prefixes are:
• /ion/ noun forming suffix
• /un/, /dis/, /mis/ opposite forming
• /er/ and /or/: one who
• /fu/, /ous/ adjective forming
Years of Age
Etymology is the study of word history which simply refers to its age and origin. Probably the most
amazing feature of English spelling is how often it maintains a pattern for historical purposes. This
feature will often override previous phases by maintaining an unusual combination in order to
remain true to the words origins. The word “protein” does not comply with the /i/ before /e/ rule
not because it is an exception but because it is French in origin. The “gr8” combinations when text
messaging works because of an economy of graphemes. The word “graphemes” uses the /ph/
combination for the /f/ sound which has been brought to us from the Greek.
The exploration of words from an etymological perspective has no obvious designated beginning or
end. Every word has a history and for some it will reveal the logic of its spelling. It is in this phase
that an investigative mind will assist the speller as they meet new and interesting words in their daily
lives.
Morphology The morphemes that make up words are: affixes (prefixes and suffixes); and root or base forms
derived from each words etymology or word history.
Affixes
Roots or Base Forms
Prefixes Anglo-Saxon Origin Anglo-Saxon
roots
knife, knock, plot, plough
over
after
down
mis
un
overshadow, overdrive
afterthought, afterburner
downstairs, downhill, downtown
ill – mistake, misfit, mislead, misplace
not – unbelievable
Latin Roots
ago,actus animatus
cardo, casus
capio, captus
caput
cedo, cessus
centi
cito, citatus
colo, cultus
curro
decem
dico
duco
faciio
fortis
jacio, jectus
lego, lectus
magnus
memor
minor
milli
multus
porto
rego, rectus
rumpo, ruptus
scribo
sentio, sensus
tendo
teneo
tracho, tractus
verto, versus
video,visus
I act, I do
to live, breathe
I fall
take captive
the head
I go
one hundred
I rouse
I till
I run
ten
I say
I lead
I make
strong
I throw
I choose
great
mindful
small
a thousand
many
I carry
I rule
I break
to write
I feel
I stretch
I hold
I draw
I turn
I see
agent, active
animation, animal
cadence
captive, captivate
captain, capital
cede, precede
century, centimetre,
excite
cultivate
current
decimal, decimate
diction, predict, dictionary
deduce, deduction
factory
fort, fortify, fortitude
reject, inject, eject
elect, election
magnify, magnitude
memory, memorable,
memorial
minority
millimetre, millilitre
multitude
transport, export, deport
regal, regent
rupture
describe, inscription,
script, scribble
sensitive
tend, tendency, attend
tenet, tenable
tract, retractable, traction
avert, convert, revert
video, visible, vision
Latin Origin
ante
bi
circum
de
inter
post
pre
trans
ultra
before – anteroom,
two – bicycle, bifocal
around – circumnavigate, circumference
down or away – describe, defeat, deport
between, - intercity, intermarry, interschool
after - postpone
before - preschool l
across – transfusion, transport
beyond – ultralight
Greek Origin
auto
dia
hypo
meter
peri
tele
self/same – autobiography, automobile
through, between – diameter, dialogue
under, less than – hypodermic, hypotension
measure
around, about, beyond – perimeter, periscope
far – television, telescope
Suffixes Anglo Saxon
er
ful
hood
ing
ness
ship
ly
one who or connected to (n forming) –
bowler, diner, remainder
comparative adjective – fatter, smaller
full of (adj. form)- beautiful, careful
state of being (n forming) – childhood
(v forming) - playing
quality (n forming) – darkness, goodness,
preparedness.
condition (n forming) – kinship, friendship,
leadership.
manner of (adv forming) – softly, sweetly
(adj. forming) nicely, goodly
Latin Greek Roots
Able
ance & ence
ant
ant
ate
er
ice
ory
ous
tion/ion/sion
able to be (adj. forming) – portable
state of being (n forming) - patience
agent of (n forming) – servant, attendant
for ing (adj forming) – resistant, pleasant
duty of (n forming) – legate, advocate
one who (n forming) – worker, cricketer
quality (n forming) – service, justice
place of (n forming)- directory, dormitory
full of (adj forming)- dangerous, enormous
state of action (n forming) dictation
Astrom
baros
bios
demos
graphos
kilo
metron
phono
therme
zoion
a star
weight
life
people
to write/draw
a thousand
a measure
sound
heat
animal
astronomy, astronaut
barometer
biology, biography
democracy
graphic, graphite
kilogram, kilometre
meteorology, metronome
phoneme, phonics
thermal, thermometer
zoo, zoology
Greek
ist
ism
one who does (n forming ) – machinist,
socialist, realist
practice of (n forming) – barbarism,
plagiarism, realism.
Adapted from the 1996 Queensland English Syllabus
Nominalisation
Nominalisation is the process of converting verbs, adjectives, modals and conjunctions into nouns.
By converting other grammatical units into nouns the author increases the lexical density of the text
while reducing the number of clauses per sentence which, in turn, makes the text appear more
formal.
Nouns from verbs
Noun ending Verbs whose noun fits the pattern
-ion Depress, victimise, suspect, persuade, include, receive, deceive, satisfy,
classify, qualify
-ment Disappoint, embarrass, amuse, encourage, judge, announce, develop,
require
-al Refuse, approve, propose, survive
-ance Perform, resist, appear, disappear, assist
Miscellaneous Complain, apologise, prove, praise, sleep, heat, blame, experience,
forgive, lose
Nouns from adjectives
Noun ending Adjectives whose noun fits the pattern
-ence Absent, adolescent, confident, patient
-ity Able, capable, respectable, equal, original, familiar, generous
-th Strong, wide, broad, long
-ness Deaf, sharp, narrow, cool, nervous, mean, friendly, happy, ready
-dom Wise, bored
Miscellaneous Honest, fluent, hungry, angry, thirsty, guilty, high, enthusiastic
Nouns from conjunctions
Noun Causal conjunction
Reason, cause,
result, effect
Because, since, therefore, hence
Nouns from modal finites and adjuncts
Noun Modals
Possibility, chance,
probability, tendency
Might, could, should, possible, possibly, probably
Expectation,
requirement,
inclination
Must, should, ought to, need to, required to, expected to
Adapted from The State of South Australia, Department of Education and Children’s Services 2004
publication: Language and Literacy: classroom application of functional grammar
Spelling
Emergent
Stage
Letter Name Stage
Simple Words
Within Word-Pattern Stage Common
Words
Syllables & Affixes Stage
Difficult Words
Derivational
Pattern Stage
Challenging
Words
Word
STUDY
Code
Well-
known
words
S1 S2 S3 S4 T1 T2 U1 D1 D2 Y1
Description Own name,
sight words
Initial
final
Digraph
Blend
Short
vowel
Long
Vowel
Other
vowels
Silent,
flat…
Syllable
juncture
Inflection Prefixes
Suffixes
Base words
morphemes
Challenging
Typical Year
Levels
� Kindy-
Prep
� Prep - Year 1 � Years 2-4 � Year 3-6 � Year 6-10
Spelling
Examples
� WOS was � T TP TEP tip
� M MN MIN mine
� BOTE boat
� HOPING hopping
� WOOLEN woollen � SOLEM
solemn
ANACRONOS
anachronous
Suggested
Strategies
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pid=50914
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� https://www.lear
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Words
Their Way
Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Eimeo Road State School DRAFT Spelling Checklist 2012
Student name: Class:
Emergent
Stage
Letter Name Stage
Simple Words
Within Word-Pattern Stage
Common Words
Syllables &
Affixes Stage
Difficult Words
Derivational
Pattern Stage
Challenging
Words
Word STUDY
Code
Well-known
words
S1 S2 S3 S4 T1 T2 U1 D1 D2 Y1
Description Own name,
sight words
Initial
final
Digraph
Blend
Short
vowel
Long
Vowel
Other
vowels
Silent,
flat…
Syllable
juncture
Inflection Difficult
suffix
Base Challenging
DATE ATTEMPTED SPELLING
CORRECT SPELLING Word STUDY Code