The Patterns of English Spelling Volumes 1-10 The Only Complete Resource for Word Lists Organized by Phonograms for Reading/Spelling/Vocabulary Development
Vol. 1 2 3 4 5
CVC Short Vowels CVCC CV, CVV, CVCe W- & -R Controls
Vol 6 7 8 9 10
Basic Suffixes Ending Y Words Advanced Suffixes Advanced Patterns Prefixes, Roots, Suffixes
With Word Families in Sentence Context
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
107
ED RED ("RED") FAMILY ED Ed wed (5.05) bed (1.75) red (1.45) led (10.30) sled (7.30) bled sped shed (7.35) said1 (2.55) unsaid
ED'z Ed'id Ed's dad weds wed/wedded beds (3.10) bedded
ED'ing
ED dee Eddy Eddie
wedding (5.00) bedding
ED dur
sleds (7.05) See p. 402 for -ead = "ED" as in bread sheds (9.60)
shed
shedding
Power Vocabulary fed (9.35) Jed Jed's bed Red Red's dad Fred Fred's sled Ted Ted's medicine Ned Ned's meds pled newlywed newlyweds shred shreds shredded embed embeds embedded bedtime meds bobsled bobsleds quadruped quadrupeds premed coed coeds hotbed riverbed roadbed bred well-bred ill-bred fled (7.15) toolshed watershed bloodshed woodshed
ID
redder Freddy Teddy
shredding embedding
shredder
bobsledding
daybed thoroughbred
coeducation sickbed purebred
coeducational flatbed infrared
ED = "ID" as in Sacred FAMILY ID'z
sacred (14.45) hundred (5.35) hundreds (7.85) hatred (13.65)
See p. 108 for "ID" as in Kid Family
Difficulty Levels on Scale of 1.00 to 21.00 are placed inside parentheses ( ). Dolch Word: red Spelling Demons: led hundred Homophones: bread / bred lead / led read / red
1
The word said is the past tense of the verb say. The y in say changes to an i and the d is added for past tense. It is a rare English dialect that rhymes said with paid. Rhyme said with Ted and Ed.
Copyright © 1995 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
107 ed bed beds bedding wedding weddings wedded weds wed Ed Ed’s led bled fled sled sleds Ned Ned’s Red’s shed sheds shedding shredding shred shreds shredded sped Ted bred bread read
I can’t believe it’s time for bed already. How many beds do you have in your house? Sheets, blankets, pillows, and pillow cases are called bedding. They had a big wedding in a small church. Some weddings are bigger than others. Some say they were wedded. Others say they were wed. If he weds her, he marries her. To wed a person is to marry that person. Ed is my best friend. Ed’s real name is either Edward, Edwin, or Edmond. The blood hounds led the police to the escaped convict. The last time I cut myself shaving, I bled all over. A lot of men fled our country during the Viet Nam War. I never did get a new sled for Christmas. Who needs sleds in Florida? Ned is one of my best friends. You should have seen Ned’s face when I told him the story. Fred’s hair is red and so is Red’s. So is Ned’s face. Have you ever seen a wood shed? In the summer our dog sheds hair like crazy. You don’t want to sit next to him when he’s shedding. Do you know what it means to be shredding paper. To shred up paper is to tear it to bits. Some offices have a machine that shreds paper. There is even a cereal called Shredded Wheat. Their car sped through the night. Ted has a real fast car. Ted’s car is faster than Ned’s. Last year they bred rabbits. This year they are going to breed more rabbits. We eat bread. The past tense of breed is bred and speed is sped. Have you read Big Red? If you haven’t, you ought to read it!
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
214
AK back Jack black pack rack crack track
ACK BLACK ("BLAK") FAMILY AK-ss AK't AK'ing backs Jack's jacket blacks packs racks cracks tracks
backed
AK'ee
backing
blacked packed racked cracked tracked
blacking packing racking cracking tracking
AK'ur backer
Jackie Blackie Packie
blacker packer
By Cracky
cracker tracker
Power Vocabulary hack shack whack jack hijack lack slack clack smack knack snack unpack repack sack tack attack stack quack Mack Mac flack flak yak
hacks shacks whacks jacks hijacks lacks slacks clacks smacks knacks snacks unpacks repacks sacks tacks attacks stacks quacks Mack's Mac's
hacked shacked whacked jacked hijacked lacked slacked clacked smacked
hacking shacking whacking jacking hijacking lacking slacking clacking smacking
snacked unpacked repacked sacked tacked attacked stacked quacked shack attack
snacking unpacking repacking sacking tacking attacking stacking quacking
yaks
yakked
yakking
hacker Jackie lacquor slacker clacker smacker package
packet
tacky attacker stacker quacker
-ACK words form either plurals or possessives that rhyme with the AK-ss column. bookrack quarterback kickback biofeedback soundtrack paperback drawback lumberjack zweiback backward
gunrack rick-rack crackerjack coatrack Cossack playback flashback lampblack horseback backwards
hatrack touchback bareback knickknack runback cutback skyjack gunnysack piggyback
off-the-rack hunchback hatchback tamarack rollback scatback slapjack knapsack
background
backdrop
tailback hogback horseback thumbtack razorback feedback flapjack ticktack
swayback halfback blackjack laidback outback racetrack wetback hardtack
backhand
Difficulty Levels on Scale of 1.00 to 21.00: back 1.55, quack 7.60 Spelling Demons: attack attacked Related Families: See p. 215 NOTE: -acks = -ax Homophones: packs/pax tacks/tax sacks/sax packed/pact tracked/tract tacked/tact lacks/lax
Copyright © 1995 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
back
214 ack (AK) lack lacks lacked lacking slacking slacked slacks slack black Blacks sacks sack sacked sacking tacking tacked tacks tack attack attacks attacked attacking stacking stacked stack back backs backed backing snacking snacked packed racked cracked tracked quacked whacked shacks
Does Jack lack a concern for others named Jack or Jackson? What the world lacks is love. Zack’s sister has never lacked for anything. She has everything. Something is lacking in your answer to my question. At times, almost all of us are guilty of slacking off. My brother Jack has really slacked off in his work. He retired. I really like the pair of slacks you’re wearing. They’re cool. The rope is much too slack. Tighten it. Take up the slack. I don’t mind watching TV programs in black and white. I know Blacks named White and Whites named Black. My sister carried in all three sacks of groceries by herself. I don’t think Zack could punch his way out of a wet paper sack. My brother Jack got sacked by his boss for being an hour late. My sister thinks sacking groceries can be a fun job. My sister Jackie is always tacking up some stupid papers. Did you see what the teacher tacked up on the board? Did you know that they charge sales tax on thumb tacks? It’s not so funny when it’s you who sits on a thumb tack. Everybody should learn how to attack problems. Heart attacks can be serious. Do you know C.P.R.? Jack and I were attacked by a pack of angry caterpillars. You shouldn’t always be attacking what I say. Zack must be stacking the deck, but I can’t catch him at it. I know Zack stacked the deck. He packed it with aces. It’s not nice to stack a deck—unless it’s for a card trick. Jack doesn’t like to back up—or back you up, either. I hope Jack backs down and backs you up. Jack backed his car into a tree. He really racked it up. I hope Jack gets some backing pretty soon. Birds around here are snacking on grubs, worms, and maggots. My crazy brother snacked on ice cream with mustard and catsup. Jack should have packed up his things an hour ago. Last night Jackie racked up Jack’s car and blamed me for it. When Jackie looked at herself in the mirror, it cracked. The last time my brother tracked in dirt, he got smacked. The duck quacked for crackers. Lizzie Bordon’s father was whacked with an ax forty times. The Irish lived in shacks on the wrong side of the tracks.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
315
UE CUE ("K'YOO") FAMILY ALL THESE UE WORDS HAVE AN "INVISIBLE Y"1 BEFORE THE UE y'OO cue rescue barbecue argue value continue
y'OO-z cues rescues barbecues argues values continues
devalue discontinue imbue queue miscue
devalues discontinues imbues queues miscues
y'OO-d cued rescued barbecued argued valued continued
y'OO-ing cuing rescuing barbecuing arguing valuing continuing
rescuer
rescuers
argument valuable continual
argumentative valuation continuation
Power Vocabulary devalued discontinued imbued queued miscued
devaluing discontinuing imbuing queuing miscuing
More Power Vocabulary hue ague curlicue Hughes (AN "INSANE" SPELLING) revue
venue Hugh
THE LETTER T IN THESE WORDS IS PRONOUNCED AS A "CH" ch'oo statue virtue
ch'oo-z statues virtues
statuesque virtuous
THE LETTERS SS IN THESE WORDS ARE PRONOUNCED AS AN "SH"
sh'oo issue reissue tissue
sh'oo-z issues reissues tissues
sh'oo-d issued reissued
sh'oo ing issuing reissuing
issuance
Difficulty Levels on Scale of 1.00 to 21.00: argue 9.25, value 6.05, statue 9.35, statues 17.10, issue 11.25, issues 13.05
Spelling Demons: argue argument Homophones: Q/cue/queue hue/Hugh/hew hues/Hughes/Hugh's/hews Related Families: O GO p. 308, OE TOE p. 309, OW GROW p. 310, OWE LOWE p. 311, OUGH DOUGH p. 311, O DO p. 312, OO BOO p. 312, OE SHOE p. 313, OUGH THROUGH p. 313 , U FLU p. 313, UE BLUE p. 314 FANCY FAMILIES: EAU BEAU, AU GAUCHE -- p. 949
1
See The Case of the Invisible Y (or Why is there a y in you and not in union, Eunice, and euchre?) by Don McCabe. AVKO Great Idea Reprint Series #619.
Copyright © 1995 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
315 ue (y’oo)1 rhymes with the -o (to), -oo (too), ew (blew) and -ou (you) rimes. cue My aunt has her own pool cue. She can really play pool. rescue Why would a fireman rescue a cat that climbed up a tree? rescues Every year the coast guard rescues stranded ice fishermen. rescued The firefighter who rescued my father was my sister! barbecued My friend Barbie barbecued some ribs. They were awful. barbecuing Barbecuing ribs is my specialty. Barbie’s is barbecuing chicken. barbecue I love going to a barbecue at the Bar-B-Q ranch. argue It doesn’t pay to argue. Win an argument and lose a friend. argues My friend Dan argues on both sides of any argument. arguing Dan is always arguing. You can’t win an argument from him. value It isn’t always easy to teach people the value of money. values It seems that everybody’s values are not the same. valued I have always valued your friendship. continue I will continue to argue that personal values are important. continues Hugh continues to argue even after everybody has left. continued Hugh’s arguing continued all through the night. continuing Why he keeps continuing to argue is beyond me. queue A queue is not a cue or a Q, it’s a line you stand and wait in. queues The Chinese style pony tails for men are also called queues. tue (choo) rhymes with the -o (to), -oo (too), ue (blue) and -ou (you) rimes. statue Why are you standing like a statue? You can’t a stat chew! statues The cows were all standing like statues in Oklahoma! virtues Did Vir choose to name all the virtues? virtue Honesty is a virtue. Pride is a vice. virtual Are you acquainted with virtual reality? ssue (shoo) rhymes with the -o (to), -oo (too), ew (blew) and -ou (you) rimes. issue Please don’t make a big issue out of this. issues Do you have any back issues of The Readers Digest? issued They issued me a new license for my car after it was stolen. issuing How many new gun permits are they issuing every day? reissuing The reissuing of the building permits was held up. reissue Why should you have to reissue anything? tissue When my baby sister says, “wanna tissue” she wants to kiss you. tissues I go through a box of tissues each time I catch cold. 1
All these words have an “invisible” y before the letters ue. See “The Case of the Invisible Y or Why is there a Y in You but Not in Union?” Great Idea Reprint Series, p. 206. Clio, Mich.: AVKO Foundation, 1995. Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
428
ight Right (“RYH’t”) Family See rhyming family -ite kite p. 357
YH’t
right (3.25) fight (3.55) sight (6.15) light (2.90) night (1.70) might (4.80) bright (3.65) tight (6.10)
YH’t-ss
YH’t-id
YH ting
rights (5.90) righted righting rightly fights fought fighting (5.05) fighter sights sighted sighting unsightly lights lit/lighted (6.15) lighting lighter nights (3.80) first-nighter mighty (7.85) mightily brighter brightest tights tightness tightest tighter Power Vocabulary
delight (5.05) delights copyright copyrights swordfight swordfights knight knights moonlight moonlights slights slight (8.05)
delighted (7.00) delighting copyrighted copyrighting swordfighting knighted knighting moonlighted moonlighting slighted slighting
righteous fighters lightly (6.20) nightly brightly tightly
delightful (6.85) delightfully swordfighter knighthood moonlighter slightly (9.75)
More Power Vocabulary fright (5.25) flight (6.75) wright highlight food fight sword fight dogfight bullfight gunfight water fight fist fight strobe light night light ultra-light headlight floodlight candlelight limelight house light sidelight flashlight twilight taillight penlight sunlight lamplight plight starlight footlight spotlight streetlight window light daylight skylight blight fly-by-night tonight (2.20) overnight all right “alright”1 ultra-right midnight (5.55) forthright downright upright outright playwright millwright Cartwright Wainwright Lillian Wright out-of-sight bombsight hindsight eyesight foresight insight insightful oversight skintight airtight watertight uptight Dwight sleight height (12.45) See pp. 859-860 for more words using the -en suffix brighten brightens brightened brightening brightener brightly frightens frightened frightening (11.45) frighten (10.05) tighten tightens tightened tightening lighten lightens lightened lightening bolts of lightning (11.35) heighten heightens heightened heightening
Even More Power Vocabulary tightfisted sightsee right-to-know
tightlipped sightless right-to-work
tightfitting righthanded
tightrope right-to-life
tightwad right-to-live
tightwire right-to-die
Homophones: right/rite/write/wright might/mite night/knight sight/cite/site lightening/lightning light/”LITE” Spelling Demons: tightened frightened lightning
1
Although the word “alright” follows a common pattern found in words such as almost, although, albeit, already, altogether, and always, and although we often find this misspelling in books, magazines, and newspapers, it is still considered a misspelling, albeit an understandable one. The word “alright” should always be spelled as two words, all right. All right, already?
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
428 ight rhymes with the -ite rime. right Okay, Mr. Wright, let’s write “a religious rite” the right way. rights Should animals have rights just like people do? Mosquitoes, too? upright Not many animals can walk upright. all right All right, some writers write alright when they shouldn’t. fight Who wrote “play all day” and “fight all night”? fighting I wish the two of you would stop your fighting. might I just might find a mite hidden in the dynamite. night Did Al Knight really play, “Night and Day” all night? tonight Is tonight the night? knight Can you see a knight in shining armor at night? knighthood Could a night in the hood help you achieve knighthood? midnight Why do they call midnight, the witching hour? sight Get out of my sight or I’ll cite your building site. unsightly Your site is so unsightly it should be razed. hindsight It’s too bad it’s not foresight instead of hindsight that is 20-20. insight Does that give you any insight into the human condition? light Is there really a light at the end of the tunnel? lighting Lighting up cigarettes is hazardous to your health. lightning We saw a flash of lightning and then heard the thunder. delight On Thanksgiving, you can eat to your heart’s delight. delightful Wasn’t that just delightful? highlight Learning when and how to highlight was the highlight. flashlight Does anybody have a flashlight I can borrow? slight All I want is just a slight advantage over you. slightly You’re more than just slightly insane—you’re nuts! tight Who put the cap on the jar so tight? tighten It looks like we’ll have to tighten our belts. tightened Tom tightened the lug nuts with the lug wrench. brightened The smile collector really brightened my day. brighten Doesn’t a smile always brighten your day? frighten I really didn’t mean to frighten you. frightening Is the thought of making someone happy that frightening? lighten I wish you would just lighten up a little. lightened We lightened our load by throwing out the extras. lightening When the sky is lightening up it’s getting lighter. lightning We saw a flash of lightning and then heard the thunder.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
507
ARF SCARF ("SKAH'r-f") FAMILY AH'r-f arf arf barf scarf
(8.25)
AH'r-f's
AH'r-f't
AH'r fing
barfs scarfs scarves
barfed
barfing
ARGE LARGE ("LAH'r-j") FAMILY AH'r-j charge large
AH'r jiz (4.25) (2.70)
charges
AH'r-j'd (5.55)
charged largely
AH'r jing (5.85) (9.05)
charging(6.55) larger (3.20)
AH'r jur charger largest
(4.05)
Power Vocabulary enlarge enlarges enlarged recharge recharges recharged discharge (8.35) discharges discharged overcharge overcharges overcharged undercharge undercharges undercharged surcharge surcharges barge barges barged Marge Marge's friend Margory margin (11.70) margins
enlarging recharging discharging overcharging undercharging
enlarger
enlargement
marginal
marginally
barging
ARK PARK ("PAH'r-k") FAMILY AH'r-k
AH'r-k's
AH'r-k't
AH'r king
AH'r kur
park spark bark mark dark
parks sparks barks marks
parked sparked barked marked
parking sparking barking marking
Mr. Parker sparkle barker marker darker
darkest
remarkable
remarkably
(2.45)
(4.10)
(4.80)
Power Vocabulary hark harks harked remark remarks (5.05) remarked embark embarks embarked aardvark Ozarks unmarked darken darkens darkened hearken hearkens hearkened market (2.95) marke ts marketed
harking remarking embarking darkening hearkening marketing
darkness (5.95)
More Power Vocabulary arc meadowlark hallmark stark
Joan of Arc trademark Denmark quark
narc benchmark watermark landmark
ark birthmark snark shark
lark pockmark ballpark bulwark
Difficulty Levels on Scale of 1.00 to 21.00 are placed inside parentheses ( ). Homophones: marks / Marx arc / ark Spelling Demons: marginally remarkably
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
skylark bookmark Highland Park
507 arf (AH’r-f) arf, arf Some dogs go “Bow, wow!” Others just go “Arf, arf.” barf Do sentences like that make you want to barf? barfing Barfing can be described as praying to the porcelain god. scarf I get a new scarf for my birthday every year. scarfs No, I don’t have a hundred scarfs. Fifty, maybe. arj (AH’r-j) large It’s not wise to carry large sums of cash around with you. charge My dad hates to pay cash. He would rather charge things. charging Who went charging up San Juan Hill? Teddy? recharge Every spring, we have to recharge all our batteries. discharge The U.S. Army decided to discharge the injured soldier. discharging The private injured himself while discharging his duties. overcharge I hate it when a store decides to deliberately overcharge you. barge Have you ever been on a barge? barging You shouldn’t just go barging into people’s houses or rooms. Marge Marge doesn’t like people to barge in on her when she’s reading. margin I like to write notes in the margin of books that I’m reading. ark (AH’r-k) park You shouldn’t park where there are NO PARKING signs. spark One spark from a sparkler sparked a grass fire last July. bark Our dog doesn’t bark. He growls. barking As long as a dog is barking, it can’t bite. mark When the teacher gave Mark Marx a high mark, Mark’s marks markedly improved. marks Did Groucho Marx receive high marks in school? dark My little sister is still afraid of the dark. darker It’s darker at night when it’s cloudy out. hark Did herald angels sing “Hark!”? Hark means “Pay attention!” stark Adam and Eve were created stark naked. ark Have you heard Bill Cosby’s version of Noah and his ark? lark Clark has a lark. I threw that one in for a lark. shark I can’t believe anybody would want a shark for a pet. hallmark What exactly is a hallmark? Goofy sentences, that sometimes make you think, is my hallmark.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
The Reading Teacher’s List of Over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words
Arranged by Order of Difficulty from I (the easiest) to psychology (the most difficult) & Alphabetically with Difficulty Level Assigned on Scale of 1.00 to 21.00 a (1.00), abandon (13.80)….zone (3.70), zoo (2.95)
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
The Reading Teacher’s List of Over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words Arranged by Order of Difficulty From I (1.00) and a (1.00) to psychology (20.10) & Alphabetically with Difficulty Level Assigned on scale of 1.00 - 21.00 a (1.00), abandon (13.80), zone (3.70), zoo (2.95)
by Don McCabe Copyright 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation 3084 W. Willard Road, Clio, Mich. 48420 Telephone: (810) 686-9283 FAX (810) 686-1101 eMail:
[email protected]
Difficulty Words of Statistically Equivalent Spelling Difficulty Factor
1.50
her was are be going land long man my play saw toy work
1.55
if add away back call cowboy room cat new
1.60
them bad came end fat hand his mother on read this sun fun
1.65
cars food had hot part run same school show week
1.70
cow five give got him house little most oil put tea way night
1.75
box bed down ago eat feet line times
1.80
about ball gave hard ran will bell do has May milk say stop
1.85
face from moon pay when bank books mail thing top town wood cap
1.90
letter more nut page sat save ship so two dear fish tree age
1.95
bee June law side stay stone game hope low pie six tell
Homophones: add/ad new/knew/gnu read/reed/Reid sun/son week/weak him/hymn tea/tee/ti way/weigh night/knight box/Bach’s feet/feat/fete ball/bawl do/dew/due May/may male/mail wood/would more/Moore so/sew/sow/sol1 two/too/to dear/deer be/bee/Bea pie/pi( π )
1
Sol is more often mispronounced as “SOH” than it is correctly pronounced as “SOH’L.” Sol is the only musical note spelled with three letters as in: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. It is because sol is followed by la that we normally drop the ending sound of the letter l. As mentioned in the directions for usage— all these notes are for the benefit of the teacher or tutor, not necessarily the students.
2
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Target Word
Difficulty Factor
Amount-Authorized amount1 ...............5.25 amounting ...........7.25 amounts ...............7.80 ample...................9.15 amuse ..................8.10 amused ................8.00 amusement ........11.85 amusements.......14.05 amusing ...............9.15 an.........................2.50 analysis..............18.55 anchor................13.70 ancient ...............14.60 and.......................1.30 angel..................10.90 angels ................10.75 anger....................6.00 angle....................7.60 angry ...................8.15 animal..................6.90 animals ................7.00 ankle....................9.60 announce ...........13.95 announced .........14.50 announcement ...15.50 annual................15.65 another.................4.20 answer .................6.45 answered .............8.90 answering ............8.10 answers................8.30 ant.......................3.30 anticipate ...........18.30 anticipation........18.50 ants ....................3.85 anxiety...............18.80 anxious ..............13.65 any.......................2.30 any more...........4.15 anybody...............3.80 anyhow................4.55 anyone .................2.45 anything...............3.05
1
Target Word
Difficulty Factor
anyway ................4.20 anywhere .............3.85 apart.....................3.60 apartment.............7.25 ape .......................3.60 apiece ................11.70 apology..............18.20 apparent.............15.85 apparently..........15.05 appeal ................11.60 appear..................9.65 appearance.........15.60 appeared ............11.05 appearing...........10.75 appears ................9.05 appetite..............16.00 apple....................2.70 apples ..................3.95 applicant............16.40 application.........15.25 applications .......15.45 applied...............11.35 applies ...............12.65 apply..................12.45 applying.............14.15 appoint...............14.15 appointed...........10.20 appointment.......10.40 appreciate ..........15.55 appreciated ........16.05 appreciation.......16.45 approach............13.45 approval.............15.85 approve..............12.10 approved............11.35 approximate.......18.30 approximately ...19.35 April ....................4.40 apron ...................6.80 arch......................5.85 are........................1.50 area......................8.80 aren’t ...................6.95 argue....................9.25 argument ...........12.65
Target Word
Difficulty Factor
arise .....................7.45 arithmetic ............5.95 arm ......................2.55 armor ...................2.55 arms.....................3.95 army ....................3.65 arose ....................5.55 around .................2.75 arrange...............11.20 arranged.............10.85 arrangement.......12.90 arrangements .....14.05 arranging ...........12.70 arrest....................8.40 arrival ................14.15 arrive .................10.70 arrived .................8.90 arrives..................9.70 arriving..............10.45 arrow ...................4.45 arrows..................5.35 art ........................2.00 article.................13.85 articles ...............14.60 artificial .............16.95 artist.....................7.65 as .........................2.10 ascertain ............18.40 ashamed...............7.35 ashes....................6.00 aside ....................3.75 ask .......................2.70 asked ...................4.40 asking ..................2.20 asks....................11.25 asleep...................3.80 aspect...................9.90 assemble............12.90 assembly............12.45 assign.................14.25 assignment.........13.15 assist..................12.30 assistance ......16.25 assistant .............15.45 associate ............16.55
Target Word
associated ..........16.70 association.........16.45 assortment .........13.40 assume...............15.45 assumed.............14.80 assuming ...........14.40 assurance ...........15.60 assure.................12.65 assured...............12.80 assuring .............14.45 astonish .............11.15 at..........................1.45 ate.......................3.60 athletics .............14.15 atmosphere ........15.35 attach .................10.80 attached .............10.35 attaching............11.05 attack ...................9.75 attain..................13.20 attempt...............12.10 attempted...........14.40 attempting .........13.60 attend...................8.05 attendance .........14.55 attendant............15.80 attended .............10.45 attending..............9.00 attention.............10.45 attitude...............15.20 attorney .............17.20 attorneys............17.60 attractive............12.55 audience ............14.60 auditorium .........15.15 August .................7.30 aunt ....................4.45 aunt’s...............13.25 auntie.................13.75 aunts..................7.90 author ................10.20 authorities..........17.75 authority ............16.10 authorize............15.00 authorized..........14.80
ss
2
Difficulty Factor
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Approximate Percentages of Students by Grade in 1953 Who Could Correctly Spell the Words of the Corresponding Difficulty Factors:
Very Easy
Easy
Instructional
Difficult
Very Difficult
99%-90%
89%-76%
75%-25%
24%-10%
9%-0%
Diff. Factors
Diff. Factors
Diff. Factors
Diff. Factors
Diff. Factors
2
1.00-1.05
1.10-1.30
1.35-2.70
2.75-3.00
3.05+
3
1.00-1.20
1.25-1.50
1.55-4.55
4.60-6.50
6.55+
4
1.00-1.30
1.35-2.60
2.65-7.00
7.05-11.00
11.05+
5
1.00-2.00
2.10-3.55
3.60-11.05
11.10-16.20
16.25+
6
1.00-3.40
3.45-5.25
5.30-13.70
13.75-18.00
18.05+
7
1.00-3.95
4.00-7.80
7.85-17.45
17.50-19.10
19.15+
8
1.00-4.95
5.00-10.40
10.45-18.65
18.70-19.80
19.85+
Grade
To use this chart, just look up any word and find its difficulty factor. Look along the line that represents the grade that you are teaching. Find the parameters that its difficulty factor fits between. That will tell you whether the word is very easy, easy, instructional, difficult, or very difficult for the grade. Supposing you are teaching the 4th grade, and you want to find out whether or not you should teach the word answer: You look up the word answer and find that it has a difficulty factor of 6.45. You then look across the 4th grade line. As the number 6.45 lies between 2.65 and 7.00, it qualifies as a word at the “instructional” level, i.e., one already known by 25-75% of your students. If you were to look it up in The New Iowa Spelling Scale it would give the percentage as 29%.
32
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
The New Iowa Spelling Scale Grade Word
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
a—approach a ......................................... Not Given! abandon ......... 2 3 10 18 34 43 49 ability .............. 1 2 6 19 30 57 71 able ..............2 . 21 56 76 86 95 97 about................ 9 51 78 91 97 97 99 above ............... 4 29 59 76 84 94 97 abroad ............... 10 13 37 54 69 86 absence............. 4 6 14 28 49 50 absent .............. 1 2 6 13 25 41 56 absolute .......... 1 2 6 13 25 41 56 absolutely........ 1 2 3 11 16 41 abstract ............. 3 8 16 34 abundant .......... 3 4 14 20 34 47 1 abuse .......... 1 7 27 40 56 68 80 accept ................ 1 4 20 42 60 61 acceptable ....... 3 5 21 39 48 acceptance .... 1 2 3 6 11 25 44 accepted ........... 3 5 13 33 52 65 accepting ....... 2 3 3 6 22 38 49 accident ............ 2 5 21 44 60 76 accidents .......... 1 8 14 41 54 66 accommodate.. 1 accommodation
2 1
2 2
3 45 11 24 4 8 10 10
accompanied . accompany ... 2 accomplish ..... accomplished accord ............ accordance...... according ........ accordingly .... account ............. accounting ...... accounts ........... accurate ............ accuse ............... accustom ....... 2 accustomed .... ache .................. 2 achievement... acid..................... acknowledge . acknowledged
1
1
6 14 32 42
3
3
8 20 48 60
2
3
7 25 44 71
2 11 18 46 64 3
2 2
actions ..................
1
9 14 42 49
6 17 38 67 81 3 10 25 41 65
3
5 32 46 73 81
2
5 18 39 62 73
4
7 39 54 70 78 1
3 15 42 57
4 11 22 44 61 3
4
7 20 29 46
2
2
6
6
9 17 43 64 70
1
3
6
8 25 30 9 15 36
2 11 15 33 56 64 1
2
5 11 29 53
1 3
2 3 5
3 12 24 38 8 25 32 6 13 25
4
8 13 28
1
3
3 11 20
2
4
5
9 14 25
2
4
6 10 25 35
2
7 31 58 58 76
1
6 33 39 63 65
acknowledging . acknowledgment 1
acquaint ........... acquaintance.. acquainted ...... acquire .............. acre................... 1 acres................... across .............. 6 act ................3 acted ................ 3 acting .............. 3 action .............. 2
7 16 26 53 73
26 56 72 83 90 91 23 61 69 88 93 98 13 41 62 79 82 89 19 46 70 80 84 91 4 16 44 67 89 94 1 13 30 65 76 89
Abuse is a heteronym. When it is a noun as in the phrase child abuse, it is pronounced “uh b’YOO-ss.” When it is a verb as in the phrase to abuse a privilege, it is pronounced “uh b’YOO-z.” All heteronyms are identified by the use of bold italic.
Grade Word
2
active ................. activities .......... activity ............ 1 2 acts ............... 1 actual ................. actually ............. add.............. 14 added ............... 6 adding ........... 11 addition ............ additional ...... 2 address ....... 1 addressed ......... addresses ....... 1 addressing ..... 4 adequate ........... adjourned ........ adjust ............... 1 adjusted .......... 2 adjustment ...... administration admiration ....... admire ............. 1 admired ............ admission ........ admit................ 8 admitted ........... adopt ................ 3 adopted ........... 3 adorable ........... adore ................ 1 advance ............ advanced.......... advantage ........ advantages ...... adventure......... adventures....... advertised ........ advertisement advertising ...... advice .............. 1 advisable.......... advise .............. 1 advised ............. advises .............. advising.......... 1 affair .................. affairs ................ affect................ affected............. affection ........... affectionate... 1 affectionately affidavit............ afford............... 1 afraid ............... 2 after ................ 23 afternoon ....... 5 afterward ....... 1 afterwards ..... 1 again ................ 5 against............. 1 age .................. 18 agency............... agent ..................
3
4
5
6
7
8
6 17 50 65 83 93 1
3
9 24 32 55
1
6 11 37 48 63
3 25 59 68 76 87 6
4 12 27 55 78
1
1
6 24 45 64
56 86 95 97 98 99 47 71 74 93 93 97 55 74 77 93 96 98 3 15 31 49 77 85 2
3 12 25 49 62
8 39 62 78 86 91 3 14 36 45 75 77 5 27 47 66 80 81 7 21 34 57 68 82 2
1
5
3
5 15 28 43
6
9 22
5 14 36 40 67 80 5 13 24 44 47 76 5 11 31 50 52 79 1 1
3
9 20 33 45
4 10 21 36 59
4 19 38 54 81 82 7 19 34 48 71 80 1
3
9 33 53 69
8 27 40 47 68 74 2 10 14 38 56 70 9 18 29 44 63 74 6 15 35 42 69 72 1 13 25 36 62 76 7 24 48 59 78 85 13 25 43 69 79 89 1 10 28 43 68 75 3 12 24 41 60 80 1
7 12 31 51 82
3 12 34 57 81 89 1 17 29 48 76 89 1
9 19 35 47 68
4
5
7 20 31 46
4 11 21 38 52 71 12 24 41 61 72 76 2
8 17 32 41 57
12 21 44 59 82 86 7 18 37 54 72 82 1 15 33 47 64 71 4 17 31 47 66 80 2
4 18 32 63 78
2
4 19 34 64 76 3 15 43 66 77
1
3 10 31 55 71
1
7 15 32 59 67
1
2
4 11 26 50
1
1
2 10 14 23
1
3
4
3
7 15 27 69 69
6
6 15
20 37 52 63 65 73 57 85 88 95 98 98 35 73 80 90 93 97 7 24 45 63 78 85 9 29 47 67 80 81 24 51 66 77 90 92 6 14 27 53 64 68 37 74 92 96 97 97 1
6 16 30 45 64
15 34 52 69 87 88
2 Acts is a homophone of ax and axe. All homo-phones are identified by the use of bold.
Grade Word
2
agents ..............1 ages ..................2 ago ..................39 agree ................9 agreeable.......... agreed ..............1 agreement ........ agricultural ..... agriculture ....... ahead ................. aid ....................2 aim ....................1 air .....................8 airplane ...........2 airplanes .........4 airport ..............4 aisles .................. alarm ................4 alas....................4 alfalfa ..............6 alike................21 alive..................6 all ....................61 all right ...........1 alley..................2 alligators .......... allow ................1 allowance ........ allowed ........1 allowing .........2 almost ..............2 alone ................3 along ..............11 aloud ..............1 already .............. also ...................6 altar ................... alter .................2 although ........... altogether.......1 always .............5 am....................66 ambassador ...1 ambition ........... amendment ...2 American .......1 among ............... amount ............4 amounting ....... amounts ..........1 ample ...............1 amuse ................ amused .............. amusement ...... amusements .... amusing ..........1 an .....................49 analysis ............. anchor ............... ancient............... and ..................73 angel ................1 angels ................ anger ................1 angle ................1 angry ................1 animal..............1 animals ...........1 ankle ................2
3
4
9 5
6
7
8
3 20 41 56 75 77 25 51 76 84 91 92 82 90 93 96 98 98 18 42 64 77 85 89 1
9 21 45 62 74
6 31 44 69 73 85 7 14 38 51 67 82 1
3
6 31 40
1
6 17 36 56
26 63 73 87 96 96 16 40 53 84 87 91 8 27 53 76 85 89 59 88 96 97 99 100 21 51 70 84 88 92 21 40 57 68 78 85 29 64 81 87 93 98 1
3
3
9 13 24
17 34 65 78 85 89 11 21 36 48 56 60 6 14 25 37 40 49 39 68 83 90 94 96 40 69 82 91 97 97 89 93 97 98 99 100 17 23 25 28 40 41 4 21 43 58 67 71 3
4
7 19 32 37
6 15 42 70 77 79 3
7 12 22 40 63
3 10 29 52 64 66 5 11 25 58 70 77 23 62 74 82 92 96 28 63 68 81 88 89 51 80 90 92 95 96 13 31 60 62 66 73 21 50 68 79 82 90 33 60 83 88 93 97 2
7 10 30 33 34
14 33 37 58 62 80 5 18 41 57 74 83 5 24 41 54 70 72 36 61 79 84 89 96 71 82 91 94 97 98 4
6
8 20 33 40
3
4
9 28 47 66
4 12 23 28 40 43 6 21 39 64 74 85 15 42 53 74 77 79 6 30 59 77 88 91 5 19 47 67 79 86 4 17 45 62 78 79 5 21 39 60 68 70 5 22 45 59 76 78 5 24 44 62 72 82 6
9 21 31 61 68
3
5 13 21 40 65
6 22 38 51 70 78 61 75 85 91 95 99 2
5
7
8 12 22
4 10 29 45 62 2
6 22 43 57
95 97 97 99 99 99 7 26 35 48 58 61 4 19 34 46 57 68 14 43 57 75 84 84 5 17 48 60 74 86 7 27 53 59 71 74 9 42 46 68 81 87 10 30 45 63 83 89 6 16 37 51 67 73
Grade Word
2
3
4
5
announce.......... announced ....... announcement annual ................ another ............6 answer .............1 answered .......... answering ......1 answers ............. ant ..................24 anticipate ......... anticipation ..... ants ...............10 anxiety ............2 anxious ............. any ..................13 anybody ..........3 anyhow ...........3 any more....... anyone .............8 anything .........9 anyway............5 anywhere .......2 apart .................4 apartment ......... ape .....................5 apiece................. apology ............. apparent ............ apparently........ appeal ................ appear ................ appearance ...... appeared ........... appearing .......1 appears ............1 appetite ............. apple...............25 apples ............16 applicant........... application ...... applications .... applied .............. applies ............... apply .................. applying ........... appoint ............2 appointed ......... appointment..2 appreciate ......2 appreciated...... appreciation ..2 approach...........
3
4
8 19 41 73
4
4
8 22 39 61 2
3
6
7
8
9 18 31 52
7 19 38 43
25 59 69 81 92 94 3 29 58 71 78 84 7 26 32 59 74 77 2 18 50 51 78 79 5 22 44 61 69 80 61 57 83 86 91 94 1
2
3
8 16 27
1
2
4
6 12 28
29 51 73 86 90 94 3
4
3
4 14 28 47 58
5
8 10 21
50 67 87 93 97 97 16 46 76 81 93 94 19 52 67 82 85 95 24 50 71 83 91 92 42 65 88 92 95 96 34 66 81 88 94 96 32 56 75 82 89 90 24 50 78 82 91 92 35 58 79 86 90 93 10 34 58 66 74 77 32 60 74 88 92 94 2 34 28 43 55 60 2
4
5
3
7 10 34 51
8 17 26
3
9 17 38 55
3 14 35 60 79 3
5 18 49 76 84
1
3
1
3 18 38 70 73
1
7 22 41 65 77
5 14 33 56
1 11 26 57 75 81 1
6
8 20 36 36
46 68 89 90 92 95 49 59 74 84 91 92 2
6 17 26 43
2
6
7 19 38 51
2
3
9 15 33 54
1
5 17 40 59 77
1
3 10 32 54 71
3
9 15 28 53 75 3 11 31 45 50
3
5 14 33 62 84 3 19 44 70 83
3
7 20 40 68 84
1
2
5 16 38 50
1
5
8 15 28 48
3
4
5 10 25 51
3
3
9 27 43 73
1
3
4 14 29 56
2
5 15 32 56 75
2
9 14 39 64 76
2
2
2
7 17 28
2
2
2
approval—birth approval ........... approve ............. approved ........1 approximate.... approximately April .................6 apron ................2 arch ...................1 are....................34 area ...................7 aren’t .................. argue ................1 argument .......... arise ..................5
3
7 21
13 52 72 76 81 88 12 33 50 72 76 86 13 38 58 74 84 87 77 94 96 97 98 99 8 19 31 62 67 84 12 28 60 67 71 83 4 21 33 51 71 80 2 18 26 38 47 56 14 38 53 65 72 81
Word Families In Sentence Context cab cabs cabby cabbies scab scabs lab labs slab slabs
My brother drives a cab. There are all kinds of cabs. A cab driver is often called a cabby. Sometimes cabbies are called hacks. If you pick a scab, you might get a scar. Strike-breakers are often called scabs. A lab is where a scientist works. Laboratories are often called labs. How come I only got one slab of butter? You have to have at least two slabs just for one piece of bread. grab I think I’ll just grab a bite to eat. grabbed I grabbed him, but he got away.
Completely Cross-Referenced to Volumes 1-5 of The Patterns of English Spelling.
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
AVKO’s ALL NEW
Word Families in Sentence Context by Don McCabe Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation 3084 W. Willard Road, Suite 251 Clio, Michigan 48420-7801 Phone: (810) 686-9283 FAX: (810) 686-1101
120 um bum Most prisoners claim they were sent there on a bum rap. bums Tramps, hoboes, and bums aren’t quite the same thing. bummed My uncle has bummed rides all across the country. bumming My cousin is always bumming cigarettes. I wish she would quit. slum Many famous people grew up in a slum. slums There are as many kinds of slums as there are cities. gum My teachers never let us chew gum in class. gums If you don’t brush your gums, you could lose your teeth. hum I forgot the tune. Can you hum a couple bars. hums If he hums the tune, maybe I can remember some of the words. hummed Do you know the name of the tune he just hummed? humming Have you ever heard a hummingbird humming? rum I have an uncle who drinks too much rum. drum I hope Santa Claus doesn’t bring my little brother a drum. drums My older brother always wanted to learn how to play the drums. sum I wish he would just sum it up and get it over with. sums Tom sums things up faster than anybody I know of. summed Jack summed it up pretty good—for Jack. summing There’s a real trick to summing things up. summary A summary is something that has been summed up. summaries Are you any good at writing summaries? summer What are you going to do this summer? summery The weather outside is quite summery. chum You can chum around with a friend and befriend a chum. chums Jack, Don, Tom and Jim have lots of chums. chummed We have chummed around with a lot of different people. chumming My ma doesn’t like me chumming around with those guys. plumbing We need some plumbing work done in our bathroom. plumber We really need to have a good plumber do the work. dumb It’s really dumb the way the words crumb, plumb (as in plumber), and dumb end with a dumb b. dumber The plumber is dumber than I though he was. He’s plumb loco. dumbest That plumber is the dumbest plumber ever. dummy Charlie McCarthy is a real dummy, if you know what I mean. plum I would rather eat a peach or an apple than eat a plum. plums My brother eats plums just as if they were candy. My sister, too.
216 lock We need a new lock on our door—one you can’t unlock. block Go run around the block and find a lock, clock, or rock. flock Can you find a lock in a flock of birds? clock A clock ticks and clocks tock? Jock won a clock at one o’clock. rock Jock likes to rock and roll. rocks Mr. Fox throws rocks at any fox around his flocks of chicks. rocked Mr. Cox rocked the boat. Jock’s fox was locked up. rocking Jock loves to rock in his rocking chair. docking When Jock is docking his boat, you shouldn’t be rocking it. shocking It shouldn’t be shocking news that Jock’s car needs new shocks. stockings Do you stock stockings? Can Jock be stocking stockings? knocking Who came knock, knock, knocking at my door but Mr. Knox. knocks Mr. Knox went to the school of hard knocks. mock Have you ever had any mock turtle soup? mocked Not even Mr. Knox likes to be knocked or mocked. uck (UK) luck It’s just my luck to have Chuck and Buck drive my truck. lucky It’s lucky that Bucky and Chuckie never got stuck with my truck. luckily Luckily Chuck and Buck are truckers who never get stuck. duck When Huck yelled, “Fore!” I knew I had to duck. ducks Everybody ducks when Huck yells, “ Fore!” ducked Everybody ducked. Even Huck ducked. clucked The chicken clucked and the little chicks ducked. cluck Chickens cluck. Ducks quack. Chicks cheep. Dogs bark. pluck My mother used to pluck chickens on her uncle’s farm. plucker She was a chicken plucker who plucked both chickens and ducks. chuck How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if Chuck said Duck! tuck Tell Chuck to tuck in his shirttail. tucked Huck tucked his little boy in bed and turned out the light. shucks Shucks, I wanted to shuck some corn and Chuck shucked it all. trucks Chuck’s trucks never get stuck in muck. struck Chuck struck out four1 batters in the first inning. puck When Buck cooks, his stew tastes like boiled hockey puck. sucker I hate to hear the words, “So long, sucker!”
1
The catcher dropped the ball on one of the strikeouts and the batter was safe at first.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
308 ie (YH) die dies died dying tying tied ties tie pie pies ye (YH) eye Popeye eyes eyeing aye ayes byes bye goodbye good-bye dye dyes dyeing rye igh (YH) high higher sigh sighs sighed nigh thigh thighbone
Six is the highest number you can get when you roll a die. If the cat dies, you can roll the dice to see who buries it. The cat died. I lied. I rolled just one die. I’m just dying to tell you about this guy who is dyeing his hair. By now all of you should be experts at tying your shoes. The score was tied the last time I knew. Can you sing the song, “Ebb Tide?” Do you think Jeff would like some new ties for his birthday? What kind of tie is made out of wood? A railroad tie. Do you like apple pie? How many pies should we bake for Thanksgiving? Wiley Willie has an eye on the presidency. Is Popeye, pop-eyed, blue-eyed or brown-eyed? When he eyes things, he really goes after them. If guys are eyeing the gals, are gals eyeing the guys? I said, “Aye, aye, sir.” I don’t want a black eye. The motion was passed with seven ayes and four nays. The two teams with the best records drew byes for the first round in the playoffs. By the way, have you seen the musical, “Bye, Bye, Birdie”? We said goodbye. That car isn’t exactly a good buy. Good-bye. Good luck. And be good, by the way. Did you know your hair is already dead when you dye it? Pat dyes his hair green every St. Patrick’s day. Did you know Guy has been dyeing his hair for ages? What would happen if a body met a body coming through the rye? How high is the sky? How high is a high school? Sky-high? If you hire Hiram, he’ll only ask for higher wages. Did you hear Cy sigh? Cy’s sighs come in only one size—large. As an aside, whose side were you on when Cy sighed. Captain Bligh got high on rye nigh onto a hundred years ago. The words thy thigh is an example of voiced and unvoiced th’s. Does thee know which of thy bones is connected to the thighbone?
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
418 eam (eem) rhymes with the -eem and -eme rimes. beam Did you ever want to chase a moon beam? beamed You should have seen the way she beamed at me. beaming She was really beaming. Her face lit up with a great big smile. ream How many sheets of paper in a ream? dream Do you dream in color or just black and white? dreams My dreams are in living color. dreaming I enjoy dreaming and especially daydreaming. cream You’re the cream in my coffee. ice cream I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream. scream Doesn’t that make you want to scream? screaming Remember, there’s to be no screaming in here. stream Is this a form of stream of consciousness? streams I enjoy walking and fishing upstream in small trout streams. teams Are you on any teams at all? team My sister is the anchor on her bowling team. steam You could see the steam coming out of his ears. steaming He was steaming mad. seam It would seem that Jill would know what a seam is. seams It seems that Jack know what seams are and Jill doesn’t. eem rhymes with the -eam and -eme rimes. seem Does it seem to you that Jill should be able to sew a seam? seems It seems that Jack is good at sewing seams. seemed It seemed to me that both guys and gals should be able to sew. deemed I deemed it politically correct to say it that way. redeemed Some people think I haven’t redeemed myself yet. teeming That stream was just teeming with small fry. esteem Jack holds himself in very high esteem. He’s stuck up. self-esteem Everyone should have a lot of self-esteem and humility. oam rhymes with the -ome (home) rime. foam Here’s to the oceans white with foam! roam Just where do the deer and the antelope roam? In Rome? roamed We roamed all over the city of Rome. loam Our soil is a nice sandy loam. oom rhymes with the -ume and -omb (tomb) rimes. room There was room in her womb but none in the inn. broom Take a broom and sweep out the tomb. bloom Judy Blume loves flowers in bloom. ain (AY’n) rhymes with the -ane and -ein (vein) rimes. Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
504 wa (wah) swab swabbed squab wad wadded tightwad quad squad squadron waft wafted waffles wallet walloping quality qualities quantity quantities squalor swamp wan swan Juan Juanita wand wander want swap wash squash wasp watch swatch water swat squat suave
or qua (KWah) Would you rather scrub the floor or swab the deck? As a sailor, my brother swabbed many a deck. Does squab leave a fowl taste in your mouth or a foul taste? Who threw that paper wad on the floor? Who wadded up all that paper? You shouldn’t call that skinflint an old tightwad. That’s not nice. Is one out of four a quad? Have you ever heard of a life squad? My uncle has a lot of war stories about his squadron. A feather will just gently waft through the air. It just wafted through the air like a feather. Would you rather have pancakes or waffles for breakfast? Has anybody seen my wallet? The Lions gave the Cowboys a real walloping. My sister believes in buying only things of high quality. She has many good qualities, but being thrifty is not one of them. My neighbor likes to buy food in quantity to get a better price. He buys food in super quantities. Until you’ve been in India, you really don’t know squalor. Pogo met the enemy in the swamp and found it was us. A wan face is pale, but Juan is not a pale face. The ugly duckling turned out to be a beautiful swan. Juan is a very common name among many of my relatives. My sister Juanita gets mad when I call her Johnnie. Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand. Please don’t wander off. Now what do you want? Tom wanted to swap a dead frog for a broken slingshot. Did your mother ever wash your mouth out with soap? I like to eat squash at least once every twenty years or so. Have you ever been stung by a wasp? You had better watch out and better not cry or pout. Could you give me a swatch of that material to take with me? Would anybody like a glass of ice water? What’s the most number of flies you’ve killed with one swat? I hate to squat down. It hurts my knees. Are you as suave and debonaire as Archie Bunker?
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Readings for Fluency Practice Sentences to help the beginning reader achieve fluency in reading basic
printed,ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS, Éü ‡üitten in cursiÌí. problems PROBLEMS problems proèôems. words whether they are
Note: No letter in the four “problems” above has the same appearance in each word.
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Readings for Fluency (in decoding and encoding) by Don McCabe
Practice Sentences to help the beginning adult reader (from 6-96) achieve automaticity in responding to common words no matter whether they are
hand printed, ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS, or written in cursive.
The sentences may also be used for SPELLING DICTATION using immediate student self-correction.
Copyright 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation 3084 W. Willard Road, Clio MI 48420 Telephone (810) 686-9283 FAX (810) 686-9283 E Mail: Don
[email protected]
3 Preface to
Readings for Fluency Although “comprehension” is the ultimate goal of reading, there are a number of other goals that must be achieved first. Among these goals are learning to recognize and write the letters of the alphabet and correctly responding to the sounds that the patterns of these letters make. In recent years, there has been such an emphasis placed upon the end result of reading instruction, that many students fail to achieve the skills necessary to become good readers. This book is our attempt to provide a certain segment of beginning readers with sufficient practice that will enable them to at least read fluently the more common words of our language. And who are these readers who need this practice? They are those who have learned to respond almost solely to a specific sight picture of a word. For example, the pictograph ball does not look at all like BALL, Ball or ball. Students learning by the sight method of instruction may be able to quickly and easily read ball
they are using looks like this.
if the print in the book
Their problem is that their computer brains
have made visual pictographs (pictures) of whole words and respond to these pictures and not to the letter patterns that the words are made out of. So in order to respond quickly and accurately to common words, they must learn to quickly and automatically respond to the letter patterns these words are composed of, no matter what the individual shapes of the letters may happen to be. If you don’t believe us, give the following test to a person who cannot read a single word of English and who doesn’t know the Roman alphabet. Circle the word on the right that is the same word as the one on the left.
ball FIT RAT holder Pizza
dall
boll
fih
flt
Eat
rat
dolder
bolder
Pigga
Pizzo
beff fit ret kolder Plezzo
BALL EIT BAT HOLDER PIGGA
Batt fil raf koôder Pizza
What we try to do is to give simple sentences of below 3.0 level of difficulty written in many styles of print, manuscript and cursive, upper and lower case. It is designed for the read-alongwith-me technique. The tutor can read the first sentence and the student the second (and sometimes third) sentence in each grouping.
Copyright © 2003 AVKO Dylexia Research Foundation
5 Target Word
Sentences Using Target Words
is is
What is this all about? This is about making reading smooth and easy.
'S IS
WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT? THIS IS ABOUT MAKING READING SMOOTH AND EASY.
Is is 'S
Is she going to work today? No, she is not going to work today. NO, SHE’S NOT GOING TO WORK TODAY.
isn't is 's
Why isn't she going to work today? Today is her day off. Today’s her day off.
is is 's 's
What is the matter with you? Nothing is the matter with me. What’s the matter with you? Nothing’s the matter with me.
is is 's
Is that your girl friend sitting over there? Yes, that is my girl friend sitting over there. Yes, that’s my girl friend sitting over there.
IS IS
WHO IS THAT GOOD LOOKING YOUNG MAN SITTING WITH HER? THAT GOOD LOOKING YOUNG MAN IS HER BROTHER.
's 's
Who’s that good looking young man sitting with her? That good looking young man’s her brother.
IS IS
WHAT IS THAT YOU JUST SAID? I JUST SAID, "THAT GOOD LOOKING YOUNG MAN IS HER BROTHER."
is
Who is that good looking young woman over there?
is
That good looking young woman is my sister.
Is IS 's
Is that right? YES, THAT IS RIGHT! Yes, that’s right. Copyright © 2003 AVKO Dylexia Research Foundation
37 Target Word
Sentences Using Target Words
dog dogs
A man’s best friend is his dog. A woman’s best friend is her dog. Why does it rain cats and dogs? Why not horses and cows?
DOG’S DOGGY
WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT LEADING A DOG’S LIFE? SOME PEOPLE CARRY A DOGGY BAG WITH THEM.
doggies log
You know that they don’t feed their leftovers to their doggies. There’s a frog on a log on the bottom of the sea.
LOGS LOGGED
HOW MANY LOGS DOES IT TAKE TO BUILD A LOG CABIN? IT TOOK ME AN HOUR BUT I FINALLY LOGGED ON TO AOL.
logging logging fog fogs
Logging on to America Online isn’t very easy. A lumberjack should know all about logging. It’s no fun drivñng in the fog. I hate it wïen my wñndshield fogs up.
fogged fogging
My glasses fogged up when I came in out of the cold. In the winter, my glasses keep fogging up.
CLOG CLOGS
HAIR WILL CLOG UP A DRAIN. BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU CLEAN OUT CLOGS.
clogged clogging
You never know for sure what clogged up the drain. My parents really loved to go square dancing and clogging.
JOG JOGS
DOES THAT JOG YOUR MEMORY A LITTLE BIT? MY BROTHER JOGS TWO MILES EVERY SINGLE DAY.
jogged jogging hog hogs
Once I jogged two blocks. Then I quit. Some people believe in jogging. I believe in walking. My ªüoœher is such a hog, ¤í call him PÉüky. He hogs all the goúå stuff. He’s such a pig.
HOGGED HOGGING
HE HAS EVEN HOGGED THE BEST SPOT IN OUR FAMILY PICTURE. I GUESS HOGGING THE BEST SPOT JUST COMES NATURAL TO PORKY.
smog smoggy
I hate smog just as much as I hate smoke and fog. I stay inside if it’s smoggy outside. Copyright © 2003 AVKO Dylexia Research Foundation
AVKO STUDENT RESPONSE BOOK FOR
Sequential Spelling HOUR______________________ NAME_______________________________
AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
AVKO Student Response Book
for
Sequential Spelling
by
Don McCabe
Copyright © 1982, 1980, 1976 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3084 W. Willard Rd., Birch Run, Mich. 48415
Copyright © 1992, 1975 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc. Printed in the United States of America.
AVKO Educational Research Foundation, 3084 W. Willard Road, Suite 310, Birch Run, Michigan 48415-9404 Telephone number (810) 686-9283 Publisher's Cataloging in Publication Data McCabe, Donald J. 1. Spelling—Miscellanea 2. Reading—Miscellanea 3. Curriculum—Miscellanea 4. Literacy. Library of Congress Subject Headings: Spelling, Reading, Curriculum Library of Congress Classification Number: LB1050.2F79 Library of Congress Card Number: To be determined Dewey Decimal Classification Number 428.4 ISBN: 1-56400-133-4
-2-
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Mistakes are opportunities to learn -3-
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I am proud of who I am and what I do. -4-
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Never be ashamed to ask questions.
-5-
Speech to Spelling
Spelling Dictation ExercisesDesigned to Help Students Eliminate the: hafta’s, sposta’s, its to bad’s, should of’s, opions, recives, beleifs, ect. (sic)
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Speech tuh Spellin’ Teaching the “Tricky” and “Scrunched up Words” or Turning Student Speech into Correct Spelling using:
Student Self-Corrected non-graded Dictated Spelling Exercises
by Don McCabe
2
Dedication This book is dedicated to: All the members of the AVKO Educational Research Foundation, but especially to the memory of one of its first members,
Mary Clair Scott without whose work and devotion to the cause of literacy, the AVKO Foundation might never have gotten off the ground,
Betty June Szilagyi who was my first and by far my most important teacher,
Devorah Wolf without whose encouragement and commitment to the ideals of AVKO this edition would not be possible,
Ann, Robert, and Linda McCabe all of whom have sacrificed much of their time and energy helping AVKO grow as well as all those friends and relatives who have been a source of encouragement. May this book help you to help others improve their abilities to read and write. Copyright ©1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc. Printed in the United States of America. Permission is hereby given for individual teachers, tutors, and educators to reproduce any list for classroom use. Reproduction of these lists for entire schools or school districts is strictly forbidden.
Publisher's Cataloging in Publication Data McCabe, Donald J. 1. Handwriting−Miscellanea. 2. Spelling−Miscellanea. 3. Reading−Miscellanea. 4. Curriculum−Miscellanea 5. Literacy and Tutor Reference Tool. Library of Congress Subject Headings: Spelling, Curriculum Library of Congress Classification Number: LB1050.2F79 Library of Congress Card Number: To be determined Dewey Decimal Classification Number 428.4 ISBN: 1-56400-060-5
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
3
Speech tuh Spellin’ We have all seen student papers with sentences such as this: Thair gonna go thair to git sum stuff fur holloween, an were gonna go thair to help them. This sentence, by the way, came from a paper written by a high school student who was carrying a 3.5 grade point average. He had A’s in physics in calculus. But he was struggling through my English class. When my Alfred N. turned in his first paper, I wasn’t really sure whether he was a genius at abusing our spelling conventions à la Shaw who could spell fish “ghoti”1 or whether he had been high on drugs when he wrote it and never bothered proofreading. The entire paper was almost impossible for anybody but a teacher to read. Alfred’s problem isn’t unique. Large numbers of students in both urban and rural schools suffer from the “Thair gonna go thair” symdrome. Some students suffer from the swallowed “R” bug and consistently write: Your funny… Were smart… Thair dumb…
instead of instead of instead of
You are funny (or You’re funny). We are smart (or We’re smart). They are dumb (or They’re dumb).
Others suffer from the swalled “is” bug and consistently write: He nice… That right… What da matter… Whose dat…
instead of instead of instead of instead of
He is nice (or He’s nice). That is right (or That’s right). What is the matter (or What’s the matter). Who is that (or Who’s that)?
Those who have the “of” bug consistently write: I should of talk to him We would of miss… I could of lissen… You might of…
instead of instead of instead of instead of
I should have talked to him. We would have missed… I could have listened... You might have…
Those with the “don’t hear/don’t write” bug consistently write: We talk to them… We use to go… He want Sally to…
instead of instead of instead of
We talked to them… We used to go… He wants Sally to…
The traditional way of correcting such errors is for the teacher to circle in red the errors and sometimes insert the correct spelling. By the time “Were finish” correcting all the other errors, “were exhausted,” and the paper looks like a Christmas tree. When “are” respective Alfreds get their papers back, do they profit from “are” laborious corrections? “Whose kid in who?” They take one look at their grade, resist the urge to vomit, crumple it up, and toss it at (and sometime in) the wastepaper basket.
1
George Bernard Shaw once claimed that the word fish could be spelled ghoti (gh as in enough, o as in women, and ti as in nation.)
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
4 And really, why shouldn’t they? They don’t understand our corrections. No one has ever stopped and taken the time to teach them how to translate their spoken dialect into the written “book English.” No one has told them that the word have when it follows the auxiliary verbs could, would, might, must, shall, will, and may is normally pronounced exactly the same as the word of. Why? Because it isn’t in any of the textbooks or in any of the curricula being used. Almost all textbooks at sometime or another teach the heteronyms read and read and the homophones read and red, read and reed, but they never teach the heteronyms, have, have, and have.2 The authors of our textbooks and our grammars don’t bother to tell us that the word have in “I have a pencil in my hand” is not the same kind of word that it is in “I should have (of) known better,” or “I will have to (hafta) learn how to tell the difference.”
The Goals of the Translation Exercises: Students will be able to recognize the differences and the similarities between spoken English and written English. Students will learn to appreciate and understand the values of all spoken dialects including their own. Students will learn to develop personal responsibility for correcting and learning from their mistakes at the time that they make mistakes. Students will learn that writers often deliberately “misspell” words and phrases for humorous or dramatic effect, and often to indicate that the speaker is poorly educated.
Rules for the Delivery of the Translation Exercises: 1. Never enunciate clearly. Read the sentences in normal sloppy speech. 2. Use your own street dialect. Everybody has one! No one enunciates perfectly all the time. 3. Read the sentence. 4. Read the sentence again as the students begin writing it. 5. Read the sentence one more time. Let the students finish writing it. 6. Using the overhead, show the sentence as it should be correctly spelled. If you don’t have access to the overhead, you can write the sentence on the board or even have a student do it. 7. Students correct all their errors. Any uncorrected error should result in an E for the exercise. If all errors are corrected, then an A is given. All or nothing!
Classroom Motto: Mistakes are opportunities to learn.
2
From The Case of 3 Different Words Spelled H-A-V-E. McCabe, Don. Clio, MI.: AVKO Foundation, 1995.
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
5
Teaching by Mis-direction. In any form of composition, we are dictating to ourselves. We always speak to ourselves in our normal speech. We hear in our heads our speech and we write it down automatically. What we “wanna” do is to automatically write “want to” when we are saying “wanna” to ourselves. If an exercise is specifically on spelling “wanna” as want to, our students will easily score perfectly, because their minds are focused on it. But then, when it comes to their regular writing, those who habitually spell want to as wanna will continue to do so. So, to combat this natural “recidivism,” (or failure to apply book knowledge) we have each set of exercises focusing on a different area of spelling, such as applying the i before e rule. The students will be concentrating on correctly spelling words such as believe and receive while they are given the opportunity to make a “speech” misspelling of it’s/its and to/too/two as in a sentence such as “It’s too bad Jack wouldn’t believe you.” If you don’t want to dictate the sentences, you can always make copies of the pages with “dialect” at the back of the book. Hand out the copies and have the students correct the misspellings. That could be an automatic homework assignment. Please note that although the sentences are grouped by lessons of ten sentences each, you don’t have to give all ten at one time. When I first developed these, I used only two sentences every day. So I made each lesson last for a week! This way, one sheet could be homework for the entire week! Corrected in class.
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Speech tuh Spellin' Lesson 1 1.
Thairz noh such thing az uh dum pursun.
2.
Whud juh say?
3.
Ah sed, “thairz noh bud dee hooze dum.”
4.
Doh’n-t wur ree if yuh may’k sum miss takes.
5.
How’d juh lurn how duh waw’k?
6.
Did juh lurn how duh waw’k with ow’t fawl in dow’n?
7.
How’d juh lurn how duh taw’k?
8.
Dij juh lurn how duh taw’k with ow’t may’k in miss tay’k-ss?
9.
In this class yor gaw nuh lurn how duh spell uh lotta wurdz.
10. In this klass, ee vin yor tee chur is gaw nuh lurn sum thin.
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
7
Speech to Spelling Lesson 1 1.
There is (There’s) no such thing as a dumb person.
2.
What did you say?
3.
I said, “There is (There’s) nobody who is dumb!”
4.
Don’t worry if you make some mistakes.
5.
How did you learn how to walk?
6.
Did you learn how to walk without falling down?
7.
How did you learn how to talk?
8.
Did you learn how to talk without making mistakes?
9.
In this class you are (you’re) going to learn how to spell a lot of words.
10. In this class, even your teacher is going to learn something.
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
8
Speech tuh Spellin' Lesson 2 1.
Whud duh yuh doo in now?
2.
Wuud in juh noh, ah’m tayk in uh dum tess’t.
3.
Duz en nee bud dee noh wut dayz tuh day?
4.
Tuh dayz Tooz dee. Ah’r dooz ar doo on Tooz dee.
5.
D’yuh noh wut dayz tuh mah roh?
6.
Tuh mah rohz Wenz dee. (Dohn’t puut the d en e too geththuh.)
7.
Howz Lin duh git tin uh law’ng with hur stud deez?
8.
Sheez git in uh long reel gray’t. Aw’l hur tee churz luv hur.
9.
Whuh soh gray’t uh bow’t Lin duh?
10. Sheez gah tuh reel nice pur sun nal uh tee.
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
9
Speech to Spelling Lesson 2 1.
What are you doing now?
2.
Wouldn’t you know, I’m taking a dumb test.
3.
Does anybody know what day is (day’s) today?
4.
Today is (Today’s) Tuesday. Our dues are due on Tuesday.
5.
Do you know what day is (day’s) tomorrow?
6.
Tomorrow is (Tomorrow’s) Wednesday. (Don’t put the d and e together.) Wednesday.
7.
How is (How’s) Linda getting along with her studies?
8.
She is getting along real great. All her teachers love her.
9.
What is (What’s) so great about Linda?
10. She has (She’s) got a real nice personality.
Copyright © 1997 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
My Book of Rimes and More Rhymes mist list wrist
missed kissed hissed
past last blast
passed gassed sassed
A Rhyming Dictionary for teaching spelling via the writing of poetry.
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
iii
How to Use My Book of Rimes and More Rhymes 1. For Writing Poetry: Look up the word’s rime in the alphabetic listing and go to the page where all the words that rhyme with it can be found as well as lots of neat information. Supposing you look up barefoot and it’s not there. What now? Look up foot. Well, actually, you look up oot. When you get there, there will be oot1 and oot2 as there are two oot rimes that don’t rhyme. The oot1 will be the rime that rhymes with hoot, shoot, and loot. The oot2 will rhyme with foot. To do a complete alphabetical index would have taken over 100 pages. So, we did it the easiest and most complete way. To find the rime of any word just go from the back of the word until you reach a vowel or vowel digraph. That works for the little words. For that big words you should go further as in urther for further, cious for gracious, and ition for ignition.We tried to be as complete as possible without having an index of 100 pages.
Fun lessons can be: Short one liners with first and last words rhyming as in: Vance won’t take a chance. Tom is very calm. Money is better than honey.
You take any page of rhyming words and let your students make as many as they can in 10 minutes. Repeat every day for a week. Then move up to: Short two liners with last words rhyming as in: Vance won’t take chances learning any new dances. Tom was very calm until he saw the bomb. He doesn’t have any money To pay for all that honey.
Move up to three liners, four liners, limericks, sonnets etc.
2. Combining “poetry” with vocabulary building. Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
iv
You can easily do several words every day that rhyme. For example, turn to page 180 where you can find all kinds of -ous words from the common nervous and generous to the less than ubiquitous words like iniquitous. Yes, I know I should eschew obfuscation and from big words take a long vacation. It makes me panic to see someone so manic –this is a sample of a composition exercise. Writing quick little rhymes that show an understanding of the words is one of many possible assignments. We suggest that you try to make vocabulary (and handwriting) fun.
2. For Practice in handwriting (Manuscript or Cursive) If you are using Let’s Write Right each lesson will direct you to the page or pages in this book that you can use to practice handwriting. You can have your student just copy the words that go with the lesson. We recommend that you make sure that your students are not just copying letters. If they cannot read a word or do not know what the word means, they should be instructed by you to ask you what the word is and what it means. Please don’t tell them to look it up in the dictionary. Dictionary work should be separate from the handwriting until such time as handwriting becomes completely automatic. Besides, one of your main objectives is to help your students increase their vocabulary. Unfortunately, if students are told to “Look it up” everytime they ask what a word means, they have a tendency to stop asking. Keep them asking. Keep them learning. Have fun. Better yet, you can dictate the words to incorporate spelling with handwriting practice. It is very, very important that if your student misspells a word, that you give the student the correct spelling immediately. Make sure that the misspelling is erased and the replaced with the correct spelling before the next word is given.
3. Writing for speed and legibility. Set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes. Have your student write as many words as he can copy on a selected page. After the bell dings, stop and check the handwriting. If any letters or letter combination are not legible, have him practice just the letter or letter combination such as d or cl for two minutes as fast as he can do it legibly.
v
Index of Rimes (Word Ending Parts) & More Rhymes ab abby able ably ace-1 acial ack acle act ad addle ade adle ady afe aft ag age-1 age-2 aggle agle aid aight ail aim ain aint air airy ait ake ale alk all alley ally-2 alm am amble ame amp an ance anch ancial
3 3 190 191 25 175 39 190 164 4 166 77 190 77 95 165 15 26 163 190 190 76 121 122 167 58 179 20 152 121 40 123 113 43 61 61 125 49 190 167 168 56 179 117 175
and andle ane ang ange angle ank ankle ant antial ap aple apple aption ar ard arden are argle arkle arm armer arry art artial ary ase1 ash asion ask asket ass assle ast ast astle at ate1 ation atter attle auction aud aul aunch
129 190 57 143 181 161 146 190 177 175 80 190 190 185 5 7 7 21 190 190 5 5 152a 8 175 152 25 67 154 151 151 29 190 78 127 190 6 120 18327 166 185 110 112 118
aunt ause aust aution ave aw awk awl awn ax ay azz azzle ble bly C/ous ceive cious cle cry dle e ea each ead-1 ead-2 eadle eady eagle eak-1 eak-2 eal ean eap ear1 ear2 easle eat-1 eat-2 eatle eave eble ecial eck ecker
179 110 78 185 95 110 113 112 111 114 28 115 190 190 191 188 96 188 190 191 190 9 11 135 13 17 190 17 190 187 40 131 130 159 18 20 190 24 22 190 96 190 175 41 41
ect ection ective ed edal eddle eddy ee eeble eech eed eedle eek eel een eep eer eet eetle eff eft eg eigh eight ein-1 ein-2 eir ell elly en ence ench end ene ense ent ention eople eous ep epper ept eption eption ercial
182 182 182 16 166 166 16 10 190 135 12 190 187 131 130 159 19 23 190 165 165 14 121 121 57 60 20 48 48 116 186 117 132 130 186 177 185 190 188 83 83 159 159 185 175
Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
ere1 ere2 erry ertion ery esk esque ess est ester estial et etal ete etion-1 etion-2 etter ettle eve even ever ew-1 ew-2 ex ezzle gle hope ial ib ibber ibble ibe ible ical ice icial ician icion ick icken icket icle iction id idder
18 20 152 185 152 151 151 30 31 31 175 22 166 23 184 184 27 166 96 96 97 108 108 114 190 190 171 51 32 32 32 69 190 176 72 175 176 176 34 34 34 190 185 37 37
vi iddle iddy ide idge idle ie ier ieve iff iffle ifle ift ig iggle igh ight ike ile-1 ile-2 ill illy im imble ime immy imp in ince inch incial ind-1 ind-2 indle ine-1 ine-2 ing inge ingle ink inkle inse int ious ip iple ipper
190 37 38 162 190 150 19 96 44 190 190 44 42 190 70 70 35 51 131 46 47 50 190 169 50 168 59 186 117 175 133 133 190 60 130 74 181 161 147 190 186 178 188 84 190 84
ipple iption ique irdle ire is ise ish isk isle iss ission ist ist isten ister istle it ite itian ition ition itle itten ive1 ive2 iver1 iver2 ix ize izz izzle my nsion ny o-1 o-2 oach oal oan oar oast oat ob obber obby
190 185 187 190 36 128 180 33 151 51 128 176 79 189 79 79 190 45 71 176 176 184 190 45 98 99 98 99 114 180 115 190 191 155 191 52 91 189 63 55 160 78 119 68 68 68
obe oble ocial ock ocky oction od oddle oe-1 oe-2 og ogle oint ol1 old older ole oll1 oll2 om omb ome-1 ome-2 on one ong onge onk-1 onk-2 onny1 onse oo ood-1 ood-2 oodle ook-1 ook-2 oom oop oople oor oose oose oot-1 oo-t2 ooze
69 190 175 75 75 185 73 190 53 91 66 190 178 112 64 64 63 61 62 125 125 65 126 54 55 143 181 145 145 54 186 91 91 106 190 106 170 171 190 160 97 173 139 140 97
oozle op opper oppy option opy-2 or ore orption ort ortion ose-1 ose-2 osque oss ost-1 ost-2 ostle ot ote otion ottle ouble oud oul ould oulder ounce ounce ount oup ouple our our2 ourt ouse-1 ouse-2 ousle out out ove-1 ove-2 ove-3 over-1 over-2 over-3
190 81 82 82 185 82 160 160 185 172 185 148 97 151 29 78 78 190 124 119 185 190 86 142 105 106 64 186 186 178 171 190 103 160 172 181 181 190 142 153 101 100 102 101 100 102
Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
ow-1 ow-2 owd owel ower-1 ower-2 owl-1 owl-2 owler-1 owler-2 own-1 own-2 owse ox oy oyle ple pple py rkle ry sia sian sle ssia ssian ssion stion stle sy ther tious tle try ttle ty ty ub ubber ubble ubble ubby ube uble ubtle uce
103 104 142 105 103 104 105 62 105 149 107 181 114 134 190 190 190 191 190 191 154 154 190 155 155 155 185 190 191 158 188 190 191 190 191 192 85 86 86 190 86 69 190 190 173
vii ucial uck ucky uct ud uddle uddle uddy udle ue-1 ue-2 uff uffer
175 90 90 173 87 87 190 87 190 91 91 88 88
uffle uffy ug uggle uggy ugle uice ull-1 ull-2 um umb umble ume-1
89 89 174 190 174 190 173 92 92 93 93 190 170
ume-2 ump umption un unch unction undle ung unge ungle unk unny unt
170 168 185 94 118 185 190 144 181 161 145 94 178
uous up upe uple uptial uption urgle ury us use-1 use-2 ush-1 ush-2
188 138 171 190 175 185 190 152 136 97 173 141 141
Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
usk usque uss ussle ust
151 151 136 190 137
2
My Book of Rimes and More Rhymes
Notice is not ice. Not ice is not notice. We notice good service by a novice. Good service is no vice.
Have fun with rimes and rhymes!
Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
3
-AB
See Unit 1, Lesson 1 /AB/
/AB-z/
/AB-d/
-AB /AB ing/
cab ----------------------------------------------------------------------------Available later on in Unit 1
scab tab stab dab crab drab
Not available until Unit 6
cabs scabs tabs stabs dabs crabs
stabbed dabbed
stabbing dabbing
Babs
---------------------------------------------------Words available in later units
Unit 2
gab grab
gabs grabs
gabbed grabbed
gabbing grabbing
---------------------------------------------------Unit 5
jab
jabs
jabbed
jabbing
---------------------------------------------------Unit 6
lab slab flab nab
labs slabs
/AB ee/
/AB eez/
cabby tabby shabby flabby crabby grabby
cabbies tabbies
nabs
nabbed
/AB ee ur/ shabbier flabbier crabbier grabbier
Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
nabbing
/AB ee ist/ shabbiest flabbiest crabbiest grabbiest
4
-AD
See Unit 1, Lesson 1 /AD/
-AD
/AD-z/
/AD id/
/AD ing/
Available Unit 2
Available Unit 3
Available Unit 6
ads adds
added
adding
ad add bad cad dad sad
cads dads
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Available in later units
Unit 2
fad Brad brad
fads Brad’s brads
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Unit 5
had
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Unit 6
lad glad clad mad
lads
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Unit 7 pad /AD ee/ daddy caddy lady /AD ur/ adder ladder stepladder bladder madder sadder
pads /AD eez/ daddies caddies ladies /AD urz/ adders ladders stepladders bladders
padded /AD eed/ caddied
padding /AD ee ing/ caddying
/AD ist/
maddest saddest
Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
madly sadly
5
-AR
See Unit 1, Lesson 2 /AH’r/
/AH’r-z/
bar car scar tar star
bars cars scars tars stars
-AR
/AH’rd/
/AH’r ing/
Available Unit 2
Available Unit 6
barred
barring
scarred tarred starred
scarring tarring starring
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Available in later units
Unit 2
far afar
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Unit 5
char jar
chars jars
charred jarred
charring jarring
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Unit 6
mar par spar radar /AH’rm/ arm disarm harm farm charm alarm /AH’r mur/ farmer charmer
mars pars spars
marred parred sparred
marring parring sparring
/AH’rm-z/ arms disarms harms farms charms alarms /AH’r murz/ farmers charmers
/AH’rm-d/ armed disarmed harmed farmed charmed alarmed
/AH’rm ing/ arming disarming harming farming charming alarming
Note: The word are rhymes with all the –ar words. The –are rime rhymes with air and dare. See –ard Family p. 7 for rimes that rhyme with arred starred.
Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
6
-AT
See Unit 1, Lesson 3 /AT/ at bat rat sat cat scat
-AT
/A-tss/
/AT id/ Unit 2
/AT ing/ Unit 6
bats rats
batted ratted
batting ratting
cats scats
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Available in later units
Unit 2
fat
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Unit 5
hat chat that
hats chats that’s
chatted
chatting
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Unit 6
flat mat Nat gnat
flats mats Nat’s gnat’s
matted
matting
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unit 7
Pat pat
Pat’s pats
patted
Copyright © 2006 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
patting
Let’s Write Right
Manuscript & CursiÌí Lesson Plans & Reproducible Student Work Sheets
FÉü Hoöe Study Learning
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Let’s Write Right (AVKO Sequential Spelling Level A)
Home School Edition A Research-Based Method Designed Specifically to Teach Reading and Spelling Skills through the Backdoor of Penmanship Exercises by Don McCabe Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation 3084 W. Willard Road, Clio MI 48420-7801 Telephone: (810) 686-9283 FAX (810) 686-1101 www.avko.org email:
[email protected]
2
Penmanship as a Means of Teaching Reading/Spelling Skills About the only thing that most learning-to-read theorists agree upon is that writing should be involved. Some involve writing more than others. But writing (whether original or group composition) always assumes the ability of your children to make the letters. What AVKO is trying to do is to use the legibility approach to handwriting as a means to improve reading and spelling skills. Handwriting does not have to be pretty to be understood. But handwriting must be legible in order to be correctly read. This set of AVKO Sequential Handwriting books (Let’s Write Right plus Rimes and More Rhymes) may be used as a complete course in and of itself. However, we believe it will be most effective as a part of whatever language arts curriculum is already in place. We believe that if you, the parent, devote just the first ten minutes of every class hour to AVKO Sequential handwriting, your children will learn to read and write English using their regular texts much faster. As long as practice is necessary to achieve what Professor Downing described as "automaticity," we might as well learn something besides just letter formation along the way. For example, sloppiness in handwriting can cause confusion between the and . If the is too close together it looks like the letter . words If the upstroke of the doesn't cross through the end of the beginning stroke then combination, the will look like a . So, when we practice writing and the consonant blend as well. we could be practicing the spelling or the reading of the
dear
d
clear d cl
cl
d
d cl
cl
We know that if children are told to write a word fifteen times to learn how to spell it, it doesn't work. But through the magic of misdirection, if children are and knowing they are going to be graded on the legibility they practicing tend to concentrate more. The following is a sample exercise to illustrate this point.
cl-
d-
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
3
Unit 2 Lesson 2.
Objectives: G g G g *
Letters
Onsets
Rimes
Words
Page PES/RMR/LWR*
Gg
ggrbr-
-eg -ag
egg beg bag tag sag stag rag brag
112/14/15 111/15/15
Review: ABCDEF -- RST abcdef -- rst z New Words Using Old Rimes: gab grab grabbed
Tell your children that when their dad gets home they should tell him that today they learned to read and write the words: egg, rag, brag, and tag. The following is a script you may follow until you are comfortable with the AVKO materials and the AVKO techniques. Now, ask them to take out their Let’s Write Right book and open it to page 15 Unit 2, Lesson 2. Go to your dry erase board and write the capital G
saying:
To make the capital G we start just a little below the top line, curve back up to the top and curve down and around the bottom and then curving back up to the middle and then straight back half way. Trace the G in your book. Now, cover up the G and write two more capital G’s. *
* The first page number refers to the page in The Patterns of English Spelling where the complete word families (rimes) are listed. This resource book should be in every library. In case it is not in yours, you can order one from AVKO. See p. 150 for a sample page from this book. The second page number is for the page in the child's Rimes and More Rhymes. The third page number is for the page in the child's workbook, Let’s Write Right.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
4
Check to make sure your children have made the capital G correctly. Then go back to your dry erase board and write the lower case g, saying: To make the small g we start just below the middle line. Curve back up to the middle and back down and around back where we started. Then we slant back down below the base line and make a hook to the left. Trace the small letter g. Cover it up. Write two more small g’s. Now the letter g has only one name but it has two sounds. One sound is the sound you hear when you say its name, “JEE.” The other sound is the sound you hear both at the beginning and the end of the word gag. The sentence in your book is: Trace it.
GEE, SEE A BEE.
When your children have finished tracing it, tell them to: Cover it up. Now write:
GEE, SEE A BEE.
When your children have finished writing it, have them correct any errors they have made. Repeat the same procedure with the rest of the sentences. Your Notes:__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
5
Unit 3 Lesson 1.
New Rimes for Review *
Letters
Onsets
Rimes
Words
Page PES/RMR/LWR*
ABCDEFG abcdefg
rf-
-ed -eer
107/16/17 531/19/17
RST rst
frgr-
-ear
Ed red fed Fred Ted deer beer steer ear fear dear tear gear
531/18/17
Unit 3 has more lessons than most of the units. All six lessons are review lessons. No new letters are taught. However, new words and new rimes are used so that your children should not get bored from the repetition that is so vitally necessary to lock in letter formations into the kinesthetic (or mind/muscle/movement) memory. Your children will also be learning the sounds that letter patterns make. However, if you wish to skip this unit and come back to parts of it later, you certainly may. In fact, it may be necessary to push on with learning the rest of the alphabet just to keep pace with the regular text you are using to teach English to your children. You know your children and your class better than we do. Do what you feel is best for your children. The following is our suggested pattern for you to use to teach all the lessons in this unit. When you are ready to start your handwriting class, tell your children to open their Let’s Write Right book to the page their lesson is on. z Read the first line. You might want your children to read it with you or repeat the line after you. z Have your children cover up the words and write them. z Have your children uncover the words and correct any errors. z Repeat the process for each line. *
The first page number refers to the page in The Patterns of English Spelling where the complete word families (rimes) are listed. This resource book should be in every library. In case it is not in yours, you can order one from AVKO. See p. 150 for a sample page from this book. The second page number is for the page in the child's Rimes and More Rhymes. The third page number is for the page in the child's workbook, Let’s Write Right.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
6
z Tell your children that when their dad gets home they should tell him that today they learned to read and write the words written in the heaviest and boldest of print such as in today’s lesson: ED, red, deer, ear, and dear. For other activities you may want to use to help your children learn English as well as handwriting, see the appendix page 148. Your Notes:__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
7
Unit 3 Lesson 2.
New Rimes for Review *
Letters
Onsets
Rimes
Words
Review:
stdb-
-are
bare care scare
ABCDEFG RST
-ear
Page PES/RMR/LWR*
fare dare
523/21/19
bear tear
530/20/19
abcdefg rst
z NOTE: The word are rhymes with the -ar rime but the -are rime rhymes with the -air rime! This is probably a very good time to make sure your children know the difference between the spelling of a word and a spelling of a sound. The word "AH'r" is spelled are. The sound "AH'r" is spelled -ar. It seems that most of the most common words are not spelled the same as they sound. For example, the word "IZ" is spelled is but the sound "IZ" is spelled izz as in fizz. The word "DUZ" is spelled does, but the sound “UZ” is spelled uzz as in fuzz. Use the following procedure: At the beginning of the hour, have your children open their books to page 19. z Read the sentence. You may want your children to read it with you or repeat the line after you. z Have your children trace the sentence. z Have your children cover it up and write it from memory. z Have your children correct their own errors. Repeat the process for as many sentences as you can complete in ten minutes. Then go on to your regular English class work.
*
The first page number refers to the page in The Patterns of English Spelling where the complete word families (rimes) are listed. This resource book should be in every library. In case it is not in yours, you can order one from AVKO. See p. 150 for a sample page from this book. The second page number is for the page in the child's Rimes and More Rhymes. The third page number is for the page in the child's workbook, Let’s Write Right.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
8
Unit 3 Lesson 3.
New Rimes for Review
Letters
Onsets
Rimes
Words
*
Page PES/RMR/LWR*
ABCDEFG abcdefg
brtr-
-et -eet
bet set Bret beet feet street
RST rst
strgr
-eat -eat (2)
eat beat treat great greater greatest
132/22/21 427/23/21 427/24/21 427/--/21
Tell your children that when their dad gets home they should tell him that today they learned to read and write the words: get set feet street eat treat. Use the following procedure: At the beginning of the hour, have your children open their books to page 21. z Read the sentence. You may want your children to read it with you or repeat the line after you. z Have your children trace the sentence. z Have your children cover it up and write it from memory. z Have your children correct their own errors. Repeat the process for as many sentences as you can complete in ten minutes. Then go on to your regular English class work. Your Notes:__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ *
The first page number refers to the page in The Patterns of English Spelling where the complete word families (rimes) are listed. This resource book should be in every library. In case it is not in yours, you can order one from AVKO. See p. 150 for a sample page from this book. The second page number is for the page in the child's Rimes and More Rhymes. The third page number is for the page in the child's workbook, Let’s Write Right.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
9
Unit 3
Lesson 4 New Rimes for Review
Letters
Onsets
Rimes
ABCDEFG RST abcdefg rst
t-
-ace
Words
*
Page PES/RMR/LWR*
ace face race brace trace
343/25/23
Use the following procedure: At the beginning of the hour, have your children open their books to page 23. z Read the sentence. You may want your children to read it with you or repeat the line after you. z Have your children trace the sentence. z Have your children cover it up and write it from memory. z Have your children correct their own errors. Repeat the process for as many sentences as you can complete in ten minutes. Then go on to your regular English class work. Tell your children that when their dad gets home they should tell him that today they learned to read and write the words ace face and race. Your Notes:__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
*
The first page number refers to the page in The Patterns of English Spelling where the complete word families (rimes) are listed. This resource book should be in every library. In case it is not in yours, you can order one from AVKO. See p. 150 for a sample page from this book. The second page number is for the page in the child's Rimes and More Rhymes. The third page number is for the page in the child's workbook, Let’s Write Right.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
10
Unit 3
Lesson 5 New Rimes for Review
Letters
Onsets
Rimes
Words
ABCDEFG RST abcdefg rst
st-
-age
age cage rage stage
*
Page PES/RMR/LWR* 327/26/25
Use the following procedure: At the beginning of the hour, have your children open their books to page 25. z Read the sentence. You may want your children to read it with you or repeat the line after you. z Have your children trace the sentence. z Have your children cover it up and write it from memory. z Have your children correct their own errors. Repeat the process for as many sentences as you can complete in ten minutes. Then go on to your regular English class work. Tell your children that when their dad gets home they should tell him that today they learned to read and write the words age and cages. Your Notes:__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
*
The first page number refers to the page in The Patterns of English Spelling where the complete word families (rimes) are listed. This resource book should be in every library. In case it is not in yours, you can order one from AVKO. See p. 150 for a sample page from this book. The second page number is for the page in the child's Rimes and More Rhymes. The third page number is for the page in the child's workbook, Let’s Write Right.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation
Sequential Spelling for Adults Pattern
> Base Word
> Builds to:
in e ee ip ate ace
> skin > be > agree > slip > date > place
> skinny > being > agreement > slippery > liquidate > replacement
Completely Cross-Referenced to The Patterns of English Spelling by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Sequential Spelling 1 for Adults Only
by Don McCabe Research Director AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation 3084 W. Willard Rd Clio, Michigan 48420-7801 Telephone: (810) 686-9283 FAX: (810) 686-1101 e-mail:
[email protected] URL: http://www.avko.org/
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Faye Lapp, Director, Tuscola County Literacy Volunteers .............................. 5 Directions ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Tests for Grading or Evaluation Purposes ............................................................................7-8 Sample Student Response Pages ............................................................................................. 9 Word Family Taught
Key Word
-in -e -ee -up -ood -out -en -it -old -et -ove -ay -ar -ime -at -an -and -all -og -ike -ig -ear -eer -ice -ut -oy -id -air -ow -over -ed -ome -aw -y work-ong
in he see up good out ten it old get love day car time that can and all dog like big year deer ice but boy did air how over red home saw my work long
Difficulty Rating 1.00 1.05 1.10 1.10 1.10 1.05 1.10 1.10 1.10 1.15 1.15 1.15 1.15 1.15 1.20 1.35 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.30 1.30 2.75 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.35 1.35 1.35 1.35 1.35 1.40 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45
Builds to
skinny being disagree supper wooded shouting seven sitter scolding upsetting lovers dismayed disbarred timing scattered cannery expanded installment groggy disliked trigger spearing steering slicing buttered enjoyment splendid repairing allowing clover shredded gnomes outlaws complying unworkable belongings
Lessons
Page
1-5 1-5 3-5 6-10 6-10 6-10 6-15 10-20 10-20 21-25 21-25 26-30 31-35 31-35 36-45 36-45 42-50 46-50 46-50 51-55 51-55 56-60 56-60 61-65 61-70 61-70 66-75 71-75 71-75 76-80 76-80 76-80 76-85 81-85 81-85 81-90
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10-11 10-11 12 12 12 13 13 13-14 13-14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16-17 17 17 17 17 17 17-18 18 18 18
The numbers after the key words represent the relative ease of learning the key word based upon a scale of 1.00 being the easiest to learn to 21.00 being the most difficult.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
4 Word Family Taught
Key Word
-une -ope -one -ix -ew -ack -oom -ust -end -em -ame -ad -other -un -on -eek -art -ow -ot -ool -ood -ea -ouse -ost -oil -ive -ive -ttle -im -ight -eet -eat -ox -own -o -oe -ine
June hope stone six new back room must end them came bad mother fun on week part show hot school food tea house most oil give five little him night feet eat box down ago toe line
Difficulty Rating 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.60 1.60 1.60 1.60 1.60 1.60 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.70 1.70 1.70 1.70 1.70 2.10 1.70
Builds to
Lessons
immune telescope postponing fixed renewing attackers brooms readjusting suspenders stemmed ashamed ladder smothered runners conned cheeks charter slowest blotter drooling moody plea housing almost toilet liver survived battleship swimmer fighter greetings defeated boxers nightgown piano tiptoes defining
86-90 86-90 91-95 96-100 96-100 96-100 101-105 101-110 106-120 111-115 116-120 121-125 121-125 121-125 126-130 126-130 126-130 131-140 131-145 141-145 141-145 141-145 146-150 146-150 146-155 151-155 151-155 156-160 156-170 161-170 161-165 166-165 166-170 171-175 171-180 171-175 176-180
Page
18 18 19 19 19 19 20 20 20-21 21 21 22 22 22 22 22 22 23 23-24 24 24 24 24 24 24-25 25 25 24-25 25-26 26 26 26 26 27 27 27 27
The numbers after the key words represent the relative ease of learning the key word based upon a scale of 1.00 being the easiest to learn to 21.00 being the most difficult.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
6
DIRECTIONS or Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Say the word. Use it in a sentence. Say the word again. Have the student/s attempt to spell the word. Give the correct spelling of the word. Go heavy on the praise. Light on the criticism. If an error is made, have the student fix the word. Go on to the next word using the same routine.
ATTEMPTS:
It is vital that the student write down at least some letters that he/she thinks will appear somewhere in the word. Even one correct letter is a beginning; it gives the student something to build on.
ERRORS:
Treat errors matter-of-factly. Do not let your student feel guilty or embarrassed. A student cannot learn from mistakes unless they are made. Mistakes are opportunities to learn. Some students are so afraid of making mistakes that they want to wait for the correct spelling and then copy it. DON’T LET THEM. They may want to use a previous test for reference. Again, DON’T LET THEM. They must learn to rely on their own abilities which will improve with these lessons.
FEEDBACK:
The steps above allow you to give INSTANT FEEDBACK, JUST LIKE A COMPUTER. By correcting each word immediately, the student will have a better chance of getting the next word right. Some students learn faster by spelling the word aloud as they correct it. (The O or ORAL method of learning in AVKO. The A in AVKO is Audio, V is Visual, and K is Kinesthetic.)
PACE:
Keep the student/s working rapidly. Even your favorite piece of music can become boring if it is played too slowly. If you do not dwell on mistakes, your student/s will soon worry less about making them.
FREQUENCY:
Every meeting with your student should include a quick ten minute spelling lesson. Depending on your student’s goals and motivation, you may conduct a second, or even a third and fourth lesson at the same meeting. Ideally, the student would have someone at home give him a lesson each day. This helper should follow the same directions.
REVIEW:
You may want to repeat a lesson or part of a lesson if your student has trouble catching on.
STUDY:
The student should NOT study the words or try to memorize them before the lesson. The lesson itself is the learning process.
HOMOPHONES:
In some lessons, italics are used to mark words that sound alike but have different meanings. Depending upon your student/s, you may or may not wish to introduce these words to them.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
7
TESTS TO DEMONSTRATE LEARNING (Or to Evaluate Progress) The exercises below may be used as pre-tests and post-tests to determine starting level and to show progress. When used as a pre-test, you may elect to skip those families that are known. INSTRUCTIONS: Photocopy the column on the right for the student/s so all they have to do is fill in the missing letters -- which is what you should be primarily concerned with. Give the word. Use the word in the sentence provided. Give the word again. Have the students fill in the missing letters. QUIZ OVER LESSONS 1-60 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
chin cup woods shout when splitting scold upset stray barred overtime battery planning stalling smog strike digger hear cheerful patting
Name ______
Your baby has the cutest dimple in its chin. Let’s have another cup of coffee. We’re not out of the woods yet. You don’t have to shout! I’m not deaf. When are we going to finish this? I have a splitting headache. I hate it when I have to scold my kids. Don’t let this test upset you. Did you see that stray dog? We were barred from entering the building. We won the game in overtime. My flashlight needs a new battery. What are you planning to do about it? I think he is just stalling for time. Los Angeles is noted for its smog. The carpenters’ union went out on strike. My grandfather was a ditch digger. I can’t hear you. Speak up. Are you always so cheerful in the morning? You can start patting yourself on the back.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
QUIZ OVER LESSONS 61-120 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
slicing putter employer kidding repaired allowed Rover wedding chrome clawed belongings prunes hoping postponed fixed chewed unpacked applied adjusting spending
A sharp knife makes slicing meat very easy. Tiger Woods bought a new putter. My employer just went out of business. I hope you’re just kidding me. Our roof needs to be repaired. Smoking is not allowed in here. Does anybody know a dog named Rover? My cousin wants to have a big wedding. My old Lincoln had a chrome bumper. My cat really clawed the dog. He lost all his belongings in the fire. My grandson just loves to eat prunes. I was hoping that you would come. The meeting was postponed until next week. You don’t have to worry. I fixed everything. Jack really got chewed out. The movers unpacked almost everything for us. My younger brother applied for his first job. The TV set needs adjusting. I never seem to have enough spending money.
ch _________ c __________ w _________ sh _________ wh ________ spl ________ sc _________ ups ________ str _________ b __________ overt _______ b __________ pl _________ st _________ sm ________ str _________ d __________ h __________ ch _______ ful p __________ Name ______
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
sl _________ p __________ empl _______ k __________ rep ________ all _________ R _________ w _________ chr ________ cl _________ bel ________ pr _________ h __________ postp ______ f __________ ch _________ unp ________ appl _______ adj ________ sp _________
8 QUIZ OVER LESSONS 121-180 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
ladder another sunny cheeks charter slowed plotting fooled fleas loused poster boiled living driving settled dimmed lighter meeting defeated clowning
You should never walk under a ladder. We should all love one another. My sister says she loves sunny California. My daughter has the cutest rosy cheeks. We really ought to charter an airplane. The traffic has really slowed down. I think they are plotting against us. That disguise never fooled anyone. My dog has fleas. Jack really loused up everything. Jack’s picture is on a poster. Do you like to eat hard-boiled eggs? I think Tom is living in the past. They need to take driving lessons. We need to get settled down in here. The lights dimmed just before it started. I don’t need a cigarette lighter. We don’t need another meeting. Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. I wish he would stop clowning around.
Name______ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
l __________ an ________ s _________ ch ________ ch ________ sl _________ pl _________ f __________ fl _________ l __________ p _________ b _________ l __________ dr _________ s _________ d _________ l __________ m _________ def ________ cl _________
Test for the learning of BEGINNING BLENDS and DIGRAPHS using words NOT in this series. GREAT as a PRE-TEST & POSTTEST to show REAL GAINS. Name______ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
freight slippery showers stripes breakfast through trade choppers clue blessing dreadful switch snicker thimble screeching pressed cradle sprees splashing place
Have you ever been on a freight train? After it snowed, the road got really slippery. April showers bring May flowers. My son put racing stripes on his car. I like to have French toast for breakfast. We will be through in about ten minutes. Who will the Tigers trade for that new pitcher? Why do they call helicopters “choppers”? Do you have any clue as to who really did it? It was a blessing in disguise. It made a dreadful noise. It was fun watching him make the switch. The audience began to snicker. There wasn’t enough water to fill a thimble. Everything came to a screeching halt. My suit pants need to be pressed. Have you ever rocked a cradle. My wife loves to go on shopping sprees. My boy loves splashing around in mud puddles. Can you save my place in line?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
______ eight _____ ippery _____ owers _______ ipes ____ eakfast ______ ough _______ ade _____ oppers ________ ue _____ essing _____ eadful _______ itch ______ icker ______ imble ____ eeching _____ essed _______ adle _______ ees _____ ashing _______ ace
9 Name __________________
Name ________________
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Mistakes Are Opportunities to Learn After correcting an answer, cover it up so you are not tempted to look back at words you have spelled. The object in this class is not to get “right answers.” The object in this class is to learn. We learn best from correcting our own mistakes. If we copy from ourselves and add an -s, -ed, or -ing as the case may be, we will not be giving our computer brains the opportunity to learn as it should. Permission to photocopy this page is granted only to individual volunteer tutors for usage with their students.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
10 SEQUENTIAL SPELLING I — FOR ADULTS ONLY Lesson 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
in (1.00) kin skin napkin grin bin fin chin gin pin spin sin thin shin tin win twin begin din I
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
ins I eye aye skins napkins grins bins fins chins gins pins spins sins thins shins tins wins twins begins he she
I eye aye me skinned he (1.05) grinned she the chinned ginned pinned we sinned thinned be bee wee see (1.10) fee tree knee
inning me skinning he grinning she the chinning ginning pinning spinning sinning thinning be bees winning sees beginning trees knees
inner me Skinner skinny grin bins fins chins gin pinned spinner sinner thinner shins tin winner see beginner Lee flee
HOMOPHONES: in, inn; ins, inns; I, eye, aye; we, wee, oui; be, bee; see, sea, si; sees, seas, seize; bin, been; flee, flea. Lesson 6 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
up (1.10) sup pup cup good (1.10) wood out (1.10) bout about pout spout rout sprout scout shout clout flout ten (1.10) men Amen
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Lesson 9
Lesson 10
ups sups pups cups goods woods outs bouts about pouts spouts routs sprouts scouts shouts clouts flouts tens pen open
upped supped puppy cupped goody woody outing trout about pouted spouted routed sprouted scouted shouted clouted flouted when pens opens
upping supping puppies cupping goodies Woody outings snout grout pouting spouting routing sprouting scouting shouting clouting flouting Len penned opened
upper supper pup cups good wood outer bouts about pouted spouts router sprouts scouting shouted clout flout pen penning opening
Words in italics are homophones. Words in bold letters represent the target words. HOMPHONES: wood, would; when, wen. The NUMBERS after the target words represent the relative ease of learning based on a scale of 1.00 being the easiest to 21.00 being the most difficult to learn.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Sequential Spelling 2 for Adults Only
by Don McCabe Research Director AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation 3084 W. Willard Rd Clio, MI 48420-7801 Telephone: (810) 686-9283 FAX: (810) 686-1101 URL — http://www.avko.org eMail:
[email protected]
3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Faye Lapp, Director, Tuscola County Literacy Volunteers .............................. 4 Directions ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Tests for Grading or Evaluation Purposes ............................................................................6-7 Sample Student Response Pages ............................................................................................. 8 Word Family Taught
Key Word
-ell -ave -ard -op -ill -ilk -ap -ank -ail -ale -ace -oon -ing -etter -age -ore -oar -ish -ip -ide -est -ent -ate -ast -ass -oss -ark -am -ort -irt -ire -ere -ead -ake -eak
bell gave hard stop will milk cap bank mail sale face moon thing letter page more oar fish ship side nest went state last class cross park am report dirt fire here head lake break
Difficulty Rating 1.70 1.75 1.75 1.75 1.75 1.75 1.80 1.80 1.80 3.70 1.80 1.85 1.85 1.90 1.90 1.90 ?.?? 1.90 1.90 1.95 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 3.25 2.00 2.00 2.05 4.85 2.05 2.30 2.05 2.10 8.15
Builds to
underselling misbehaving disregarded shopping distillery silkiest trapper tanker blackmailer females retraced afternoon humdinger lettering engagement bedsores soaring accomplishment equipment providing suggestion prevention communication blasting trespassing doublecrossed remarkable clammy extortion squirting expiration insincere dreadfully Quakers breakers
Lessons
181-190 181-190 186-200 191-200 196-210 201-210 201-215 201-220 216-225 216-225 221-230 221-240 231-245 231-240 241-245 241-255 246-250 251-260 256-265 261-270 266-280 271-280 276-360 281-285 286-295 296-300 301-305 301-310 311-325 316-325 326-335 336-340 346-350 351-360 351-360
Page
9 9 9-10 9-10 10-11 11 11-12 11-12 12-13 12-13 13 13-14 14-15 14 15 15-16 15 16 16-17 17 17-18 18 18-26 19 19-20 20 21 21 22-23 22-23 23-24 24 25 26 26
The numbers after the key words represent the relative ease of learning the key word based upon a scale of 1.00 being the easiest to learn to 21.00 being the most difficult.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
6 TESTS TO DEMONSTRATE LEARNING (Or to Evaluate Progress) The exercises below may be used as pre-tests and post-tests to determine starting level and to show progress. When used as a pre-test, you may elect to skip those families that are known. INSTRUCTIONS: Photocopy the column on the right for the student/s so all they have to do is fill in the missing letters — which is what you should be primarily concerned with. Give the word. Use the word in the sentence provided. Give the word again. Have the students fill in the missing letters. QUIZ OVER LESSONS 181-240 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
speller shaving regarding mopped spilled wrapped cranky letter sale misplacing spoon ringing scattered cluttered littered marooned trailed traced thanks snappy
I think you’re a pretty good speller. He cut himself while he was shaving. The letter was regarding his application. You were supposed to have mopped the floor. Tommy spilled catsup all over himself. We must have wrapped a thousand presents. My granddaughter was tired and cranky. Did you remember to mail my letter? I hope you bought it when it was on sale. I’m always misplacing things. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. My ears are ringing. The kids scattered the tools all over. Their room is cluttered with toys. The floor is littered with paper. We were marooned on a desert island. The Lions trailed the Bears by three points. We traced our family back four generations. Thanks for the memory. I love to hear snappy answers.
Name ______ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
QUIZ OVER LESSONS 241-300 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
snoring bored roared floors finished tripped slipper deciding collided arrested invented prevention honesty inquest questions skating relation missed glasses crossed
I can’t sleep when someone else is snoring. You wouldn’t be so bored if you did something. The race cars roared by. That building only has four floors. Have you finished your work? The little kid tripped and fell on his face. I am always looking for a missing slipper. Do you know what the deciding factor was? The two cars collided. It’s no fun getting arrested. Who invented the light bulb? Prevention is the best medicine. Honesty is the best policy. Quincy testified at the inquest. Any questions? I love to go skating. Is the owner any relation to you? It’s too bad you missed the boat. I think I’ll have to get a new pair of glasses. Do you know why the chicken crossed the road?
sp _________ sh _________ reg ________ m _________ sp _________ wr _________ cr _________ l __________ s __________ mispl_______ sp _________ r __________ sc _________ cl__________ l __________ mar ________ tr __________ tr __________ th _________ sn _________ Name ______
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
sn _________ b __________ r __________ fl __________ fin _________ tr __________ sl__________ dec ________ coll ________ arr_________ inv_________ prev _______ hon ________ inqu _______ qu _________ sk _________ rel _________ m _________ gl _________ cr _________
7 QUIZ OVER LESSONS 301-360 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
barking remarks relation slam rammed isolation translated assorted extortion shorter fascinating flirting inflation inspiring expiration inquiring sincerely interfering bedspread shaking
I can’t stand to hear a dog barking. This is not the time for smart remarks. Are they any relation to you? Don’t slam the door on your way out. Who rammed into the back of my car? It’s no fun being put into isolation. That book was translated into twenty languages. Gum comes in assorted flavors. Extortion is a serious crime. I am only a few inches shorter than you. Movie stars seem to live fascinating lives. Be careful. You’re flirting with disaster. My brother is worried about more inflation. A sermon is supposed to be inspiring. When is the expiration date on the warranty? Has anybody been inquiring about me? I sign all my letters, “Sincerely yours.” I wish you would stop interfering. The dog got our bedspread all full of hair. Our dog is always shaking hands with people.
Name ______ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
b __________ rem ________ rel _________ sl__________ r __________ isol ________ transl ______ ass ________ ext ________ sh _________ fascin ______ fl __________ infl_________ insp________ exp ________ inqu _______ sinc________ interf _______ bedspr _____ sh _________
Test for the learning of BEGINNING BLENDS and DIGRAPHS using words NOT in this series. GREAT as a PRE-TEST & POSTTEST to show REAL GAINS. Name ______ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
fraternity slanderous throttle shrapnel stretcher brittle Trilby Chattanooga blistering Cleveland drainage swindled snicker Thornton screeching practical creative splendidly sprawled plastic
Have you ever been inside a fraternity house? You should avoid making slanderous remarks. Casey Jones kept his hand on the throttle. Hawkeye found lots of shrapnel in the wound. Billy was carried off the field on a stretcher. Do you like peanut brittle? My favorite student was named Trilby. My parents were born near Chattanooga. It’s blistering hot during the day in the desert. Have you ever been to Cleveland, Ohio? Farmers are often concerned about drainage. This time the con man got swindled. It’s not polite to snicker. What did Thornton Wilder write? The car came to a screeching halt. Let’s be practical about it. Artists are supposed to be creative. I think we’ll all get along just splendidly. The kids fell asleep sprawled all over the floor. Army food tastes like plastic to me.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
_____ aternity ___ anderous _______ ottle ______ apnel ______ etcher ________ ittle ________ ilby ___ atanooga _____ istering ____ eveland _____ ainage ______ indled _______ icker _______ ilder ____ eeching ______actical ______ eative _____ endidly ______ awled _______ astic
8 Name __________________
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Mistakes Are Opportunities to Learn After correcting an answer, cover it up so you are not tempted to look back at words you have spelled. The object in this class is not to get “right answers.” The object in this class is to learn. We learn best from correcting our own mistakes. If we copy from ourselves and add an -s, -ed, or -ing as the case may be, we will not be giving our computer brains the opportunity to learn as it should. Permission to photocopy this page for usage with adults students is granted.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
9
SEQUENTIAL SPELLING 2 — FOR ADULTS ONLY Lesson 181 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Lesson 182
Lesson 183
Lesson 184
Lesson 185
fells tells smells bells hello wells swells dwells yells cave saves raves braves paves shaves slaves enslaves has hasn’t haven’t
felled told smelled belled jell dell swelled dwelled yelled caves saved raved braved paved shaved slaved enslaved had hadn’t hasn’t
felling telling smelling belling jells dells swelling dwelling yelling caved in saving raving braving paving shaving slaving enslaving having haven’t hadn’t
Bob Feller teller smeller belly jelly wells swellings dweller yellow caving in saver raving braver pavement shaver slavery enslaving having hasn’t haven’t
Lesson 186
Lesson 187
Lesson 188
Lesson 189
Lesson 190
foretell quell spell misspell shell sell undersell cell Nell wave stave concave behave misbehave grave engrave card hard regard disregard
foretells quells spells misspells shells sells undersells cells Nell’s bells waves staves saving behaves misbehaves graves engraves cards hardly regards disregards
foretold quelled spelled misspelled shelled sold undersold one-celled knave waved staved savings behaved misbehaved gravy engraved carded hardest regarded disregarded
foretelling quelling spelling misspelling shelling selling underselling cellar knaves waving staving savior behaving misbehaving navy engraving carding Mr. Harding regarding disregarding
foretold quelled speller misspellings shelled seller underselling cells knaves wavy staving saviors behavior misbehavior navies engraver cards harder regarded disregarding
fell tell smell bell (1.70) hell well swell dwell yell gave (1.75) save rave brave pave shave slave enslave have haven’t hasn’t
Words in Italics are HOMOPHONES: sell, cell; nave, knave; seller, cellar; wave, waive; in, inn; gel, gels gels, jells; told, tolled; sold, soled BRITISH SPELLINGS: behaviour, misbehaviour, saviour Words in bold letters represent the target words. The NUMBERS after the target words represent the relative ease of learning based on a scale of 1.00 being the easiest to 21.00 being the most difficult to learn.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
10
SEQUENTIAL SPELLING 2 — FOR ADULTS ONLY Lesson 191 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Lesson 192
Lesson 193
Lesson 194
Lesson 195
guard guards unguard unguards safeguard safeguards discard discards postcard postcards bard bards bombard bombards top tops stop (1.75) stops pop pops lop lops plop plops sop sops slop slops cop cops whop whops mop mops drop drops crop crops prop props
guarded unguarded safeguarded discarded lard didn’t bombarded topped stopped popped lopped plopped sopped slopped copped whopped mopped dropped cropped propped
guarding unguarding safeguarding discarding Swiss chard doesn’t bombarding topping stopping popping lopping plopping sopping slopping copping whopping mopping dropping cropping propping
guarded unguarded safeguarding discarded don’t won’t bombarded Mr. Topper stopper popper lopped plopping sopping sloppy copper whopper mopped dropper crops proper *
* The word proper does NOT double the p — even in property there is no double p!
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Lesson 196
Lesson 197
Lesson 198
Lesson 199
Lesson 200
shipyard stockyard graveyard churchyard boulevard BLVD retard clop flop shop workshop chop bop hop ill fill refill pill spill bill
shipyards stockyards graveyards churchyards boulevards BLVD retards clops flops shops workshops chops bops hops ills fills refills pills spills bills
shard placard Mr. Lombard didn’t weren’t can’t retarded clopped flopped shopped proper chopped bopped hopped don’t filled refilled doesn’t spilled billed
shards placards Mrs. Lombard doesn’t wasn’t couldn’t retarding clopping flopping shopping properly chopping bopping hopping won’t filling refilling weren’t spilling billing
shipyards stockyards Miss Lombard Ms. Lombard won’t shouldn’t retarded clopping flopped shopper property chopper bopper hopper didn’t filler refilled wasn’t Miss Spiller billed
Words in Italics are HOMOPHONES: billed, build; bard, barred; chard, charred Words in bold letters represent the target words. The NUMBERS after the target words represent the relative ease of learning based on a scale of 1.00 being the easiest to 21.00 being the most difficult to learn.
Copyright © 1998 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Individualized Keyboarding For Personal Typing & Word Processing
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Individualized Keyboarding for Personal Typing and Computing by Don McCabe Research Director
This edition is dedicated to the students of the Basic Typing Class Hewlett High School Hewlett, New York who have helped us learn from our mistakes
Copyright © 2007, 2006, 1990, 1984, 1981, 1976 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc. 3084 W. Willard Road, Clio, MI 48420-7801
Level One — Lesson 1
Introduces: a d l
Basic Letter Patterns (Or Combinations) Taught: all — ad — la- — daDirections: 1) Always follow your teacher’s directions. 2) If you don’t have a teacher and if you are using a typewriter, a) Place this book to the right of your typewriter on a bookholder. If you don’t have a bookholder, place something underneath it so that it is in a good reading position. b) Insert paper. If you don’t know how, don’t be afraid to ask someone how it’s done properly. c) Locate the home keys and place your hands very, very lightly on the proper keys, as per illustration. LEFT hand a — little finger s — ring finger d — middle finger f — index finger
RIGHT hand ; — little finger l — ring finger k — middle finger j — index finger
3) If you are right-handed keep your right thumb above the space bar and space automatically after every word or letter grouping. If you are left-handed keep your left thumb above the space bar and space with your left thumb. 4) Say each word — not just letters — to yourself as you type it. 5) Each line is to be typed three times before going to the next line: aaa lll aaa lll all all all all all all aaa lll aaa lll all all all all all all aaa lll aaa lll all all all all all all 6) Don’t worry about mistakes. Mistakes are opportunities to learn. If you don’t know how to pronounce a word or if you don’t know what it means, underline it on your paper (not the book) with your pencil. Learning is what counts in this class. Let your teacher help you. If you don’t have a regular teacher — the underlining is a signal to your computer brain that it has something to solve. And it will, if you will let it. Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
2
Level One
Lesson One Exercise A aaa lll aaa lll aaa lll all all all all ddd aaa ddd dad dad dad dad aaa lll ddd lad lad dad dad add Exercise B all add all add all lad lad all add lll aaa ddd lad lad ddd dad add aaa ddd add dad lll lad lll all dad Exercise C aaa lll all all lll aaa ddd lad lad aaa ddd ddd add add lll lad dad lll aaa ddd lad lad add aaa lll all Exercise D all all add add dad dad lad lad add dad lad all add dad lad all all dad all dad dad all dad lad all
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
3
Level One — Lesson 2
Introduces: s ;
Basic Letter Patterns (Or Combinations) Taught: ss (sass, lass) all ad ads Directions: 1) Keep your eyes on your book. Don’t look at your fingers! Don’t look at the keys. You must learn to feel the letters in your fingers. 2) Don’t worry about mistakes. 3) Type each line three times. Say the words to yourself—not just the letters. 4) Try some of the exercises with your eyes closed. For example, when you get to Exercise D, you can read, “a lad.” Close your eyes and type, “a lad.” Look at a couple more words. Close your eyes and then type them. 5) Sit in the ATTENTION position. The reason for sitting up straight has nothing to do with looking pretty or having good posture. The reason for sitting up straight is that how you sit affects how your computer brain operates and how you feel. If you lean back in your chair, your body position is telling your computer brain to shut off and get ready for sleep. If you don’t believe that how you sit affects your feelings, try this: a. Stand tall with your feet wide—WIDE—apart. b. Throw your shoulders back and put your hands on your hips. c. Cock your head with your chin up, up, up. d. Now say, “I’m sorry.” You can’t help but smile. You can’t say, “I’m sorry,” without it sounding funny.
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
4
Level One
Lesson Two Exercise A
sss ;;; sss ;;; sss aaa sass; sass; sass; sass; ;;; sss lll aaa lass sass; ddd dad; sad dad; ddd ;;; dad dads; lad lads; all lass; all lads; Exercise B ;;; sss aaa lass sass; all lads add lass; sass; sss adds dads lads; all all; lass; sass; a lad; all sad dads; all sad dads; add sad lads; Exercise C a lass; a lad; a dad; as a dad; as a lad; sad; ;;; sss aaa ddd lll ;;; all sad dads add; lass; as a lass; as a lad; as sad as a sad dad; all; Exercise D a lad; a dad; a lass; as a dad adds lads; alas; a lass; a lass adds; a lad adds dads; as a lad adds; as a lass adds; as dads add;
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
5
Level One — Lesson 3
Introduces: f t
Basic Letter Patterns (Or Combinations Taught: at fa fla sa ast ats asts alls Directions: 1) The letter t is struck by the f finger. 2) Don’t get upset just because you make a few mistakes. Remember: Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn. 3) Don’t erase your mistakes. 4) Don’t backspace and then type it over. Your time is precious. Don’t waste it making corrections. Use your time learning. 5) Remember: You must type EACH line THREE times. 1st time: Type it slow and steady. 2nd time: Type it a little faster but with rhythm. 3rd time: Type it a little faster still but with rhythm. 6) Type each line in each exercise in each lesson THREE TIMES. Exercise A on the next page looks like this:
On your paper it should look this:
fff fttf fttf aaa ttt at at at ffttf ffttf fat at fat fats; fl fl flat flats; ffttf ffttf fat; at; slat; slat slats; flat flats; sat fat;
fff fttf fttf aaa ttt at at at ffttf ffttf fat fff fttf fttf aaa ttt at at at ffttf ffttf fat fff fttf fttf aaa ttt at at at ffttf ffttf fat at fat fats; fl fl flat flats; ffttf ffttf fat; at fat fats; fl fl flat flats; ffttf ffttf fat; at fat fats; fl fl flat flats; ffttf ffttf fat; at; slat; slat slats; flat flats; sat fat; at; slat; slat slats; flat flats; sat fat; at; slat; slat slats; flat flats; sat fat;
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
6
Level One
Lesson Three Exercise A
fff fttf fttf aaa ttt at at at ffttf ffttf fat at fat fats; fl fl flat flats; ffttf ffttf fat; at; slat; slat slats; flat flats; sat fat; Exercise B fff fttf all fall falls; all tall stall stalls all tall; all tall stall; all fall falls; all tall; fast last; last fast; fast last; fast fast fast; Exercise C fff fad fads; ddd dad dads; lll lad lads; ttt at fat fats; flat flats; sat at fat; ;;; a fat dad sat; at last a fast lad; alas; Exercise D as fast as a lad; as fast as a lass; alas; as sad as a dad; as tall as a dad; fttf; all a tall stall; all a fall falls; at flat at;
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
7
Level One — Lesson 4
Introduces: j r
Basic Letter Patterns (Or Combinations) Taught: ar art ja ra Directions: 1) The letter r is struck by the f finger. 2) By the time you have finished this lesson, you should be able to read and spell correctly all of the following words: Pattern: Words:
Pattern: Words:
ar far tar star ad ad fad tad sad lad
ars tars stars ads ads fads tads
art art tart start
arts arts tarts starts
all fall tall stall
stalls
at at fat tat sat
ats
ass
ast
fats tats
fast sass lass
lads
alls falls
last
3) If there is a word that you don’t know (or are unsure of) underline the word on your paper with pencil before you hand it in. 4) Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn. But your teacher can’t help you learn a word if you don’t let your teacher know that you don’t know it. In this class, your grade does not depend upon hiding from the teacher what you don’t know. The emphasis in this class is on learning. 5) A line with mistakes in it is nothing to be ashamed of. 6) A perfect line is something to be proud of. 7) Try for speed and accuracy through RHYTHM. 8) Say all the words to yourself as you type each line THREE TIMES. 9) Don’t just type letters. TYPE WORDS.
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
8
Level One
Lesson Four Exercise A
jjj frrf jjj frrf; far; jar; far; jar jar jar; far jar; tar tars; star stars; jar jars jar; art arts; tart tarts; start starts; art art; Exercise B tar tars; star stars; jjj jar jar; jjj jar jars; fff; as far as a star; jjj jar jars; jjj; jar jars; all as tall as a tall dad falls; jjj; jar jars; Exercise C fff; as fast as a fast lad; a sad dad; jjj jar; jjj jar jars; tar tars; star stars; ;;; fff; far; a star starts fast at last; fff far; jjj jars; Exercise D at last a tall lad starts as a star starts; tar tart tarts; star start starts; stars start; fff; start as fast as a tall star starts; jjj jars;
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
9
Level One — Lesson 5
Introduces: f t
Basic Letter Patterns (Or Combinations) Taught: ack acks act acts ca Directions: 1) The letter c is struck by the d finger. 2) Do not use the f finger to strike the c unless your teacher gives you permission. 3) The d finger hits only the d key, c key, e key, and 3 key. 4) Don’t watch your fingers. Don’t look at the keys. 5) Keep your eyes on this book. 6) If you don’t know what a word is, underline it with your pencil before you hand in your paper. Let your teacher teach you what the word is. Believe it or not, teachers love to teach.
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
10
The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: Starting at Square One The only Handwriting/Keyboarding Curriculum that Teaches Reading & Spelling AS the Alphabet is Being Taught Using only Decodable Words
a b c d r s t
a baa a cab bad dad cad dab car bar bard card cabs scabs bass brass sass cars scars at bat sat rat tar star start cart carts tart…
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
The Teaching of Reading & Spelling Starting from Square One
The Only Handwriting/Keyboarding Curriculum that Teaches Reading & Spelling AS the Alphabet is being Taught with All Decodable Words.
by Don McCabe
2
Dedication This book is dedicated to: All the members of the AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation, and especially to the memory of two of its earliest members,
Mary Clair Scott without whose work and devotion to the cause of literacy the AVKO Foundation might never have gotten off the ground and
Betty June Szilagyi who was my first and by far my most important teacher and
Devorah Wolf without whose encouragement and commitment to the ideals of AVKO this edition would not be possible and to my family
Ann, Robert, Linda and Brian McCabe all of whom have sacrificed much of their time and energy helping AVKO grow and to you, the user of this book, may this book help you help others improve their reading and writing skills. Copyright © 2007 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation. Printed in the United States of America. Permission is hereby given to individual teachers, tutors, and educators to reproduce any page for that individual’s classroom use. Reproduction of these pages for entire schools or school districts is strictly forbidden. Publisher's Cataloging in Publication Data
McCabe, Donald J. 1. Reading–Miscellanea 2. Spelling–Miscellanea 3. Handwriting–Miscellanea 4. Curriculum–Miscellanea. Library of Congress Subject Headings: Reading, Spelling, Handwriting, Curriculum Library of Congress Classification Number: LB1050.2F79 Library of Congress Card Number: To be determined Dewey Decimal Classification Number 428.4 ISBN: 1-56400-000-1
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Table of Contents Unit 1: Mastering the A, B, C and D ...................................................................................................... 4 Unit 2: Mastering the R, S, and T ......................................................................................................... 15 plus the br, cr, dr, sc, scr, tr, st, and str blends2548 and the kn digraph plus the ay vowel digraph review of consonant blends with the ending y sounding as long I and as a long e. ................................................................................................................ 24 Unit 3. Mastering the Y Plus the vowel y and the ay vowel digraph Unit 4: Mastering the E ................................................................................................................ 32 and ee, ea, er, ey and the -ed endings Unit 5: Mastering the F ................................................................................................................ 45 plus the fr beginning blend and the ft ending blend Unit 6: Mastering the G ............................................................................................................... 54 plus the ge digraph and the gr blend Unit 7: Mastering the H ................................................................................................................ 64 plus ch, sh, and th and the gh digraphs and igh, eigh, ight, eight. Unit 8: Mastering the W ................................................................................................................ 72 plus wh, aw, ew and the dw and tw blends and the wr digraph Unit 9: Mastering the I ................................................................................................................ 79 plus the i_e, ib, id, if, ig, in, ai, ie, ei, igh, and eigh vowel digraphs ................................................................................................................ 89 Unit 10 Mastering the N plus the sn blend, the gn, and the nd, ng, nt, nth, nce, nts endings Unit 11: Mastering the J and K .......................................................................................................... 105 plus the ck digraph and the sk blend Unit 12: Mastering the L .............................................................................................................. 120 plus the bl, cl, fl, and gl blends and the –rl and –lt ending blends, the ddle, ffle, ggle, nkle endings. Unit 13: Mastering the M .............................................................................................................. 145 plus the sm blend and the rm and lm endings Unit 14: Mastering the O .............................................................................................................. 159 plus the o_e, oa, oe, oo, oy, oi, or, wor, and ow digraphs Unit 15: Mastering the P .............................................................................................................. 198 plus the pl, spl, sp, pr, spr blends and mp and pt endings Unit 16: Mastering the QU .............................................................................................................. 219 plus the u_e, ue, eu and –sque (sk) and –que (k) trigraphs Unit 17: Mastering the V .............................................................................................................. 251 plus the f/v switchy-switchies and the lf/lve endings Unit 18: Mastering the X .............................................................................................................. 268 .............................................................................................................. 278 Unit 19: Mastering the Z Rationale for AVKO’s Concept of Teaching Reading, Writing, Keyboarding and Spelling AS the Alphabet is Taught Rather than AFTER ................................................................... 287 Rationale for AVKO’s Sequence of Letters to be Taught: ABCD (RST Y) EFGH (W) I (N) J K L M O P Q U V X Z.................................................................................................. 288 AVKO Techniques for Teaching Phonics as manuscript and cursive is taught. ................................ 290 Rationale for Exposing Students Immediately to a Variety of Fonts Including Cursive ..................... 293 A Handwriting Overview by Bill Morelan ............................................................................................ 294 Teaching Letters of the Alphabet, Single Words, Phrases with Flashcards ...................................... 300 Teaching with Sentences ................................................................................................................... 302 Decodable Words Available by Units an Overview ............................................................................ 303 General Lesson Plans with Measurable Behavioral Objectives......................................................... 306 Possible Regular Daily Activities ........................................................................................................ 307 Directions for combining Keyboarding with Handwriting .................................................................... 309 Directions for making the letters......................................................................................................... 312
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Unit 1: Mastering the A, B, C and D Unit Objectives See p. 303 Unit 1, Lesson 1 Letter A "AY" Word ("uh") Set your timer for 15 minutes. When it dings, stop. Do something else. Return to the lesson later on during the day. Please never do more than four 15-minute sessions during one day. At your dry erase board where you have your alphabet strip which could look like this show the letter A: A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
I
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
Well, the alphabet strip should look almost like this. However, each letter should be covered. The reason is simple. You want your students to keep focused on what they are learning. You do not want them to react to the alphabet strips the way they do to wallpaper. So now, you just uncover the letters A and a. This strip happens to be D’Nealian® but it could just as well be Getty-Dubay Italic, Barchowsky Fluent Hand (BFH), Abeka, Peterson, Palmer or whatever handwriting system you intend to teach. As our D'Nealian® font may not be one of your fonts, you can always change it to the manuscript or cursive font you wish to teach. The important thing to do WHEN you first start to teach is to cover ALL the Letters except the letter A so that it looks like this:
A a The name of this letter is "AY." What is the name of this letter? (Get a good loud response of "AY!") Now, when this letter (whose name is "AY") is all by itself, it is a word. Does anybody know what this word is? If the student you call on answers, "AY," tell the student that his answer was a good guess, but wrong. Tell him it is "uh." You can then hold up pictures that you have made and put on cards that might look like this:
ab
ah
al
am
A book
A hat
A ladder
A mouse
You can print on the back of the card the word so that you know what the students should be reading. You might ask your students to answer the questions and hold up the appropriate card.
5 What is this? They should answer "This is a book.” Or you can have them fill in the response when you ask, "Would you like to read ________?” Please point out that if they say "AY" book, it means that one book is all they would like to read. When we say "AY" instead of "uh" the meaning of the word does change.
The name of the letter is "AY." The word is "uh." You can now have your students practice writing the letter A. It might be wise to have paper especially made so the students can connect the dots or go between the dotted lines or trace the letter. The exercise should look something like this:
A A A A A AAAAA AAAAA or
or
1. Writing the Manuscript Letter, Upper Case and Lower Case. You may use the scripted directions or use your own. You're the teacher. You know your students.. Use the directions for making the letters according to the method you are using. You can use fonts from http://www.educationalfontware.com/ and find links to all the major publishers of handwriting systems. You might also want to check out the Pencil Pete's animated illustrations of how to make a letter at: http://www.jjmdesigns.com/ Your kids just might love them. 2. Keep the accent on legibility. If, for example, you decide to use D'Nealian® and your student finds it difficult to make the start of a "monkey tail" or "hook" at the end of a letter, don't make a scene. Just have it end straight down at the line just as Getty-Dubay does it. If you or your student don't like the Capital Q in the system you're using because it looks too much like the number 2, don't use it. There is no law that says if you teach Palmer that you can't slip in a letter formation from Getty-Dubay Italic, Peterson, or D'Nealian® or any other recognized system of handwriting. Make sure that your students are all holding their pencils correctly and making the correct strokes to make the letter A. If, because the student has a physical deformity or disability, a student cannot hold the pencil properly, you might want your student to use Don Thurber's glass cutter pencil grip. The pencil lies between the index and middle finger with the thumb going underneath. The following are the directions for the "AVKO" manuscript which is very close to D'Nealian®. "Start at the top. Slant back down to the bottom. Lift and go back to the top where you started and then slant forward a little and go to the bottom. Lift and go to the middle of your first line. Go straight to the right and stop when you get to your second line.” If you are working with very beginning students, you might want to read from Dr. Seuss's ABC book, which goes: “BIG A , little a, What begins with A? Aunt Annie's alligator A a a.” If you’re working with older students who need to improve their handwriting, don’t even think about doing that. You are the teacher, do what you know works the best. What we are doing is providing you with a scientific ordering of the teaching of the letters and providing 100% decodable words available as the lessons progress. You can also have your students practice a letter connecting search in which they circle or highlight all the Big A's (Upper Case A's or Capital A's) and/or draw a line through all the other
6 letters. The search and destroy mission should not have too many letters. For this unit we suggest just using ABCD. The letters can be in different fonts such as those found on page 294. When you are working one to one and have a portable dry erase board, you might want to make the letter for a small student very large like this:
A The square represents an 8½ x 11 inch dry erase board. Remember you can whatever handwriting font you choose. For a source of all major handwriting fonts go to http://www.educationalfontware.com/ and find links to all the major publishers of handwriting systems. Have the student trace over it with a different color dry erase pen. Work for doing it smoothly and rapidly. When the student has the large upper case A and the lower case a down pat, reduce the size a little and have the student trace over a slightly smaller large A and a. Continue tracing until it is done smoothly and rapidly. Then keep reducing the size until it becomes the normal size for the printed A and a.
Aa If you would like to have computer animation and have your student see what it looks like to make the letter a, you might want to check out several different websites that you can reach from (here we go again giving free publicity) http://www.educationalfontware.com/.
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Unit 1, Lesson 2 Letter B Its name is "BEE." The sound this letter makes is the sound that you hear at the beginning and ending of Bob, bib, and Babe. Or "buh" Set your timer for 15 minutes. When it dings, stop. Do something else. Return to the lesson later on during the day. Please never do more than 4 15-minute handwriting sessions during one day. This notice will not be repeated. ☺ Please note that we know that a large percentage of teachers of phonics and phonemic awareness are against the concept of adding the vowel called schwa ("uh") to a consonant to give its sound. If you can follow their advice and do it, fine. If you don't understand how to teach a consonant without adding the "uh" sound, don't worry too much about it. Chances are that your student will learn how to smooth out the "buh" "ruh" "a" "tuh" into brat, anyway. And for those who are appalled by this method, please remember that we don't advocate it. The way we present words (such as at, bat, at rat, brat) avoids the problem of adding non-existent schwa sounds into the words. At your dry erase board where you have your alphabet strips you should uncover the letters B and b so that it looks something like this:
A B a b A B a b The name of this letter is "BEE." What is the name of this letter? (Get a good loud response of "BEE!") Its sound is what you hear at the beginning and ending of Bob. Everybody say, "Bob." Notice how you form your lips before you say Bob. Say, Bob. Say "Bee." Point to the letter B and ask, “What is the name of this letter?” Then ask, “What is its sound?” If any student says, "BEE," gently correct the student. You're almost right. Its name is "BEE," but its sound is the first sound of the word BEE or BEN or Bob or Boy. Or you can just say "Buh." Now, when we put this letter (whose name is "BEE") in front of the letters A and A, we get a word. Does anybody know what this word is? It's BAA as in "Baa, baa Black Sheep, Have you any wool?" You can then hold up word cards that you have made and have them read "bah."
baa
baa
Baa
baa
baa
8
BAA
Baa
Baa
BAA
baa
If you make your own alphabet cards with at least five of each letter, you might want to have your students sort the letter cards by fonts. Having all five of each together like this:
aaaaa AAAAA aaaaa AAAAA aaaaa AAAAA aaaaa AAAAA aaaaa AAAAA bbbbb BBBBB bbbbb BBBBB bbbbb BBBBB bbbbb BBBBB bbbbb BBBBB You can now have your students practice writing the upper case (capital or Big B). It might be wise to have paper especially made so the students can connect the dots or go between the dotted lines or trace the letter. The exercise should look something like this:
BBBB BBBB BBBB or
or
Make sure that your students are all holding their pencils correctly and making the correct strokes to make the letter B following either these directions or the directions of the handwriting system you are teaching. "Start at the top. Slant back down to the bottom. Come right back up to almost where you started. Then curve right up to the top and curve back around to the middle of your main line. Then back out and curve down and around to the bottom of your main line." When you are working one to one and have a portable dry erase board, you might want to make the letters B and b for a student very large like this: Remember the first B is to be the size of this sheet of paper.
B Have the student trace over it with a different color dry erase pen. Work for doing it smoothly and rapidly. When the student has the large upper case and lower case b’s down pat, reduce the size of the letters a little and have the student trace over them
Bb and continue tracing until it is done smoothly and rapidly. Then keep reducing the size until it becomes the normal size for a printed B and b.
Bb
9 Now have your students do at least one line of BAA, Baa, and baa. If you want to have your students learn cursive while they are learning manuscript, we have no objection. If you don't, that is no problem either for us, but we do recommend that you show your students how the words and letters they are learning look in the different cursive fonts. Whether or not they ever learn to write cursive, they certainly will be expected to read notes and letters written by a variety of friends, relatives, employers, and fellow employees in a wide, wide variety of styles of cursive. And, no, we are not getting a kickback from www.educationalfontware.com
Keyboarding (Optional): General instructions on p. 309 Set your timer for 15 minutes. When it dings, stop. Do something else. Return to the lesson later on during the day. Please never do more than 4 15-minute keyboarding sessions during one day. This notice will not be repeated.
Decodable Sentences for Reading, Copying, Dictation, and/or Keyboarding: None available yet, but just you wait. They start with the next lesson:
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Unit 4: Mastering the letter E Unit Objectives to be read to your students: See p. 305. Strokes to Use Making Manuscript Letter E and/or Cursive Letter E See p. 314. The phonics for the letter E, see p. 292 Alphabet Chart see p. 314
Unit 4, Lesson 1 Letter E "EE" BASIC WORDS: be bee see tree Power Words: be bee see tee tree reed breed deed seed reseed beet street deer beer career seer cedar
bees sees tees trees reeds breeds deeds seeds reseeds beets streets a deer’s beers carets seers cedars
treed bred deeded seeded reseeded
seedy
seeder
seeders
NAMES: Caesar Caesar's Seder ("SAY dur") Seders Dee
Note the word Caesar is just about the only word in English in which the ae combination is used. be
Óí
tree
see
street
BE
BEE
tree
see
STREET
33 If you make your own alphabet cards with at least five of each letter, you might want to have your students sort the letter cards by fonts. Have all five of each together. Then you can have them read from flash cards and/or spell the words in the lesson.
To save space, we will stop mentioning this activity. We don't think you need to be reminded every lesson that this is an activity you can do.
Keyboarding (Optional): Decodable Sentences for Reading, Copying, Dictation, and/or Keyboarding: 1. See a bee. A bee sees a tree. 2. Dee sees Cedar Street. 3. Be a bee? 4. See a street. 5. See a car. 6. See a streetcar. 7. Bart Starr sees a streetcar. 8. Art Carr sees a bee. 9. A star sees a cat scat. 10. BART STARR SEES STARS.
More Decodable Sentences: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
See a bee. A bee sees a tree. Dee sees Cedar Street. BE A BEE? BE A BEET? SEE A STREET. SEE BEETS. See a car. See a streetcar. Bart Starr ãees a ãtreetcar. Art Carr ãees a Óíe. A star sees a cat scat.
10. BART STARR SEES STARS.
Remember, you can make your own decodable sentences. You don't have to use ours. We suggest that you make your own and to use a variety of different fonts.
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Unit 4, Lesson 2 e as part of the ea digraph: The letters ea make the sound of the long E when they occur at the end of a one syllable word and often in the middle of a word. The long E is the sound you hear at the end of sea, flea, tree, spree, agree, etc. and at the beginning of eat, ease, east, ear, and easy.
NEW BASIC WORDS: sea tea read eat ear POWER WORDS: sea tea read bead eat seat treat retreat beat ease tease east The East beast yeast ear tear sear
seas teas reads beads eats seats treats retreats beats eases teases
read beaded ate seated treated retreated
ready∗ beady
eased teased
easy
reader
readers
eater
eaters
teaser
teasers
treaty
beasts ears tears sears
seared
Be sure to point out that beat and beet are homophones (or homonyms as they used to be called when I was in school back in the 1930's). Be sure to point out that read and read are heteronyms. One rhymes with red and the other rhymes with reed.
NAMES:
∗
Bea Bea's Betty Betty's Sears Easter
ready rhymes with Reddy, Teddy, and steady.
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Decodable Sentences for Reading, Copying, Dictation, and/or Keyboarding: 1. Ray treats daddy's cat to a red beet. 2. Bart says to eat a beet. 3. Art says Bart eats beets. 4. Art's car beats Bart's carts. 5. A CAT EATS A BAD RAT. 6. Dad treats cats. Cats eat treats. 7. A bad brat eats a cat’s ear? 8. A BAD RAT EATS A CAT'S EAR. 9. A deer Üats a Ñrab's Üars?!? 10. A béd Ñat ate Red’s béts.
More Decodable Sentences 1. Ray eats treats. Ray reads. Ray’s a reader. 2. Ray teases Bart. Bart says to eat a beet. 3. Art teased Bart. Bart eats tea at sea. 4. Art's car seats cats. A cat eats seats at sea. 5. RATS AT SEA. SEE CATS EAT RATS AT SEA 6. At ease. Stay at ease. Easy. East? Yeast? A beast? 7. Ears? A bad brat cries easy tears. 8. A READER READS. READERS READ. 9. Bea ate beets at sea. Bea beats beets. Ray seated Bea. 10. Bea teases a teaser. A beast at ease. Ears, tears, Sears..
Still More Decodable Sentences: 1. Ray Streeter treats Tad’s dad to red beets. 2. Bart says to seat a beet. 3. Bart says Art beats beets. 4. Art's car seated Bart's bad cats. 5. BETTY SEARS ATE A CAT’S EARS. 6. Daddy's cats ate a bad crab. 7. A bad crab ate a dab ear? 8. A BAD BRAT EATS A DEER’S EAR. 9. A deer ate a Ñrab's Üars?A steer’s ears!? 10. A béd brat steers a car. Remember: Your students might enjoy creating their own sentences using the words they have learned.
154 Review of BASIC onsets and rimes available using only the letters abcdefghijklmn _ _ _ rst_ _ w_ y_ with a few example each: Onsets and rhymes introduced in this unit are in BOLD Review of Onsets b as in bl as in br as in c as in ch as in cl as in cr as in scr as in d as in dr as in dw as in f as in fl as in fr as in g as in g as in gl as in gr as in h as in j as in k as in l as in m as in s as in sl as in sm as in sn as in st as in sh as in shr as in sw as in th as in th as in tr as in str as in tw as in w as in wag wa as in swa as in war as in wh as in whar as in Rimes Available b ab eb ib be abe ibe
A Few Examples beam bad Bart baa bed bee big bag ball beam better blame black bleed blast blew blister bream Brad bread bridge brass breed bred brawl brim cam came calm cat cab car cart case call calf cast chamber chat cheer cheese check chill chime cherry clam claim Clem climb climber class clear click clash cream cram crab creed craft crash cradle creek creak creel scream scram scramble screech scratch dam dim dad did dare dart dear deer deal dealt desk dream dreamt drag dry dries dried dress drake drill dwarf dweeb dwell dwelling family families farm fame fast fat far feed fed fib fell fall fill flame flag fly flick flair flare flea flee flake flat fleet frame free fry fries fried frisbie frail freak freed frisk game get gas geese gab gal gate gem gym germ German Germany Gerry Gerald glimmer glass glasses glad glib glade glide glister grim Grimm grime great grate grab grits gram grim grass ham harm helm hat her his hit he hard Hal hale hail hell held hall jam Jim Jimmy Jack Jerry Jay Jake jeep jeer Jill Kim Kimberly Kate Kerry kit kite Kelly kitty kitties lam lamb lame lime late last leak let like lie list may men miss mean mark mall mama mayhem member Sam same seem sat see sit sad sift sail sale seal slam slime slacks sly slip slide sled slats slate slack small smell smile smack smirk smear smart snare sneak sneer snack snicker sneakers snarl stem stammer star stare stairs stab stage stall still sham shame shim she share shade shady shed shall shark shred shredded shredders Shrek shrill shriek swam swim sweet sweat sweater swill swig swagger them that there their they’re this the thee thy theme thief thistle thick thigh thimble trim tram tree trade tribe track trail try trick treat stream street straight strait strict tweet twist twin twine twill wigwam water wade wet wig wag were weird week was water wad was wigwam wall swat swatter swab swallow ward wars warred warm warmer warmest what why where which wham wheel wheat wharf Example Words Available cab web fib jab lab flab tab stab rib crib babe bribe McCabe tribe
155 bble abble ibble ble able eeble ible ce ace eece ice ck ack eck ick ckle ackle eckle ickle cle acle icle ycle ct act ect ict d aid ead ead eed de ade ede ide dge adge edge idge ddle addle eddle iddle dle adle idle e ea ee f af ef if f aif eaf eaf eef fe afe ife ff aff eff iff ffle affle iffle fle ifle ft aft eft ift g ag eg ig ge age gh eigh igh ght eight ight gle eagle ggle aggle iggle k eak eak eek awk ke ake ike l al el il ld ald eld ild ild le ale ile lf alf elf ilf lk alk elk ilk ll all ell ill lm alm elm ilm lse alse else lt alt elt ilt m am em im mble me ame eme ime mmer mmel mel amel r ar er ir r air ear ear eer eir rb arb erb rch arch earch irch rd ard erd eard ird re are ere ire rf arf erf rge irge rl arl erl earl irl rm arm erm irm rt art ert eart irt
babble dribble scribble table cable fable feeble Bible terrible playable mace mice ace Greece rice race trace fleece slice Mickey tack check tick rack deck lick slick wreck tackle heckle tickle stickler treacle icicle bicycle tricycle cycle act direct strict react redirect fact tact maid raid seed bead bread feed afraid laid lead made fade cede recede ride bride jade shade Madge badge edge bridge ledge sledge ridge meddle middle saddle riddle fiddle ladle idle cradle me be he she tree sea see flee flea glee free ref if waif deaf sheaf beef leaf safe strife life wife miff staff tiff whiff stiff Jeff raffle whiffle rifle trifle raft heft theft sift lift shift raft draft craft rift drift Mag Meg MIG bag beg big tag stag keg leg gig rig brig age cage stage rage gage weigh high sleigh sigh nigh might weight right height freight fright eagle beagle haggle gaggle giggle meek steak leak seek break sleek weak week hawk make mike bake bike rake drake shake take stake like Mabel gal Hal label rebel libel mild meld bald held build student wild weld male female mile whale file stale tile stile while half calf elf self shelf milk chalk talk stalk walk balk elk silk walk stalk mall mill tall tell still stall call wall bell well dwell calm helm helmet film false else malt melt Milt halt felt silt filter kilt kilter helter-skelter ham hem him Sam wham whim shim stem amble gamble tremble thimble ramble assemble game theme time blame flame shame scheme dime hammer trimmer glimmer shimmer stammer Trammel Himmel Camel mar car tar star far her sir stir fir fair chair hear bear deer their fear rear heir air stairs carb herb march arch search research birch besmirch card herd heard bird hard third 3rd mare mere mire hare here hire fire stare scarf serf (homophone of surf) merge Marge charge dirge large marl Carl girl farm germ firm harm mart Bert heart dirt cart start shirt
156 rty arty erty earty irty s as as es is se ase ese ise sh ash esh ish sk ask esk isk sm asm ism ss ass ess iss st ast aist east est ist ste aste stle astle estle istle t at et it t ait eat eat t eat eet ight tch atch atch etch itch te ate ete ite th ath eth eeth eath eath ith the athe eathe eethe ithe ther ather eather ether tle itle tter atter etter itter ttle attle ettle ittle w aw ew y ay ey y ye ie i
Marty Gerty hearty dirty as gas yes is his this miser misery base these rise mash fresh dish rash trash lash flash wish swish mask ask task desk risk brisk whisk whisker whiskey chasm chrism mass mess miss missed bass Bess hiss lass kiss mast mist fast waist east best fist list whist haste waste chaste taste castle wrestle whistle trestle mat met bat bet bit hat hit jet lit slit slat flat flit meat beat wait great beet might meet sweat sweater right sheet match Mitch hatch watch sketch itch stitch mate mete mite date fate Pete bite Kate kite rate crate slate math meth myth bath Beth teeth death wreath with lath bathe breathe teethe tithe Mather rather weather whether ether title matter batter better bitter latter letter litter scatter mettle battle cattle tattle settle kettle little maw mew draw drew law claw threw chew strew flew may day grey gray key my by baby fly cry bye dye die lye lie ski
287
Rationale for AVKO’s Concept of Teaching Reading, Writing, Keyboarding and Spelling AS the Alphabet is Being Taught – NOT AFTER When students start school (even home school) it is normal for them to want to learn to read and write – right NOW. Many students don’t want to wait and wait and wait and wait while the alphabet is being taught to them. They want to read right now. But no, traditional methods dictate that they must wait. Right now is not the time. First they must be taught the names of the 26 letters of the alphabet. This seems reasonable enough until we remember that each letter of the alphabet has many different appearances. Not only is there the upper case A and the lower case a, but there is the italic a and a as well as the D’Nealian manuscript A and a, the D’Nealian cursive A and a , or the stick-ball A and a and as well as more than a hundred different printed fonts and as many different handwritten styles as there are writers. So when you get down to the exact number of different written symbols for the 26 letters of our alphabet, there are well over 300 that must be learned. Now, that’s quite a chore. It’s no wonder that so many students have trouble learning to read and write when they enter school. What AVKO proposes is a very simple common sense approach. Let’s teach the alphabet slowly and as we teach the names of the letters, teach the sounds they make and how these sounds make words. We can teach the concept of reading words left to right and top to bottom AS we teach the alphabet.
What we want the students to learn is that it is the letters that make the sounds that make the words – not the “picture” of the word. Teachers who employ the sight method of teaching reading often create problems unintentionally. For example the word PROBLEMS written in caps does not have the same picture as problems in lower case (Notice that only the letter o has the same shape in both upper and lower case) and the word proèôems looks entirely different in cursive.
PROBLEMS, problems, Proèôems, problems But since as an educated adult you can read these words, let's put you in the position of a student learning to read with sight methods. Assign any meaning you wish to the following scrambled words, three of which are real words and one is not: Rpbalbeo could be carrot. Rpblmseo could be horse. Rpntesed could be barn. Rpblmaeo could be garage. All you have to do is see how fast and accurately you can teach yourself using sight methods to respond correctly to these words. These mean carrot
These mean horse
These mean barn
These mean garage
RPBALBEO rpbalbeo rpbalbeo RpbélÓío
RPBLMSEO rpblmseo rpblmseo üpbômseÉ
RPNTESED rpntesed rpntesed üpntesed
RPBLMAEO rpblmaeo rpblmaeo rpbômaeo
Now that you know these words, match them quickly. Color all the carrots orange, the horse brown, and the barn red in the grid below.
rpblmaeo rpbômseo rpntesed RPBALBEO
RPBLMSEO rpbômaeo rpbélÓío rpntesed
RpbélÓío rpblmseo RPNTESED rpblmaeo
rpblmseo RPBLMAEO rpntesed Rpbalbeo
We’ll bet you didn’t even try. Too frustrating, perhaps? The basic rationale remains the same for teaching remedial reading or teaching English as a second language. What many teachers fail to realize is that the names and the sounds of the letters in our
288 alphabet are often not the same in other languages that use the Roman alphabet. For example, the name of the letter A can be “AH” and the name of the letter E can be “AY” and the name of our letter “EYE” can be “EE!”
Rationale for AVKO’s Sequence of Letters to be Taught Beginning with ABCD (RST Y) EFGH (W) I (N) JKLM_OPQ_ _ _ U V _ X _ Z. Because knowledge of alphabetic order is essential in using dictionaries, telephone books, and filing cabinets, we feel that the learning of alphabetical order and sequencing should be taught AS we learn the alphabet. Mastering the lyrics to the alphabet song may be a fun activity but it isn’t much help if we must sing the song almost all the way through at least three times to have some idea where the name Smith is to be found in a phone book. We do take a few of the very common letters out of order deliberately. Those are RSTYWN. This is to help increase the number of available common words to be read and written. If we followed strict alphabetical order, we couldn't have plurals of any word or the sh digraph or the words is or was until 19 letters have been taught. We couldn't have words like at and cat until 20 have been taught. And we wouldn't be able to write by or baby until we have taught 25 letters. The letter A gives us the word “uh” as in a house, a car, a home, a dog, a cat, etc. The letter B gives us the word “BAA” as in “Baa, baa, black sheep have you any wool?” The letter C gives us the words CAB and cab. The letter D gives us the words DAD, dad, BAD, bad, DAB, dab, CAD, and cad. The letter R gives us the words CAR, car, BAR, bar, BARD, bard, CARD, card CRAB, crab The letter S gives us the words CABS, cabs, SCAB, scabs, CARS, cars, SCARS, scars, DADS, dads, SAD, sad, CADS, cads, DABS, dabs, CRAB, crabs, BASS, bass, CASS, Cass, CAST, cast. The letter T gives us the words AT, at, TAT, tat, TATS, tats, TAB, tab, TABS, tabs, STABS, stabs, BAT, bat, BATS, bats, RAT, rat, RATS, rats, TAR, tars, STAR, stars, TART, tarts, START, start, STARTS, starts, CART, carts, BART, Bart, DART, dart, DARTS, darts,
Have you noticed that all these letters and words involve left-hand keystrokes?! If you teach keyboarding as you teach handwriting as you teach spelling and reading you will be actively involving both hemispheres of the brain. Up until the letter y, the only right hand keyboarding is the space bar, comma, period, and enter. The letter Y gives us the words bay, day, ray, bray, tray, batty, catty, tarry, starry, Cary, carry, Bary, Barry, yard. Notice that all the words are phonically regular. All the initial consonants (onsets) are regular. All the word families (rimes) are regular. The students quickly learn that the letter a, however, has no sound of its own. The sound of the letter a depends upon its neighboring letters. If it has none (as in the case of the word a) its sound is “uh.” If the letter a is followed by the letters, b, d, s, or t, it is a SHORT A (CVC rule). If the letter a is followed by the letter y or its identical twin the letter i, it is a LONG A (Two vowels walking rule). If the letter a is followed by the letter r it is pronounced “ah” (The R Control rule). The word “carry” only appears to violate the R Control rule. Starry and carry do not rhyme. Why? Look at the base word in starry. It’s star. But there is no single syllable base word in carry so it’s an “airy” word as in marry, Harry, and Larry. See more about that later on. Or see the chapter "The Mechanics of English Spelling" in The Teaching of Reading and Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College. This book is available from the AVKO Foundation. The letter E opens up the suffixes ed and er plus words with the ea and ee vowel digraphs plus the eb, ed, ert ess, est, et families. The letter F gives us the words starting with F and FR and the aff, eff, aft, eft families. The letter G gives us words such as gas, gab, etc. along with the gr words grab and the ag and eg families.
289 The letter H gives us the words that start with H, CH, CHR, SH, SHR, TH, THR and the atch, etch, ath, eth, ash and esh families. The letter W gives us the words that start with W and WH as well as the AW and EW vowel digraphs. It also gives us the W Control over the letter A. Note: According to the CVC rule wad should rhyme with dad, but it doesn't. The WControl also fights with the R control over the letter A. War does not rhyme with car nor ward with card. The letter I gives us the ib, ibe ick, ice, ide, iff, ife, igh, ight, eight, ir, ird ire, irt, is, iss, ise, it, ite, ith families as well as the ai digraph for the aid, aif, air, aise, ait families. Over 5,000 words are now available with only 14 letters, all of which get daily reviews of their names, sounds, and patterns. The letter N now allows us to add the ing ending to all the families we have already learned. The letter N also gives us the n, gn, kn, and sn onsets plus the ain, an, and, ander, ane, ang, ange, ank, ant rimes plus the en, end, ender, ength, ent, ean, ien, in, ind, inder, ing, ink and ine equivalent rimes. And on we go. Each new letter now opens up new sounds which make new words while we review automatically the earlier letters and sounds that we can now use to make even more new words. The letter J gives us the words beginning with J which combines in one way or another with most of the previous letters. The letter K gives us the words beginning with k plus the ack, ake, eck, eek, eak, eke,ick, ike, iek familes. The letter L gives us the L, BL, CL, FL onsets and the al, ald, ale, alf, alk, all,alm, alt, awl, el, eal, eel, eil eld, elf elk ell, elm, elt, ewel, il, ild, ield, ilf, ilk, ill, andle, indle, ankle, inkle rimes. The letter M gives us the words beginning with m and the sm blends plus the aim, alm, am, ame, arm, eam, eem, elm, eme, im, ime, ilm, rimes. The letter O gives a review of all the ending consonants and consonant blends cited above but with the vowel o, oa, and the oo digraphs to make new rimes and rhymes. It also gives us a review of the wcontrol which operates on the letter o as well as on the letter a as in won, wonder, wool, and wood. The r control also comes into play with the letter o as in for, ford, cord. And we have the war between w and r over the o. Note that the only way we spell the sound "wur" (except in the word were!) is wor as in word, work, worth. Notice the normal r control is affected. Word does not rhyme with ford, nor work with fork, or worth with north. The letter P opens the p, sp, pr, spr, pl, spl ph phr sph onsets as well as the p, pe, rp, pt, rimes using the a, e, ea, ie, ee, ea, i vowels. The letter Q is taught simultaneously with the letter u as the consonant digraph with the "kw" blend sound as well as the squ onset. Then the U is taught as part of the previous rimes with the addition of the eu, ue, and ui vowel digraphs and the un prefix. The letter V gives us the v onset plus the alve, ave, eave, eeve, eve, ive, ieve, ceive, ove, oave rimes. The letter X gives us the silly x onset for the sound of “z” as in xylophone and the ax, ex, ix, ox, and ux rimes and the ex prefix. The letter Z gives us the z onset plus the ending z rimes altz, azz, aze, azzle, eltzer, ez, ezz, ezzle, iz,izz, izzle, oz, ozzle, uzz, uzzle and the –ize verbs such as specialize which most frequently are –ise verbs in British English as is the word specialise.
AVKO Techniques for Teaching Phonics AS manuscript and cursive is taught AVKO recommends that you make sure that your students know the difference between the NAME of the letter and the different SOUNDS they make. The following are statements that you can make WHEN (and only when) you get to teaching each of the letters. Do NOT do all of these at one time! As each letter is introduced, you will be referred to this page. A The NAME of this letter is “AY.” When it’s a word it is pronounced “uh” as in a house, a dog, a cat, a cup, etc. In all other cases, how the letter A is pronounced depends upon its neighbors.
290 B The NAME of this letter is “BEE.” Its sound is what you hear at the beginning and ending of the words Bob, Bib, and Bub. (or “buh”) You may want to use the techniques developed by Lindamood Bell or other techniques that you know from experience will work with your students. C The NAME of this letter is “SEE.” Its sound is usually ‘’kuh” when followed by a, o, or u as in cap, cop, or cup. It can also sound as “s-s-s” when followed by e or i as in city or cent.
Special Note: In big words ("FANCY") when the letter c is followed by i and endings -al, -on, and -ous, the letters ci are pronounced “sh-h-h” as in special and suspicion and precious. D The NAME of this letter is “DEE.” Its sound is what you hear at the beginning and ending of the words dad, dead, deed, died, did, and dud. (or “duh”) R The NAME of this letter is “AH’R.” When a word starts with the letter r its sound is what you hear at the beginning of the words, rat, rip, rot, rug, and room. (or “ruh”). When a word ends in r its sound is what you hear at the end of car, bear, cheer, and sir. (or “ur”) Note: Some dialects drop the “R” sound at the ends of words so that the word car is pronounced “KAH” instead of “KAH’r. They also sometime stick in an “r” sound where it doesn’t belong as in America being pronounced “uh MAIR uh kur. S The NAME of this letter is “ESS.” Its sound is what you hear at the beginning and end of the words sis and sass (or “s-s-s”). T The NAME of this letter is “TEE.” Its sound is what you hear at the beginning and ending of the words tat, tot, toot, and tote. (or “tuh”) Y The NAME of this letter is “W’IE.” When it starts a word its sound is what you hear at the beginning of the words yes, yet, yell, yip, yam, yacht, and yummy. When it is at the end of a one syllable word it is pronounced “IE” or EYE as in by, cry, try, sly, fly, and dry. However, if the word has more than one syllable and it ends in y it is pronounced “EE” as in baby, pantry, and laundry. There are linguists and phoneticians who will insist that the sound is that of a short i, but we find it easier to teach both reading and spelling when we call it a long e. As you are the teacher, take your pick. E The NAME of this letter is “EE.” Its sound (if any) depends upon its neighbors. F The NAME of this letter is “EFF.” Its sound is what you hear at the beginning of fee, fi, foe, fum, fit, five, fingers, fast, for fun or at the ending of calf, Jeff, stiff, off, and stuff. (or “fuh”) G The NAME of this letter is “JEE.” Its sound is either soft or hard. When it’s hard it’s the sound you hear at the beginning and ending of the words gag and gig. (or “guh”) When it’s soft it’s the sound you hear at the beginning of words such as gym, gee, George, gem, and gentle. (or “juh”) H The NAME of this letter is “AY’ch.” Its sound is usually what you hear at the beginning of words such as hat, hard, hot, ham, his, and hut. (or “huh”) When h is preceded by c, g, s, t, or w it becomes part of a digraph. See digraphs below. When the letter h follows a vowel and ends a word it is silent but functions as a signal letter for the “AH” or “OH” sounds as in bah and oh. W The NAME of this letter is “DUBBLE YOO. AVKO considers the single u and the double u (w) to be like naughty identical twins who like to switch identities just as the I and Y do. Sometimes the vowel u takes on the role of the consonant w. Sometimes the consonant w takes on the role of the vowel u. When the w is a consonant its sound is what you hear at the beginning of words such as water, wall, win, will, and was (“wuh”). When the letter u is a consonant it has the same sound. Examples are suite (“sweet”) and suede (“swayed”). When the double u (w) is at the end of a word it is always part of a vowel digraph such as aw, ew, and ow. I The NAME of this letter is “AH’ee” or EYE. Its sound (if any) depends upon its neighbors. N The NAME of this letter is “EN.” Its sound is what you hear in front and back of the words Nan, nine, and nun (or “nuh”). J The NAME of this letter is “JAY. Its sound is what you hear at the beginning of words such as Jim, June, Judy, joy, and jump (or “juh”). Note: If the word has a Spanish derivation, it’s sound is “huh” as Jose (“hoh ZAY”), Jesus ("Hay Zoo-ss") and La Jolla ("luh HOY yuh"). K The NAME of this letter is “KAY”. Its sound is what you hear in front of the words kick, Kate, and kin and what you hear at the end of words such as back, sick, tock, and stuck. (or “kuh”) L The NAME of this letter is “ELL.” Its sound is what you hear in front of words such as lip, lot, little, Lulu, lone and loon and what you hear at the ends of words such as ball, tell, still, gull, and coal (or “luh”). M The NAME of this letter is “EM.” Its sound is what you hear in front and back of mom and mum (or “muh”).
291 O The NAME of this letter is “OH.” Its sound (if any) depends upon its neighbors. P The NAME of this letter is “PEE.” Its sound is what you hear at the beginning and ending of pop, pope, and pup (or “puh”). Q The NAME of this letter is “KYOO.” It’s sound is what you hear at the beginning of words such as cat, Kate, and quick (or “kuh”). Q almost always is followed by the letter u which in this one case almost always has the sound of “double u“ (w) as in beginning sounds of the words wit, wad, walk, win and won. There are no words in the English language that use the letters kw. But there are lots of qu words with that sound as kw such as quit, quite, quack, quiz and quarrel. In words straight from Arabic the q is pronounced as /k/ as in Iraq. U The NAME of this letter is “YOO.” Its sound depends upon its neighbors. V The NAME of this letter is “VEE.” Its sound is what you hear at the beginning of the words van, very, voodoo, and voice and at the ending of the words have, cave, stove, love and live (or “vuh”). Notice that we just don’t like to end words with the letters u and v. X The NAME of this letter is “EK-ss.” When it starts a word other than X-ray, its sound is what you hear at the beginning of words such as xylophone xylocaine, and zoo. Most of the time it has the same sound as a k followed by an s and the ends of words such as mix, (Mick’s), tax (tacks), and lox (locks). Z The NAME of this letter is “ZEE.” When it starts a word, its sound is what you hear at the beginning of the words, zip, zap, and zoo. When it ends a word it sounds like what you hear at the ending of fuzz, does, and was! There are a number of good ways to teach the sounds of each letter. If you want to use the traditional concepts of short vowels (a, e, i, o, u), long vowels AY, EE, YH (eye), OH, and YOO, it shouldn’t hurt too many students, but... Technically, one of the long vowels does NOT say its name, and that is the long u. The long vowel is OO as in “Ooh, I knew who was singing that tune in the Blue Moon.” When we have words like cute (“kYoot”), few (“fYoo”), and beauty (“bYOO tee”), the vowel does say its name (“YOO”) only because there is what we like to call an “invisible y.” If we can have silent letters, why not invisible letters? (See "The Case of the Invisible Y" in The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College) AVKO also would prefer that you teach vowels as sounds and not just as the names of letters. Teachers and books normally say A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y and W are called vowels. But that is NOT quite true. Check your dictionary as to the real definitions of vowels and consonants. After you’ve done that and got yourself confused with all the linguistic jargon, here is a translation into plain simple English: Vowels are grunts. When man first developed a form of speech it was from simple grunts. Aaaaa, ahhhh, ohhhhh, ooohhhh, Ayyyyyy, etc. Consonants are shapers. Put a t shaper at the end of the aaaaa grunt and you get the word at. Put an m shaper in front of at and you get the word mat. Depending upon the linguist you are talking to, you will get different answers to the question, “How many vowels are there in English?” Some will say 13, others will say 21 or more. AVKO uses a pragmatic fiction of 14 because we found it quite convenient for arranging words by patterns. AY, EE, IE, OH, OO are the long vowels; a, e, i, o, u (and the schwa) are the short vowels. AW, OW, OY, and UU (as in put) are the other vowels that are neither long nor short. As the r-controlled vowels can easily be handled within the fourteen vowel structure, we do it that way. There are some teachers who feel they must teach –are as in care separately from the LONG A families, because in truth the a in care, stare, and mare does not say its name. The sound is precisely a SHORT E. Ouch! That’s a bit confusing. It may be technically incorrect, but It’s more understandable to young students to treat the –are as a member of the VCe family. The same is true with the E, I, O, and URE families. As there are so many English dialects, we have tried to stay as close to the Standard American TV dialect as possible. Perhaps the most noticeable differences in dialects are in the vowel sounds. We know that there are even distinguished professors of phonics such as Professor Patrick Groff who has claimed in a personal letter to the author that Don and Dawn are homonyms (homophones) as well as dock and dark! We respectfully disagree. We respect his dialect but not his assumption about Standard American TV dialect. Except in a very few dialects such as the Cockney dropping of h’s and the Limerick substitution of /t/ for /th/, the consonant (shapers) are nearly identical. That is why we at AVKO do not spend a great deal of time on individual sounds of vowels but a great deal of time on the vowel sounds in patterns which include the highly consistent consonants (shapers). Examples of just the letter a's consistency and supposed inconsistencies. The word "a" is pronounced "uh" (the ubiquitous schwa) as in "a house."
292 The letter a in ALL small words ending in the letter a such as ma, pa, spa, ha, fa, la, ta-ta, cha-cha and Zha Zha is pronounced "AH." In some dialects it is “AW”, especially in those dialects that do not discriminate between “ah” and “aw” as in Don and Dawn. The ending letter a in almost ALL big words is pronounced "uh" as in mama, papa, Cuba, America, Asia, Indonesia, Alexandria, pasta, etc. Big or Fancy Words are those words that cannot be reduced to one meaningful syllable. Fisherman can be reduced to “fish” but official cannot. Hence fisherman which has 9 letters we consider to be a small word (“simple”) and official which has 8 to be a big or fancy word. In some dialects the ending letter a (“uh”) is pronounced “ur” as in “Hah’ vud’s” pronunciation of Cuba as “kyoo bur.” The letter a in ALL small words (CVC) ending in -ag is a “short a” and so all –ag words rhyme. Examples: bag, rag, brag, lag, flag, gag, hag, shag, nag, snag, tag, stag, sag, wag, etc. The letter a in ALL small words (CVCe) ending –age is a “long a” and so all small words ending –age rhyme with cage, page, rage, stage, etc. The letter a in ALL big words (FANCY) ending -age is pronounced as a “short i” or as “AH”. Big words ending age either rhyme with bridge as does message or Taj as does massage. They never rhyme with page. The letter a in ALL small words (CVVC) ending -ain is a “long a” and so all small words ending –ain rhyme with pain such as do rain Spain main plain. The letter a in most big words (FANCY) ending -ain is pronounced as a “short i”and big words ending –ain usually rhyme with tin as in mountain, certain, fountain, captain, etc. The letter a in ALL small words ending -ace is a “long a” and so small words ending –ace rhyme with chase as in face, space, lace, etc. The letter a in almost ALL big words ending -ace is pronounced as a “short i” and big words ending – ace usually rhyme with miss as in palace, furnace, menace, etc. The letter a followed by double l's in ALL small words is pronounced "AW" and words ending -all rhyme with crawl as in all, small, tall, and wall. The letter a in Almost all OA words is silent (a signal letter) making the oa sound as "OH" as in boat. The letter a in EA words is silent (a signal letter) making the ea sound as "EE" as in meat or "AY" as in steak or "EH" as in sweat or swear. Note: The letter e is often sounded "AY" and in fact that is its name in French, Spanish, and German. The letter a in AU and AW words is pronounced "AW" as in taught and crawl. The letter a in EAU and EAUX and AUX words has no sound of its own. These letter combinations produce "OH" except in the words beauty and beautiful in which case the letters ea sound as /y/ and the u as /oo/. The letter a when followed by the letter r (R-Control) has the "AH" or "AW" sound depending upon one's dialect. In other words, words such as car, far, jar rhyme with the name of the letter R with one exception. See W-Control 2. W-Control 1: Whenever the letter w precedes the letter a, the a is pronounced "AH" as in wad, swaddle, waft, waffle, wallow, swallow, Guam, wan, swan, wand, want, swap, wasp, water, squad, squat, swat, swatter, etc. (Note: The letter u usually becomes the consonant /w/ when it is followed by the letter a.) W-Control 2: Whenever the letter r follows the letters wa- we have a "WAR" between the W- and -R controls and a compromise is made. War words rhyme with the word OR as in war, wart, ward, warm, swarm, quart, etc. This should be sufficient to demonstrate that the letter a does not have "one" consistent sound within all words but does have consistent sounds depending upon the word pattern (or its neighboring letters).
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Rationale for Exposing Students Immediately to a Variety of Fonts—Including Cursive Since AVKO’s beginning in 1974, we have dealt almost exclusively with older students and adults who, despite the best of traditional teaching methods and materials, had severe reading and spelling problems. It was from analyzing how these problems came about and from analyzing what we did to overcome them, we have come to the conclusion that all students should be taught to quickly and automatically respond to letters (or combinations of letters) as sounds that make up words that have meaning. We feel that both sight methods and analytic phonic methods can create problems. We have had students who could read the Dolch word goes when it was flashed to them on a card but could not read the word goes when it was in a sans serif font such as Arial or hand printed goes or written in cursive as GÔís.. Often the word was misread as does. Does goes look like does or GOES, goes, goes, goes and gÔís? See what we mean? Here at the AVKO Reading Clinic we have conducted simple demonstrations that clearly show that fonts make such a difference that poor readers or non readers can not successfully handle a very simple word recognition test such as the following: Because you are a good reader, you can circle the two words that are the same in each line. But give this to one who is not a good reader and watch what happens!
NEXT STAMMER LADLES FLICEKR FASTER
Nest stammar Ladlz Flicker Easter
NEXI
Nest
NETS
SLAMMER
Slammer
SHEMMER
LADIES
ladus
ladies
FLCIKER
Flicker
FLICKRE
FASTFR
FASTEN
EASTER
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The following was copied directly with permission from Bill Morelan's website for one scholar's points of view concerning different handwriting systems: These are his opinions.
HANDWRITING OVERVIEW Introduction Those who work with young students just learning to write face an increasingly difficult task– how to choose an effective handwriting curriculum from a wide variety of methods and styles. Complicating this process is the fact that today’s highly persuasive sales campaigns do not necessarily go hand-in-hand with solid, researched-based curricula! The importance of choosing an effective handwriting curriculum cannot be underestimated. It’s a choice that will shape a student’s habits and abilities for life. This site is dedicated to helping teachers, parents, and curriculum committees make accurate, informed assessments of handwriting curricula and their claims. (The author acknowledges in advance a definite bias toward programs based on research rather than rhetoric.) In order to simplify style comparison, the various programs have been divided into categories. However, each program should be evaluated on its own merits rather than its inclusion in any particular group. Groupings are as follows: Traditional Handwriting: Palmer • Zaner Bloser® • A Reason For® • McDougal-Little® • Harcourt Brace® Italicized Handwriting: D’Nealian® • Getty-Dubary™ Other Programs: Abeka® • Peterson Directed ® This site concludes with a Reference Section listing major articles and pertinent research related to evaluating handwriting instruction. This site also includes a Style Comparison Sheet which allows users to print a comparison of the various handwriting styles.
Traditional Handwriting Palmer Handwriting There’s a good chance that your grandparents learned to write using “the Palmer method.” It was popularized by Austin Palmer in the early 1900s, and almost every handwriting program in existence today is a direct descendent of this style–either as an enhancement of the method, or as a reaction against it. Strength: traditional alphabet formation, historical foundation Weakness: archaic style, somewhat outdated methodology, minimal commercial support. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Zaner Bloser® Handwriting The number one selling handwriting program in America. Based on the Palmer method with numerous improvements and enhancements. Zaner Bloser currently offers both their old style (traditional) alphabet, and a new more contemporary version (simplified). More information on Zaner Bloser handwriting can be found at www.zaner-bloser.com Strength: traditional alphabet, easy-to-use materials, strong support Weakness: tendency to use meaningless or silly sentences for practice
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz A Reason For® Handwriting Using an alphabet very similar to Zaner Bloser’s “simplified” style, this curriculum is based on content taken from Scripture verses. It also includes a strong outreach component, giving students a practical “reason” for using their very best handwriting. An informative, well-designed website with downloadable curriculum samples can be found at: www.areasonfor.com Strength: traditional alphabet, easy-to-use materials, highly motivational Weakness: unsuitable for public school use due to Christian content. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz McDougal, Littell© Handwriting Similar to Zaner Bloser with minor variations in style and teaching methodology. Website: http://www.mcdougallittell.com ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Harcourt Brace ® Handwriting Similar to Zaner Bloser with minor variations in style and teaching methodology. Website: www.harcourtschool.com ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Italicized Handwriting Author’s Note: Italicized styles are somewhat controversial. Proponents cite easier transition, student satisfaction. However, at least one major study (Graham, 1992) finds little to substantiate these claims. In addition, other studies have raised questions regarding specific liabilities associated with teaching italicized alphabets (Kuhl and Dewitz, 1994; Hackney, 1991; etc.) That having been said, there are still thousands of schools nationwide that embrace this style. D’Nealian Handwriting Developed in the 1960’s by Don Neal Thurber (Don Neal = D’Nealian) in an effort to ease the transition from manuscript to cursive. It features a unique manuscript alphabet that reflects the cursive forms of each letter. More information can be found at www.scottforesman.com Strength: strong corporate support, easier transition (see author’s note above)., historical foundation Weakness: some studies suggest various problems associated with learning a separate alphabet for reading and writing. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz D’Nealian Manuscript Arrows and stroke numbers offer guidance in direction and sequence abcdefghIjklm nopqrstuvwxyz
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Where is the transition? With D’Nealian manuscript, there’s hardly any transition. That’s the feature that has made this handwriting method the favorite of teachers from coast to coast. All you do is add a few simple joining strokes and–presto–you’re writing in D’Nealian. abcdefghIjklm nopqrstuvwxyz A Beka® Handwriting A “cursive only” handwriting curriculum designed for use with the A Beka language arts curriculum. Popular with many homeschoolers. A Beka handwriting can be found at: http://www.abeka.com/ABB/Catalogs/HSCat/Catalog.html Strength: No transition necessary since only cursive handwriting is taught. Weakness: Same as D’Nealian. Also, some studies cite concerns about requiring fine motor skills prior to physiological readiness. (Kuhl and Dewitz, 1994). ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz HANDWRITING AND THE BFH PROGRAM Good handwriting has a powerful affect on academic achievement. Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting is devoted to developing maximum legibility with maximum speed. Benefit to students is the paramount concern always. The BFH program grew out of elementary classroom experience. The program evolved as the author taught students from age four to fourteen, observed their capabilities, and listened to their ideas. Fluent handwriting depends on rhythmic movement and good posture. One is as critical as the other. Think, if you will, about other physical activities. All demand a specific posture and movement to work with well, whether to swing a baseball bat, hit a nail with a hammer, play a piano, or write. ONE MODEL ALPHABET The BFH program has one model alphabet only. It serves as the starting point for the youngest students. With no changes in letter formations, it evolves into a suitable hand for older students, and adults. Most lowercase letters of the BFH model include entry and exit strokes to encourage flowing movement. The youngest students learn these characters. Once they learn to recognize characters, write them, and put them into words, they are ready to move on to joined writing, true cursive. (The word “cursive” is often applied to a method of writing that employs undercurves, overcurves, and loops to make characters join. The derivation of the word cursive is Latin. It means running, as in a flowing, fluent movement.) PRINT AND CURSIVE ALPHABETS Fine motor skills suffer if two different alphabets are presented in a handwriting programs. (Some educators believe…, AVKO’s editorial correction.) Many educators believe it best to teach print-script first, and cursive later. (But there are those who believe it best to teach cursive first and manuscript later. Again, AVKO’s editorial insertion) Print-script appears to be simple because it resembles the type from which students learn to read. Print-script models are frequently composed of circles and lines. The characters are drawn slowly, rather than written freely. Rhythm suffers because most print-script models lack the design elements that allow them to flow. Many students confuse the placement of the lines that form letters. Reversals become a problem. The BFH model will not produce reversals, because of the easy character formation, and conformity to natural rhythmic movement. In most schools conventional cursive is introduced after two to three years of learning printscript. It is confusing. Letters whose strokes used to start at the top now start at the baseline. Some letter shapes are modified, and some change altogether. Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting letters are always formed in the same direction that we read, top-to-bottom and left-to-right.
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Here are two generic samples of print-script:
First Sample (stick ball) Second sample (D’Nealian manuscript) Third ãample (D’Nealian CursiÌí)
This is the model for the BFH program.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz Cursive models in common use today are reruns from the nineteenth century. There have been many cursive alphabets throughout the ages. Usually letterforms change as cultural changes occur. Nineteenth century handwriting methods are ill suited to our present culture. They do not work with today’s tools, technology, and need for rapid writing. Most current, cursive models are based on alphabet designs by scribes who cared more for virtuoso flourishes than for efficient, running hands. Scribes of the past emulated the curls and swirls that adorned copperplate prints that date to the sixteenth century. Letter shapes varied over the years, but the curlicues have long been admired, although to master them requires many hours of practice. The introduction of a second model for cursive writing is unnecessary if students have already learned to write characters that can be joined with their entry and exit strokes. SAVE TEACHING TIME Valuable time is saved when only one method is taught. Handwriting instruction takes place in the early years. The BFH program recommends about 15 to 20 minutes a day in the beginning. Sessions for very young students should not be devoted solely to letter formations. This is an opportunity to play, and to learn left from right, top from bottom. Students can have fun pretending to lead an orchestra, or to trace a bird or helicopter in flight. First and second grades (ages 5 to 8) can allot about four 20 to 25 minute handwriting sessions per week. Principles of good handwriting should prevail throughout all written assignments. Joins should be taught in first grade, and just as soon as possible. Each class should start with a fiveminute warm up exercise that relates to the letters that students will practice. Handwriting is a small motor physical education, and just as for all serious sports, a warm up period precedes the game. All warm up patterns in the BFH program relate either to characters, or to joining them. As soon as students can construct characters satisfactorily, formal handwriting classes should be gradually phased out, with good handwriting practices integrated into all written work, science and math, etc. Do we sometimes forget that numbers must be well formed and placed? A crooked column of numerals, inconsistent in size is hard to add up. Spelling and reports are good places to look for legibility. Note-taking is good for both legibility and speed. YOURS FOR LIFE The BFH program grows with the student. Beginners start with a one-model alphabet. As soon as the basics are learned, the emphasis is on developing a legible, rapid, individual hand. Handwriting cannot be ignored during the years of physical and intellectual development.
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It is important to monitor students as they grow and develop fine motor skills. With little time invested, the BFH program will help instructors understand the elements of handwriting that need attention through the age of about 14. You will find diverse and engaging activities for older students on the CD-ROM. It is reassuring to know that students who were taught with the BFH program are now adults who can take legible, rapid-fire notes, as well as impress a client with a personal memo, or a potential employer with a job application. Getty-Dubay Handwriting A relative newcomer to italicized handwriting programs. Developed by Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay at Portland State University. While D’Nealian tends to make manuscript letters reflect cursive letters, Getty-Dubay tends to make the cursive alphabet reflect manuscript formation. Some reviewers have referred to Getty-Dubay as “calligraphy style” handwriting. More information on Getty-Dubay handwriting can be found at: http://extended.pdx.edu/press Strength: easier transition (See note above) Weakness: Same as D’Nealian. Too new for longitudinal studies ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz Specialized Handwriting A Beka® Handwriting A “cursive only” handwriting curriculum designed for use with the A Beka language arts curriculum. Popular with many homeschoolers. A Beka handwriting can be found at: http://www.abeka.com/ABB/Catalogs/HSCat/Catalog.html Strength: No transition necessary since only cursive handwriting is taught. Weakness: Same as D’Nealian. Also, some studies cite concerns about requiring fine motor skills prior to physiological readiness. (Kuhl and Dewitz, 1994) ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz Peterson Directed Handwriting© Another handwriting program popular with homeschoolers. Peterson uses a unique alphabet, and the major emphasis is on the teaching methodology. More information on Peterson Directed Handwriting ® can be found at: http://www.peterson-handwriting.com Strength: Very structured teaching methodology. Weakness: Same as D’Nealian due to unique alphabet shapes. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz References Author’s Note: While by no means comprehensive, the following list provides a good overview of the topic. Included are some classic research studies, articles, and books (some dating as far back as 1923) that are often overlooked in the attempt to get the “latest” research spin. Barbe, Walter B. et al. “Manuscript is the “Write’ Start.” Academic Therapy, 1983, (18(4), 3970405. EJ 289 876 Barbe, Walter B. “The Right Way to Write in the Primary Grades.” Early Years November, 1980:27. Barbe, Walter B. and Virginia H. Lucas. “Instruction in Handwriting-a New Look.” Studenthood Education, 1974: 207-209
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Dobbie, Linda, and Eunice N. Askov. “Progress of Handwriting Research in the 1980s and Future Prospects.” Journal of Educational Research, 1995, 88 (6) 339-51. EJ 519 072 Farris, P.J. Language Arts Process, Product, and Assessment (2nd Edition), 1997, Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark. Graham, Steve “Issues in Handwriting Instruction.” Focus on Exceptional Students, 1992, 25(2), 14. EJ 455 780 Graham, S., and L. Miller. “Handwriting Research and Practice: A Unified Approach.” Focus on Exceptional Students 1980:1-16 Hackney, Clinton S. Standard Manuscript or Modified Italic? A Critical Evaluation of Letter Forms for Initial Handwriting Instruction, 1991. Columbus, OH: Zaner-Bloser Inc. Hildreth, Gertrude. “Early Writing as an Aid to Reading.” Elementary English, 1963m 40mm 15-20 Hildreth, Gertrude. “Manuscript Writing After Sixty Years.” Elementary English, January, 1960. Kirkland , E.R. “A Piagetian Interpretation of Beginning Reading Instruction.” The Reading Teacher 1988, 497-503. Kuhl, D., and P. Dewitz. “The Effect of Handwriting Style on Alphabet Recognition.” 1994. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Meeting (New Orleans). Mason, W.A. “A History of the Art of Writing.” 1970, New York: Macmillan. Milone, M. and R. Pappas. “The Transition from Manuscript to Cursive: Bethleham Report.” Preliminary Report (unpublished), 1982. Milone, M. and Thomas Wasylyk. “ Manuscript to Cursive: A Comparison of Two Transition Times.” (unpublished), 1980. Tinker, M.A. “Prolonged Reading Tasks in Visual Research.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 1955, 39, 444-445. Wise, M. On the Technique of Manuscript Writing. 1923, New York: Scribner Sons. Final Comments & Fine Print All font samples on this site are courtesy of the fine folks at Educational Fontware. They offer fonts and font variations for most major handwriting styles. Visit their website at: www.educationalfontware.com This was created in partial fulfillment of the requirements related to a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership (Curriculum & Instruction emphasis). Comments should be directed to Bill Morelan at
[email protected]
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Teaching Letters, Single Words, Phrases with Flashcards Using flashcards to teach has been around for ages. The technique works. Sometimes it works too well. Why? Because students want to please their parent or their teacher by getting the correct answer. So their minds sometimes use shortcuts. For example, when a student is being quizzed with a typical set of ten flashcards, the student may seize upon the fact that the word elephant is the only long word in the group and it starts with the letters el. So now when he reads “Jack got on the elevator to go to the fourth floor,” he reads it as “Jack got on the elephant!” So too, if a student sees only ball and stick letters the student may have a difficult time recognizing and reading other styles. Notice the difference in these letters: a a a A A a A. They are not alike. Yet the student must learn to respond automatically to all of them in order to become a good reader. That is the main reason why we suggest that you make your own flash cards. Use your computer and its ability to change fonts, copy, and paste to make sure that as your student learns to read they won’t be dependent on seeing a letter or a word in just one font. We also suggest that you have at the top of your dry erase board an alphabet strips such as:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c
d e
f
g h I j
k l m n o p q
r
s t u v
w
x
y z
This happens to be D’Nealian® but it could just as well be Getty-Dubay Italic or whatever handwriting system you intend to teach. We do hope that is not a stick and ball type system. The important thing to do WHEN you first start to teach is to cover ALL the letters except the letter A so that it looks like this:
A a Then, when you get to the letter B you uncover the B so that the chart looks like this:
A B a b Then, when you get to the letter C you uncover the C so that the chart looks like this:
A B C a b C Then, after teaching the D, the R, the S, and the T, when you get to the letter Y you uncover the Y so that the chart looks like this:
A B C D
R S T
Y
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a b C d
r s t
y
This uncovering of the letters as you teach them serves several purposes. 1. It keeps the alphabet from becoming like wallpaper. Wallpaper is something that’s there that you ignore most of the time. 2. It keeps the students’s minds focused on the letter they are learning and those they have just learned. 3. It gives the students a visual chart of their progress. 4. It gives you a visual reminder of what letters you can use to teach new words that are 100% decodable. As you teach the alphabet, you should also be teaching words and phrases. For example, once you get to the letter T (ABCD RST) you can teach the phrases START A CAR, a car starts, and Cars start using different cards and different fonts. This can all be done on your own computer and is another reason for having your students learn the computer keyboard AS they are learning the alphabet and AS they are learning to read and to spell and to print.
Start a car.
A car starts.
START A A CAR CAR. STARTS.
Bart starts a car.
A star starts a car.
Art's car starts.
Bart starts a car.
A star starts a car.
Art's car starts.
Or you can just write the words on your dry erase boards and change them “magically” from A CAR to A CART or using your eraser change A CART to ART and ART to DART or TART or BART. You can achieve the same effect by using your computer when you add letters or delete letters. You can make your own flashcards using your computer, your printer, and a pair of scissors or a paper cutter. You can also make your own spelling games such as spelling rummy. Directions and cards you can make FREE can be found at www.spellarama.com This is a letter card game you can print off for free. Works with sound cards + chart.
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Teaching with Sentences At AVKO we don’t believe in starting the learning-to-read process by giving the student Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to read. We believe in crawling before we walk and walking before we run, and running before we do the high hurdles. So it is that we teach sentences before we teach paragraphs and paragraphs before short books, and short books before chapters and chapters before long books: There are lots of grammar books on the market. Some good, some dull and boring, and some that are utterly confusing. Use whatever works for you and your student. But before you get to teaching grammar formally as such, you can create sentences from the words you have taught to your students. You can really have fun creating silly sentences once your alphabet strip looks like this:
A B C D E F G H I
R S T
W
Y
a b c d e f g h i
r s t
w
y
You can have:
Gee, is dad a bee? Is he a bee? Is he a tree? Is that dad’s car? Are there trees here?
Gee, is dad a Óíe? Is he a Óíe? Is he a tree? Is that dad’s car Are there trees here?
Gee, is dad a bee? Is he a bee? Is he a tree? Is that dad’s car? Are there trees here?
Whatever sentences you and your students create, you can constantly put them into different fonts so that they are learning to respond to the letters and not the appearance or “sight picture” of the words.
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Decodable Words by Units an Overview Unit Objectives you may choose to read to your students: Unit 1 ABCD At the end of this unit you will be able to name the first four letters of the alphabet, recognize them whether they are in upper case or lower case, in Times Roman Font, Aerial Font, Manuscript or Cursive. You will know the sounds that B, C, and D make and be able to say them and write them (and keyboard, hopefully) as well as to be able to read and spell all the words that can be made with the letters ABC and D. You will also be able to put the letters in alphabetical order.
Unit 2 RST At the end of this unit you will be able to name the three very important letters of the alphabet (R,S,T) and recognize them whether they are in upper case or lower case, in Times Roman Font, Aerial Font, Manuscript or Cursive. You will know the sounds that R, S, and T make individually and as consonant blends such as BR, CR, SCR, DR, ST, STR and the ending CT and be able to say them and write them (and keyboard, hopefully) as well as to be able to read and spell all the words that can be made ABCD_RS and T.
Unit 3 The letter Y as Consonant and Vowel At the end of this unit you will be able to name the letter Y, recognize it whether it is in upper case or lower case, in Times Roman Font, Aerial Font, Manuscript or Cursive. You will know the sounds that the letter Y makes and be able to say them and write them (and keyboard, hopefully) as well as to be able to read and spell all the words that can be made with the letters ABCD_RST and Y.
Unit 4 E At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter E and know the sounds that it makes when it is part of a digraph such as EE, EA, and EY and the ER and ED endings. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDE_RST and Y.
Unit 5 F At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter F and know the sounds that it makes when it is alone or part of a beginning blend such as FR or an ending blend FT. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made ABCDEF_RST and Y.
Unit 6 G At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter G and know the sounds that it makes when it is part of a beginning blend GR or the digraph GE. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFG_RST and Y.
Unit 7 H At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter H and know the sounds that it makes when it is by itself or part of a digraph such as CH, SH, TH or the CHR, THR, and SHR blends. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGH_RST and Y.
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Unit 8 W At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter W and know the sounds that it makes when it is part of a consonant digraph such as WH or the vowel digraphs EW and AW. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGH_RST_W and Y.
Unit 9 I At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter I and know the sounds that it makes and how it may act as a silent signal letter to tell you how to pronounce the A when followed by a consonant and the E. You will recognize the ai, ie, and ei digraphs and will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHI_RST_W and Y.
Unit 10 N At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter N and know the sounds that it makes when it is part of a digraph such as KN, GN, NG, part of the ending blends ND, NDS, NT, NTS and the ING ending. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHI_N_RST_W and Y.
Unit 11 J & K At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letters J and K and know the sounds that they make alone or when the K is part of a CK digraph or the SK blend. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHIJK_N_RST_W and Y.
Unit 12 L At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter L and know the sounds that it makes alone, when it is part of a digraph such as LL, an initial blend such as BL, CL, FL, GL, and SL and the ending blends LD and LT. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHIJKL_N_RST_W and Y.
Unit 13 M At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter M and know the sounds that it makes alone and when it is part of a digraph such as LM, MB and the beginning and ending blend SM. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHIJKLMN_RST_W and Y.
Unit 14 O At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter O and know the sounds that it makes alone when it is part of a digraph such as OE, OA, OO, OY. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO_RST_W and Y.
Unit 15 P At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter P and know the sounds that it makes when it is part of a beginning blend such as PL, SPL, PR, and SPR and ending blends LP and PT. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP_RST_W and Y.
Unit 16 Q and U At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letters Q and U and know the sounds that it each letter makes alone and when it is part of the initial blends such as QU and SQU and ending blends SQUE and the vowel digraphs EU, UE, OU, OUGH, and UI. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU_W and Y..
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Unit 17 V At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter V and know the sounds that it makes. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW_Y.
Unit 18 X At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter X and know the sounds that it makes. You will be able to read and spell all the words that can be made using all the letters of the alphabet except the letter Z.
Unit 19 E At the end of this unit you will be able to recognize the letter Zand know the when it is part of a digraph such as EE, EA, and EY and the ER and ED endings. You will be able to read and spell all the regular words in the English language.
Notes: Words in reverse are words that defy phonic analysis and must be learned by sight. We call them "insane.” Some teachers call them outlaws who refuse to follow the rules. Words highlighted are homophones. Some scholars still use the outdated word homonyms. Notice that lessons now can be rather lengthy and may take many days to complete. Mastery is what we are looking for. Automatic responses to the phonic patterns are essential for good reading.
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General Lesson Plans with Measurable Behavioral Objectives Each Unit will have its own objectives that can be measured. Within each unit there will be lessons with their own behavioral objectives. As you are the teacher, you can determine for yourself whether your students should be told at the very beginning of each unit and each lesson just what the objectives are and just what they are expected to learn. You may, if you wish, give each student a pre-printed slip on which it says: TODAY I LEARNED and have your students write at least one thing that they were taught.
Today I learned:
That is our way of helping the students have an answer when their father or mother gets home from work and asks, "What did you learn in school today?" These are really great for the kindergarten, first and second grade students. If this course is being used for remedial purposes, as it certainly should be, please no bunny rabbits or balloons for older students and adults. Spelling and handwriting are used as multi-sensory techniques to give the maximum amount of repetitions with the least amount of copy, copy, copy, copy, copy that becomes brain numbing. For example, a student could be asked to write the word in 50 times. We know that after a while the student is just going through the paces. But if the student is asked to write the word in, then change the word in to sin, then change in to pin, and then to in to spin, the student’s mind keeps focused. By building in words from in to inns to inner, thinner, spinner and even beginners a great amount of focused repetition is accomplished. Even though each word is only written once, the student will be writing the phonogram in well over 50 times because it is imbedded in the different words. If you examine closely the words given in each lesson that can be used to lock in a pattern you will notice that there can be a tremendous amount of systematic vocabulary development as well as practice in sounding out names. Many teachers, even teachers who teach phonics, sometimes have problems pronouncing names. My name has been mispronounced by college professors at Michigan State University who have doctorates in the teaching of reading! Don pronounced as Dawn isn't quite right. And it's a shame college professors of reading have mispronounced McCabe as Mick Cobb, Mac a bee, or McKay bee. This is a sign that our teachers of teachers have never really been taught simple phonics. Abe, babe, and McCabe should offer no problems for anyone.
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Possible Regular Daily Activities—You choose the ones you feel will work for you. Feel free to add your own. 1. Writing the Manuscript Letter, Upper Case and Lower Case. You may use the scripted directions (See p. ***) or use your own. You're the teacher. You know your students or your students as the case may be. Use the directions for making the letters according to the method you are using.
You can use fonts from http://www.educationalfontware.com/ and find links to all the major publishers of handwriting systems. 2. Keep the accent on legibility. If, for example, you decide to use D'Nealian and your student finds it difficult to make the start of a "monkey tail" or "hook" at the end of a letter, don't make a scene. Just have it end straight down at the line just as it does in Getty-Dubay Italic. If you or your student don't like the Capital Q in the system you're using because it looks too much like the number 2, don't use it. There is no law that says if you teach Palmer that you can't slip in a letter formation from Getty-Dubay Italic, Barchowski, Peterson, or D'Nealian.
3. Search and destroy "game"
revealing real words between the letters searched for. You can use this for any lesson. For example: For the letter J Circle the j’s and underline the real words inbetween.
AJBATJSTARJSTARTJHIGHJSADDESTJTEASEDJ You can put them in lower case cursive:
jbétjstarjstartjhighjsaddestjteasdj
or in any
fonts you wish. The more the merrier.
4. Reading and reviewing words using word flash cards. The difference is in the type of cards used. Rather than using only one font, one size, all lower case we believe in using different fonts, different sizes, and upper and lower case as in:
day bay say Ray
stay
DAY bay
stay
say
5. Decodable Sentences suitable for a. reading exercises, b. dictation writing exercises, c. copying exercises, d. keyboarding
Ray
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Decodable Sentences available at the end of Unit 3 after 8 letters (abcd rst y) have been taught: A sample sentence:
1. Say, Stay, Ray. Stay a day. By using the magic of computers and their ability to change fonts you can make them all capitals as in:
1. SAY, STAY, RAY. STAY A DAY.
1. Say, Stay, Ray. Stay a day. 1. Say, Stay, Ray. Stay a day. Making Decodable Sentences By sorting the word cards in piles as nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives, you can have the students create their own silly sentences. The sentences should be created using only the letters they have already been taught. In this case, the letters taught have been abcd rst y. Using just those eight letters, 29 different basic words are decodable. There are 94 POWER words available that are decodable, words such as act and cast. There are also 20 different names that are decodable. So, in just teaching 8 letters, if the phonics involved are mastered, then there are at least 143 words that can be used. After the addition of each new letter the number of decodable words goes up exponentially.
Practicing Alphabetical Order.
We believe that alphabetical order should be taught as we teach the alphabet. Students can be given practice putting the letters they have learned in alphabetical order. What comes before d? Answer c. What comes after s? Answer t. What comes before r? If we use alphabetical order for just a minute or two each day, it helps making the use of alphabetical order an automatic process long before they will really, really need it in personal life.
Length and number of sessions: We believe that three separate fifteenminute sessions will produce more learning than one sixty-minute session. By separate, we mean that at least two hours must be in between the sessions. If you wish, you may use 10 minute sessions. You may use 20 or 25 minute sessions. You are the teacher. You know your students.
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Keyboarding (Optional): Set your timer for 15 minutes. When it dings, stop. Do something else. Return to the lesson later on during the day. Please never do more than 4 15-minute keyboarding sessions during one day. This notice will not be repeated. If you teach keyboarding along with handwriting, there should be at least one-half hour between a twenty-minute handwriting session and a twenty-minute keyboarding session. Always make certain your student rests his hands lightly, gently, on the keyboard with the little finger left hand on the letter A and the little finger right hand on the ; key.
The letters G H should appear between the index (pointer) fingers. If you are using a computer, feel free to keep changing the font that is being used from lesson to lesson, and even during a lesson if you so choose. If you are using this for either learning to read and spell or for remediation purposes, you might consider reading the words to your student as he types them. He will hear the word (A = Audio). He will see the word and its letters (V=Visual). He will be using the same finger strokes in his muscle memory (K=Kinesthetic). And he will be subvocalizing as he is keyboarding (O=Oral). And that’s where AVKO gets its name which means multi-sensory. Show your student how to place their hands gently on the keyboard so the little finger left hand is on the A key. Make sure the letters g h are uncovered. The right hand is placed gently on the same row. The space bar is to be struck by the right thumb. The Enter Key is to be struck by the little finger on the right hand stretching over the apostrophe key and then returning to the semi-colon key. The B key is struck by the pointer (index) finger of the left hand reaching out and down to the b key and then returning to its proper position gently resting on the "F" key. Have your student type as many rows of baa baa baa saying the word and then spelling it: "BAA (BEE AY AY SPACE) BAA (BEE AY AY SPACE) BAA (BEE AY AY SPACE ) ENTER" as you feel are necessary to lock it in. You can show your student the "CAPS LOCK" key. Have your student type as many rows of BAA BAA BAA as you feel are necessary. Remember to say the word BAA and then spell it and say "Space" between each word and "ENTER" when you come to the end of a line. Unit 1 ABCD Lesson 3. The letter c is made with the middle finger left hand and returns to rest above the “D”. A new line is made by the little finger right hand reaching over to strike the Enter key and immediately returns to rest over the ;: key. Capital letters are made by pressing down and holding the Shift key with the little finger of the opposite hand from the one striking the letter.
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ccc abc abc abc ccc aaa bbb abc abc ccc (This line three times. Return to p. ***) Lesson 4. The letter d is made with the middle finger left hand. The comma is made with the middle finger right hand and returns to rest above the “K” key. ddd, abcd, ddd,abcd, ddd, ddd, abcd, (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***) Unit 2 RST Lesson1. The letter r is made with the pointer finger left hand. Returns to rest above the “F” The period is made with the ring finger, right hand. Returns to rest above the “L” key. rrr, abcd. rrr, abcd. rrr, abcd. rrr, abcd. rrr. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***) Lesson 2 The letter s is made with the ring finger left hand. sss. abcd, rs, sss. sss, abcd, rs, sss, abcd, rs, sss. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***) Lesson 3 The letter t is made with the pointer finger left hand. The apostrophe (’) is made with the little finger right hand reaching to the right one key. ttt’s, ttt’s. aaa’s. bbb’s. ttt’s. ccc’s. ddd’s. ttt’s. rrr’s. ttt, abcd, rst, ttt. ttt, abcd, rst, ttt. ttt, abcd, rst, ttt. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 3 Y The letter y is made with the pointer finger RIGHT hand. The quotation marks are made with the little finger right hand while the little finger left hand holds down the SHIFT key. An exclamation point (!) is made with the little finger left hand while the little finger right hand holds down the SHIFT key. “yyy.” “yyy,” “yyy,” “yyy.” “abcd,” “rst,” “yyy.” (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 4 E The letter e is made with the middle finger LEFT hand. “eee” abcde, rst, y. “eee” abcde, rst, y. “eee,” (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 5 F The letter f is made with the pointer finger left hand. fff, abcdef, rst, y. “fff” fff, abcdef, rst, y. fff, (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 6 G The letter g is made with the pointer finger left hand. ggg abcdefg rst y ggg. ggg abcdefg rst y ggg. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 7 H The letter h is made with the pointer finger right hand. hhh abcdefgh rst y hhh abcdefg hhh abcdefg hhh (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 8 W The letter w is made with the ring finger left hand www abcdefgh rst y www abcdefgh rst y www (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 9 I The letter i is made with the middle finger right hand iii abcdefghi iii rst iii w iii y iii abcdefghi iii rst w y iii (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 10 N The letter n is made with the ring finger RIGHT hand. nnn abcdefghi nnn rst nnn w nnn y nnn ing ing (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
311 Unit 11 J and K The letter j is made with the index finger right hand and the k is made with the middle finger right hand. jjj kkk abcdefg jjj kkk hijk n rst y w jjj kkk abcdefg jjj kkk hijk jj kk rst w y (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 12 L The letter l is made with the ring finger right hand. lll abcdefghijkl n rst y w lll abcdefghijkl lll n rst y w (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 13 M The letter m is made with the index (pointer) finger right hand. mmm abcdefg mmm hijklmn mmm rst w y mmm. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 14 O The letter o is made with the ring finger right hand. ooo abcdefg ooo hijklmno ooo rst ooo w ooo y ooo. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 15 P The letter p is made with the index (pointer) finger right hand. mmm abcdefg mmm hijklm mmm rst w y mmm. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 16 QU The letter q is made with the little finger left hand. The letter u is made with the pointer finger right hand. qqq uuu qu qu qu abcdefghijklmnopqrstu w y qu qu. (This line three times. See p. ***)
Unit 17 V The letter v is made with the index (pointer) finger left hand. vvv abcdefg hijklmnop qrstuvw vvv y vvv. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 18 X The letter x is made with the ring finger left hand. xxx abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx xxx y xxx (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Unit 19 Z The letter z is made with the little finger left hand. zzz abcdefghijklmopqrstuvwxyz zzz. (This line three times. Do sentences on p. ***)
Flash Card Drills: Ten minutes per drill should be sufficient. Again, these drills should be at scheduled times during the day, at least two hours apart. What other elements do you believe should be in the everyday lesson plan? Add them, please. And be sure to add "fun" times and fun activities.
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Directions for making the letters manuscript and cursive
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P
a b c d e f g h I j k l m n o p
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p
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Q R S T U V W X Y Z
q r s t u v w x y z
Q R S T U V W X Y Z
q r s t u v w x y z
Remember that these letters represent just one system of handwriting that is taught. We have found that no matter what system a child is taught, by the time they have reached adulthood their handwriting only vaguely resembles that which was taught. So, if your child thinks that the Cursive Capital Q looks too much like the number 2, let him print the Q. Remember what is important is that the letters are made automatically, rapidly, and above all legibly. If you want to use A Beka, BFH, Palmer, Peterson, Getty-Dubay Italic, or any other standard handwriting system or any combination thereof, that is fine with us.
The Tricky Words Levels A, B, C
Level A
Level B
Level C
Aunt aunt ant be bee Bee beat beet hear here heard herd made maid new knew gnu know no knows nose wood would
wouldn’t wooden hair hare sea see si C sees seas seize C’s tea tee tees tease were we’re where wear weak week your you’re you’ll yule Ewell Yul there their they’re
bare bear brake break by bye buy dear deer flew flu flue him hymn Jim gym you yew ewe sight site cite right write rite
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
16
Level A
hear here
Lesson 4
Now listen here young man. You could hear me if you took the banana out of your ear.
Note: We have found that students often need an initial device to tell here and hear apart. The following is one we have used successfully at the AVKO Reading Clinic: You hear with your ear. Use your ear when you hear. Here is in there. Over here and over there. Here it is. There is goes. Here and There are twins who go everywhere together. Where are you? Here or There? 1. Did you hear me? I said, “Come here!” 2. Now listen here young man. You could hear me if you took the banana out of your ear! 3. Now hear this. Now hear this. You’re supposed to pay attention. 4. Here we are. We finally got here. Did you hear me? 5. Stay here. I said, “Stay here!” Are you hard of hearing? 6. Where do you think you’re going? I said, “Stay here!” 7. I can’t hear anything when my sister is beating on her drums. 8. Did you hear that your Aunt Bea won’t cook beets when she gets here? 9. If you stay here long enough, you’ll hear a lot of funny stories about your Aunt Bea’s beets. 10. How did all those little ants get in here? Tricky Words Reviewed: ant Aunt (aunt), Bea (be bee) Tricky Words Previewed: your you’re, you’ll (Yule Ewell Yul), where wear. Note: Your students should be correcting their answers and then covering them up as they go. They shouldn’t be copying from themselves. We learn by correcting our mistakes. It’s hard to make mistakes that we can learn from if we copy!
Copyright © 1997, 1982 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
17
Level A
hear here
Lesson 4
Now listen here young man. You could hear me if you took the banana out of your ear.
1. Did you ____________ me? I said, “Come ____________!” 2. Now listen ____________ young man. You could ____________ me if you took the banana out of your ____________! 3. Now ____________ this. Now ____________ this. You’re supposed to pay attention. 4. ____________ we are. We finally got ____________. Did you ____________ me? 5. Stay ____________. I said, “Stay ____________!” Are you hard of ____________? 6. Where do you think you’re going? I said, “Stay ____________!” 7. I can’t ____________ anything when my sister is ____________ on her drums. 8. Did you ____________ that your ____________ ____________ won’t cook ____________ when she gets ____________?
9. If you stay ____________ long enough, you’ll ____________ a lot of funny stories about your ____________ ____________ ____________. 10. How did all those little ____________ get in ____________? Professor AVKO says: Mistakes are opportunities to learn.
Copyright © 1997, 1982 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: A Continuum from Kindergarten through College A New Type of College Textbook for Parents who need to know what should have been taught to the children’s teachers.
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
21
Section 1 Chapter 6
Two Common Misconceptions about Dyslexia Misconception Number 1: Dyslexics see letters backwards. They see b’s when they should be seeing d’s. Wrong! The image on a dyslexic’s retina is the same as that of anybody elses. True, it is upside down. That’s normal. Every human is born seeing everything upside down. But it doesn’t take long for our computer brain to take its visual sensory input and make it agree with its inner sense of reality by reversing it. You can purchase a special type of goggles that will make you see everything upside down. However, if you wear them long enough, the computer brain once again forces its data into making sense, and even with the reversing vision glasses on, you see right side up. Of course, the moment you take these glasses off, now you’re seeing upside down. But not to worry, the correct vision is fairly quickly restored. How did this misconception come about? It came about because people working with dyslexics noticed that their students would often read was for saw and saw for was. They would write d’s for b’s and p’s for g’s or q’s. The misconception came about because so many people jumped to the wrong conclusion. The misreading or miswriting came about not because the visual images the dyslexics had in their mind were somehow twisted around, but because of the way the computer brain is pre-programmed to operate. For example, let’s look at four different pictures in which the positioning of the same object makes no difference as to what the object is.
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
22 Repeated for convenience.
We have a bird, a cup, a dish and a fish. Wonderful. The idea was to have the person tutoring say to the person learning to read: This is a bird. Say bird. This is the letter b inside the bird. This is the word bird. Say bird. This is the letter b. Say b. Although this approach can be demonstrated as an effective tool for most beginning readers, there is a built-in problem. Dyslexics won’t remember which way the bird’s head is pointing, which way the cup is hanging, which side of the plate the spoon is on, or which way the fish is swimming and which way its tail is pointed.. Look at the next group of pictures. Aren’t they exactly the same bird, cup, dish, and fish?
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
23
Here we have a fish, dish, cup, and bird. But look again.
Here we have a bird, a cup, a dish, and a fish. What’s next? If we read left to right, the word bird still starts with a b and ends with a d. But the letter b in the letter column is a d. The p in cup is a q. But let’s look at these letters again another way. Here we have a fish, dish, cup, and bird. But look again. We have no problem recognizing the objects. But the letters?!
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
24 Now the letter in the letter box in front of the bird is a q. The first letter in the word box in front of the dish is a p. Hmm. So let’s look another way. By now, it should become quite apparent that the position of objects is meaningless to the computer brain. A bird is a bird is a bird no matter what direction its tail or head is pointed. But a p or a d or a q can be associated with a bird’s body and tail and consequently interpreted by the dylexic mind as a b. Because position is so important for letter recognition and because letter recognition is so important for reading and spelling, initial reading programs that use objects for letter association, can unintentionally create reversal problems for dyslexics. They need a more kinesthetic14 approach to letter identification rather than purely audio-visual. Misconception Number Two about dyslexics is that they don’t hear the sounds of the letters—that they don’t have phonemic awareness. That is not true. And for much the same reason that it isn’t what a dyslexic sees that is the source of the problem. The human mind tries to make sense out of what comes in through its senses. It automatically ignores the position of the head and tail of a dog for identification purposes. It judges size of objects not by the amount of space it takes up on the back of the retina but by the relationship it has to other objects within the field of vision. The television and movie special effects people use this phenomenon to create new “realities” as in the movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. This is the reason I give for three out of four reading experts in a car misreading a street sign that said KOVAL as ROYAL. It was night. It was in Las Vegas. We had just minutes before driven by Caesar’s Palace. Wham. Here is a street sign. There is no word KOVAL in the English Language. The name, yes. Word, no. And because KOVAL was not a name frequently encountered by at least three of us, our minds simply construed the K as R and the V as Y. Not only does the human mind, especially the dyslexic mind, misconstrue letters and letter order, it does the same with sounds. I have demonstrated time and time again to teachers that the ability to hear specific phonemic sounds is not essential. It’s the combination of phonemes, the patterns of phonemes within the context of the intonation, the tone, volume, and phrases surrounding the phonemes that produce the translation of sound waves into words within the human mind. Sorry about the academic language. I apologize. To help you understand what I’m talking about, I’ll give you something you can duplicate if you have a tape recorder. Carefully record the non-word: sbrattle. It might not be too easy for you to say. But if there were a word brattle and we said it was Pop’s brattle, all you have to do is take out the pop and you have sbrattle left. Record the word as I have done. What I love to do is prove to teachers that their ability to hear phonemes is predicated on their experience with words and letters, not with the sounds themselves. Even our legendary Professor Higgins would most likely fail this test. What I do is to tell my audience that I want them to spell a simple little non-word to test their ability to hear sounds. I ask them not to say, “What did you say?” or “Did you say ______?” I ask them to focus their attention on the word that I will play from the recorder at the count of three. I say, “One, two, three.” SBRATTLE! The spellings: Well, the most common is SPRATTLE. The second most common is BRATTLE! Others are SPRADDLE, STRADDLE, and BRADDLE. After I tell them what the word was and show them the correct spelling, then and only then can they hear the SB-R consonant blend in the word SBRATTLE. What happens is that each person’s computer brain slightly adjusts what it actually hears (the jargon is processed) to fit the situation. This is why if somebody from Boston asks me, “WAY’r kin AH pah’k muh KAH?”, I understand him as saying, “Where can I park my car?” That is why you can take the words: Wants pawn tom dare worst tree bars, and if you pronounce them with the proper intonation everybody will understand what you said as being: Once upon a time there were three bears. Try it!
14
Kinesthetic refers to the muscle memory that can be activated by as simple a method as writing with a pencil or even, as Orton-Gillingham enthusiasts love to do, writing in air. Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
14
Section 1, Chapter 3
What is dyslexia?9 Official definitions defined. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. The wrong road down which the most current and expensive research on dyslexia is headed. A Few Definitions of Dyslexia: • DYSLEXIA IS: “a disorder manifested by difficulty in learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and sociocultural opportunity.” —World Federation of Neurology Translation: If a student isn’t dumb and he isn’t surrounded by people who hate schools and he goes to school and gets the “conventional instruction” (Look-see or whole language or even phonics), and he has problems reading, it must be that he is dyslexic. • Developmental dyslexia is a specific learning disability characterized by difficulty in learning to read. Some dyslexics also may have difficulty learning to write, to spell, and, sometimes, to speak or to work with numbers. We do not know for sure what causes dyslexia, but we do know that it affects children who are physically and emotionally healthy, academically capable, and who come from good home environments. In fact, many dyslexics have the advantages of excellent schools, high mental ability, and parents who are well-educated and value learning. —U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Translation: We don’t know for sure what causes dyslexia, but the difficulty in learning to read, spell, speak, or do math (dyslexia) can affect healthy, intelligent people who attend excellent schools (nice buildings, well paid teachers, and look-see or whole language curriculum) and have a good family environment. • Dyslexia is a neurologically-based, often familial, disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language. Varying in degrees of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in arithmetic. Dyslexia is not a result of lack of motivation, sensory impairment, inadequate instructional or environmental opportunities, or other limiting conditions, but may occur together with these conditions. Although dyslexia is life-long, individuals with dyslexia frequently respond successfully to timely and appropriate intervention. —Definition proposed by Committee of Members Orton Dyslexia Society10 , Nov., 1994. Translation: This means dyslexia is related to the structure of the brain itself that may either be inherited or caused by brain damage.11 The bell curve applies to dyslexics as 9
This entire chapter I plagiarized from myself. You can find it again in its entirety in my autobiography To Teach a Dyslexic. That’s why it’s written in the first person. So I’m lazy. Sue me. 10 The Orton Dyslexia Society has renamed itself as the International Dyslexia Society. 11 My dyslexia could be the result of brain damage. I suffered birth trauma, but since my son and one of my grandsons is dyslexic, it could also be genetic, or perhaps even both. Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
15 well as all other segments of society in regards to the individual difficulties in understanding language (written, oral, and body) and in using language in speaking or writing. Dyslexia is not the result of a child not trying or not having sufficient motivation. Dyslexia is not the result of something wrong with the eyes or the ears. Dyslexia is not the result of poor teaching or poor environments. Dyslexia cannot be cured. But some dyslexics can be taught to read and write if they receive “proper” teaching early enough. • Dyslexia is one of several distinct learning disabilities. It is a specific language-based disorder of constitutional origin characterized by difficulties in single word decoding, usually reflecting insufficient phonological processing abilities. These difficulties in single word decoding are often unexpected in relation to age and other cognitive and academic abilities; they are not the result of generalized developmental disability or sensory impairment. Dyslexia is manifested by variable difficulty with different forms of language, often including, in addition to problems reading, a conspicuous problem with acquiring proficiency in writing and spelling. —Orton Dyslexia Society Research Committee, Nov. 1994 Translation: Much the same as the other translations. What is my definition of dyslexia? I don’t bother defining dyslexia. To me, the word dyslexia is a word much like the word love. We all know what love is. But the more we try to define exactly what love is and what love is not, the more confused we get. Besides, who cares what the best definition is? All I care about is that everybody should receive proper instruction in reading and writing. As far as I am concerned, everybody can be taught to read and write at least as well as they can speak. But if I am pressed to give a definition of dyslexia, rather than invent one of my own, I think I would choose the one the Orton Dyslexia Society uses in its brochure dys lex ia DEFINING THE PROBLEM. The following passage is quoted directly from this pamphlet. The only exception is the clearly marked notation concerning my personal traits that are associated with dyslexia. The word dyslexia is derived from Greek: dys (poor or inadequate); and lexis (words). The English meaning is poor or inadequate language. Dyslexia is characterized by problems in expressive or receptive, oral or written language. Problems may emerge in reading, spelling, writing, speaking, or listening. Dyslexia is not a disease; it has no cure. Dyslexia describes a different kind of mind—often gifted and productive—that learns differently. Intelligence is not the problem. Dyslexics may have average to superior intelligence. An unexpected gap exists between their learning aptitude and their achievement in school. The problem is not behavioral. It is not psychological. It is not social. It is not a problem of vision; dyslexics do not “see backward.” Dyslexia results from differences in the structure and the function of the brain. Dyslexics are unique. Each has individual strengths and weaknesses. Many dyslexics are creative and have unusual talent in areas such as art, athletics, architecture, graphics, electronics, mechanics, drama, music, or engineering. Dyslexics often show special talent in areas that require visual, spatial, and motor integration. Their problems in language processing distinguish them as a group. This means that the dyslexic has problems translating language to thought (as in listening or reading) or in translating thought to language (as in writing or speaking).
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
16 CHARACTERISTICS that may accompany dyslexia
Characteristics that I possess
Lack of awareness of sounds in words—sound order, rhymes, or sequence of syllables.
When I take tests that use nonsense words run together in normal speech patterns, I fail miserably.
Difficulty decoding words— single word identification.
I have no problem. My sister was a good teacher
Difficulty encoding words —spelling.
Again, no problem. Same reason
Poor sequencing of numbers and of letters in words, when read or written, e.g.: b-d; p-q, sing-sign; left-felt; soiled-solid; 12-21.
In tests using nonsense words without normal patterns such as nsoeensn, I do miserably. Transposing numbers has often created problems for me, especially dialing telephone numbers.
Problems with reading comprehension.
No real problem. Same reason.
Difficulty in expressing thoughts orally.
Yes. I never know when something I know, word or fact or name, suddenly cannot be retrieved. But I have developed many compensating verbal skills.
Delayed spoken language.
I was the slowest in my family to talk. I had speech therapy from 1st Grade through the 4th.
Imprecise or incomplete interpretation of language that is heard.
I heard “mustard” for Buster, and “for all intensive purposes” instead of intents and purposes. I find it difficult to hear words when sung or when I can’t see the person who is speaking.
Confusion about directions in space or time (right and left, up and down, early and late, yesterday and tomorrow, months and days).
In buildings or in cities where hallways or streets do not follow nice neat patterns, I’m lost. Without a watch, I have no sense of time.
Confusion about right or left handedness
Similar problems among relatives.
I bat and throw with either hand, and can even write with either hand or play table tennis equally badly with either hand. My son and grandson exhibit many of the same symptoms.
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
17 CHARACTERISTICS that may accompany dyslexia
Characteristics that I possess
Difficulty with handwriting
The only grade below an A that I received in grade school was in handwriting. Although most people consider my handwriting to be excellent, I have only achieved what would have been good enough for my Cook School teachers to be given a C.
Difficulty in mathematics— often related to sequencing of steps or directionality or to the language of mathematics.
As long as I had good teachers, I have had no problem. However, learning the symbols and formulas in statistics was a nightmare for me.
FEW DYSLEXICS EXHIBIT ALL THE SIGNS OF THE DISORDER. THEIR PROBLEMS IN LANGUAGE PROCESSING DISTINGUISH THEM AS A GROUP. End of Quotation. Column of italics is mine. Would I add any characteristics to Orton’s list? Yes. Having a logical mind and wanting to know why is a characteristic I have found most dyslexics share. Most dyslexics, by the time they reach high school, will be able to read and spell cat, fish, peck, and helpful. Yet a word like special is liable to absolutely throw them for a loop. Why? Logic. Major premise. Words with the letter c have either a /k/ sound or a /s/ sound. “Spek·eye·al” is not a word. “Spee·sigh·AL” is not a word. All combinations of sounds and accents lead to nothing. The word special can’t be sounded out using what I have been taught. BEEP BEEP BEEP goes the logical computer. It does not compute. Non-dyslexics generally have no problem learning this word. Logic and rules don’t interfere. Someone told them that the letters s-p-e-c-i-a-l spell special. So they learned. Maybe not the first time, but it didn’t take many repetitions for them to learn. And I do think the problem lies in the underlying, unstated, and definitely not-admitted-to-by-oureducational-leaders assumption that schools need only ensure that students learn the names of the letters of the alphabet, write the letters somewhat legibly, surround the students with words and pretty pictures, and expose them to literature, and they’ll learn to read. That this is all that is necessary for some to learn to read is undoubtedly true. And it is some of these “some” who run our schools. Their unspoken logic is: What was enough for them to learn should be good enough for everybody else. WRONG!
Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
33
Section 2, Chapter 10
A, Ma, Mag, Magi, Magic, Magician— What’s going on here? In the Russian language each letter represents a single sound. It is so close to being phonetic that Russian dictionaries don’t bother with pronunciation guides. All they do is show where the accent falls. Each Russian word has only one syllable that’s accented. So that’s all that is necessary in Russian, but English spelling doesn’t work that way. And what is that way? Single letter correspondences from left to right. Too many reading teachers drum into their children’s heads that our language works strictly from left to right. It doesn’t. Instead, it works by patterns. The first word in our English dictionaries is also the shortest. It is pronounced “uh” just as the first sound you hear in the word about or the last sound you hear in Cuba.21 Unfortunately, most elementary teachers teach the first word in our dictionaries incorrectly as “AY.” It is only pronounced “AY” when we use it as the name of the first letter of the alphabet, as when we recite our AY BEE SEES. Normally, we pronounce the word “a” as “uh” as in about or above. If you came into my house, I would immediately offer you a (“uh”) cup of coffee. If I offered you a (“AY”) cup of coffee you would be insulted, because by saying “AY” cup of coffee I am also saying that’s all you can have. Put an onset (consonant, consonant blend, or consonant digraph) in front of the letter a and now instead of pronouncing the letter a “uh”, we pronounce it “ah” as in fa, ha, la, ma, pa, etc. But if we add the letter t to fa it doesn’t rhyme with pot. Instead we have the –at pattern, which no matter what22 onset we use, the at sound is there. When we add g to Ma we get Mag, and the sound of a changes from “ah” to a short a. But notice that all words that end with the letters ag will rhyme with tag, rag, flag, etc. Suppose we add just the letter i to Mag. Now what happens? The hard g turns into a soft g or /j/ as in Magi. Add the letter c to Magi and now the sound of the letter i changes from long to short when we have magic. Add the letters ian to magic and the sound of the short a changes to the ubiquitous schwa. The letter c no longer has the sound of /k/ but combines with the letter i following it to make the ci digraph which is pronounced “sh” as in magician. The very fact that we have consonant and vowel digraphs should have been obvious proof to our teaching profession that the spellings of English words do not progress neatly from one letter to the next left to right. We have sip. We have hip. Yet, if we put an s in front of hip we get ship. We have to recognize the combination of s and h as a digraph having one sound. Furthermore, what should be obvious is that the endings of words determine how the beginnings of words are pronounced. How is the second letter of the following words pronounced? Dem, demo, demon, democracy, and democrat. How do we pronounce the second letter i in the following two words: ridicule, ridiculous? What is important to know is that the ending patterns are consistent. Take for example the –acious and -acity patterns. If you are tenacious you have tenacity. A capacious room has ample capacity. If you commit an atrocity in spelling, your spelling is atrocious. Animals known for their ferocity are ferocious. Spelling becomes a whole lot easier when you recognize the patterns and spell using the correct patterns.
21
If you automatically add the “r” sound in your dialect just like JFK did, then forget about Kyoobur. Stick with uh bow’t. 22 Okay, so I’m lying. When we add the “dyslexic” digraph wh to the letters at the sound is different. But that’s an example of the w- control. Remember that wh digraph really represents the hw consonant blend. Go ahead, check the pronunciation given in your dictionary for words beginning with the wh digraph. See the w- control words on pp. 502-4 in The Patterns of English Spelling. Copyright © 2007 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Get outta mah face! Get offa mah case!
All you ever wanted to know about “How the words we choose to use help us lose friends and antagonize people” by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Get outta my face! Get offa my case! or all you ever wanted to know about how the words we choose to use help us lose friends and antagonize people.
A Basis for Developing a Course for Families, Schools, Businesses, and Correctional Facilities called
Button Pushing 101 or Practical Personal Psychology 101 by Don McCabe Illustrations by Dave Lilly AVKO Foundation Press Clio, Michigan
3
Contents
0 Introduction Prologue in Professorial Academic Language ............................................... 8 Prologue in Normal Everyday English ...........................................................9 Warnings.......................................................................................................10 Review of Literature (What others have said before) ...................................16 Synopsis/Overview .......................................................................................18
Suggested Steps of Putting Ideas into Practice 1. Recognize Problem ...................................................................................45 2. Hold Family/Staff Inservices ....................................................................45 3. Family/Staff Learn Theories .....................................................................46 4. Family/Staff Plan Course of Action..........................................................46 5. Teaching Importance of Body Language Patterns ....................................47
Speech Patterns & Teaching Units Unit 1 How to (and How NOT to) Get Someone’s Attention ......................72 Unit 2 How to Ask and Not Demand............................................................85 Unit 3 When and How to Use Emphatics (#@*#%!) .................................113 Unit 4 How to and How NOT to Say, “No” ...............................................117 Unit 5 Holding the Floor.............................................................................123 Unit 6 “I’m Listening” ................................................................................124 Unit 7 Confrontational Phrases ...................................................................126 Unit 8 Name Calling ...................................................................................129 Unit 9 The Know-it-Alls.............................................................................133 Unit 10 Belief Systems that are Harmful ....................................................135 Unit 11 Rules for the Classroom, Home, or Institution ..............................139 Unit 12 Summary with historical perspective on language and logic.........146 References and annotated suggested readings ............................................157
7
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
DEPART FROM MY PRESENCE! DESIST FROM CRITICIZING ME! How habitual and instantiated automatic verbal response patterns precipitate confrontations and unwanted results. This publication is adapted from a scholarly paper written at the request of and incorporating numerous suggestions by Professor Robert Trojanowicz, Ph. D. (1940-1994), Director, School of Criminal Justice Michigan State University HABITUAL AND INSTANTIATED AUTOMATIC VERBAL RESPONSE PATTERNS: The two-edged swords that frequently cause emotional and educational problems, which in turn interfere with traditional intervention techniques, but with proper modifications other patterns of speech can be substituted so as to facilitate the traditional intervention techniques.
Translated into Plain English
Get outta my face! Get offa my case! How the words we choose to use can help us lose friends and antagonize people. This book is based on a paper written for and with a lot of help from my late personal friend from childhood: Bob Trojanowicz (1940-1994), Director School of Criminal Justice Michigan State University Speech Habits — They cut two ways. They can cause problems for ourselves and those around us. Or they can help us get along with ourselves and those around us. Once we understand how these habits work, we can have a real choice as to what we will do with the rest of our lives.
9
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
WARNING # I 1.1 In this paper, the only indefinite personal pronouns used will be: he, him, and his. The reader is asked to substitute whichever pronoun he feels is appropriate or politically correct, i.e., he, she, he/she, s/he, her, her/him, hers/his, etc. 1.2 If the reader is highly sensitive to the use of the masculine pronoun then he knows already how words create internal schemata and trigger emotional states and reactions. 1.3 I am asking those readers to apply the rationale for purging sexist language from our literature to the ideas in this paper which point out a need to purge emotionally harmful language and replace it with emotionally positive or less confrontational language to achieve a culturally acceptable emotional stability within ourselves individually and collectively.
10
Translated into Plain English
Warning #1 For reasons you will understand later on, I refuse to use politically correct phrases. If you are a “femi-nazi” 1 you probably will not like my using just he, his, and him. If you could be labeled a camel jockey, Canuck, chink, Dago, frog, gook, honky, kike, kraut, Limie, Mick, nigger, Rooski, spick, wetback, wop, or Yankee, you probably are experiencing right now an emotional reaction to these labels. And if you’re a member of one of at least a thousand other groups I didn’t name but who have labels just as nasty, you still might be reacting negatively to these words. If so, then I should be able to rest my case but I won’t! It should be self-evident to you that the reasons why you believe that we should attempt to purge sexist or racist language from our everyday speech are the same reasons why we must: z first identify z and then change those words and phrases that create problems for ourselves, the individuals we deal with, and those around us and around them to words that don’t create those problems.
1
When my daughter, a VERY strong women’s rights advocate, first read the manuscript for this book, she was ready to throw me out of her house because I used the phrase femi-nazi. It took her a month to get over her anger and finish proofing this book.
11
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
0 WARNING # 2 2.1 Academic language cannot be entirely avoided, even in my translations of academic jargon. 2.2 Academic patterns of organization and referencing (read footnotes) cannot be entirely dispensed with. 2.3 Are you an academic? If so, what was your visceral reaction? Don’t equivocate or assume a professorial defensive posture. Be truthful now. 2.4 Are you a parental unit? If so, did you assume the responsibility of attempting a cerebral digesting of the first two warnings. 2.5 Are you a member of the educational establishment? Does the usage of standard educational jargon appeal to you? If not, we happen to be of the same persuasion. 2.6 Are you a member of the mental health profession? If so, please read this book carefully. You may find something that will help you help your clients.
12
Translated into Plain English
Warning # 2 • Big fancy words cannot be entirely avoided, even in my translations of academic jargon. • Fancy outlines and footnotes cannot be entirely disposed of. • Are you an academic? If so, what was your reaction? Be truthful now. We’ll bet you felt a sense of hostility and reacted to it. • Are you a parent? If so, you might have felt it your responsibility to read the academic version. We don’t think that it’s necessary to impress you with our command of “big words.” • If you are a teacher, counselor, or administrator, are you impressed with academic language? If so, we have used it. If not, we have tried to make this book as clear as possible without resorting to pompous but professional appearing obfuscatory academic jargon. However, sometimes we had to resort to using it. Sorry about that. • If you’re a psychologist, psychiatrist, family counselor, minister, rabbi, priest, or anger management specialist, you should read this book closely. It may help you help your clients.
13
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
PURPOSE: 3.1 The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical base for controlled studies of intervention techniques which use the modification of client speech patterns as either the main instrument of behavioral change or as a catalyst.
0 WARNING #3 3.2 Vulgar language, taboo language, absolutely horrible obscene and socially unacceptable and politically incorrect language will occur in this paper. Sometimes unexpectedly. It may be as offensive to some as academic language is to me. We apologize. We do not intend to offend. 3.3 We do intend, however, to jar readers (not you, but the other readers) into realizing just how effective words and phrases can be in precipitating confrontations and violent behaviors.
14
Translated into Plain English
Purpose: We want you to understand how changing your personal speech habits can change the way you act towards others as well as how understanding the speech habits of others, whether they be your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your students, your staff, your clients, or inmates in a prison, can change the way you act and react, and how they act and react to you and to others. (Did you read that all in one breath?) From the understanding of that enormously long sentence, studies could and probably should be made.
Warning # 3 This paper will also list specific words and phrases that may arouse your anger. Reason? Simple. These words and phrases need to be identified as causes for: • confrontations, • low self-esteem, • stumbling blocks to learning and overcoming emotional problems. Unless these words and phrases are identified, they never can be replaced with their counterparts, words and phrases that do not irritate, aggravate, or threaten but do help bring about a positive outlook on life. We don’t intend to offend you. We do intend to help you understand how changing your speech patterns can help you avoid needless arguments, develop self-confidence, and discover that you can not only learn new things but you can also help yourself feel far more emotionally stable.
15
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
4.0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 4.1 The only reference we have found on this topic was the following oblique reference (Blackham & Siberman, 1980) which is quoted in its entirety. But, the italics are ours. One of the more intriguing approaches to the treatment of anger and hostility is reported by Novaco (1975). He worked with thirty-four clients ranging in age from seventeen to fortytwo who had serious problems controlling their anger. Some of the clients had assaulted others, destroyed property, and performed other highly aggressive acts. In a group setting, each client was asked to describe the nature, duration, and severity of their problems managing anger. The clients were then asked to identify and/or determine the provocation that generated the anger and the kinds of thoughts and feelings that preceded or accompanied the anger. To help the clients relive the sequence of events leading to the experienced anger, the clients were asked to close their eyes and recount the provocations, thoughts, and feelings that occurred. Once the clients were aware of the sequence of events that appeared to lead to anger, Novaco suggested to them that their anger was primarily a result of the thoughts and selfstatements they uttered to themselves in provocative situations. That is, in a provocative situation the interpretation of it leads to self-statements that may overemphasize the degree of threat or the damage to self-esteem. These self-statements or attributions trigger the anger or the aggressive reaction. For example, the individual might say to himself, “He thinks I’m a pushover; I’ll show him,” or “Who the hell does he think he is; he can’t do that to me!” Interpreting the provocation in this sort of way not only generates an emotional response but is likely to serve as a stimulus to act in an aggressive manner. 4.2 The Novaco study (1975) pointed out that provocative situations can provoke specific thoughts (non-verbalized patterns of speech) which in turn “trigger anger or the aggressive reaction.” 4.3 Hypothesis: Emotional states trigger specific and predictable speech patterns (verbal and non-verbal) that are developed over time. These speech patterns in turn trigger the specific emotional or mental states associated with them. Too frequently, these states and behaviors interfere with learning and create unwanted and unnecessary disturbances. 4.4 If Novaco is right when he contends that self-statements can “trigger the anger or the aggressive reaction,” then self-statements may trigger other emotional states and other reactions. If statements can trigger emotional states in oneself, they can trigger emotional states and reactions in others. 4.5 To the extent that a person is in control of his emotional state, he is in control of his language. 4.6 To the extent that a person is in control of his language, he is in control of his emotional state.
16
Translated into Plain English
What others have said To the best of our knowledge, no one has written anything specifically on this topic. The closest that we could find was what we just quoted on the last page. If you didn’t read it, fine. It had a lot of big words but didn’t say much. What it says is that Novaco in his 1975 study made the startling discovery (sarcasm intended) that nasty situations provoke people into nasty thoughts which provoke nasty feelings which in turn provoke nasty words, which in turn provoke nasty actions. Hypothesis: The way you feel helps make you say what you say and the way you say it. What you say and the way you say it (including body language) helps determine the way you feel.
z If you can keep your cool,
you can control what you say. z If you control what you say,
you can keep your cool.
17
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
SYNOPSIS The following is a listing of the specific automated instantiated responsive speech patterns that affect an individual’s self-perception and emotional state as well as the perception of that individual/s being addressed by him and their emotional states as well. A.0 The grammar of non-verbal language..................... 20 A.1 Kinesthetic positioning of the facial musculature... 20 A.2 Spatial positioning of the skeletal musculature . .... 22 A.3 Prosody (Tonal qualities and rhythms of speech) .. 24 B.0 The grammar of verbal language ........................... 26 B.1 Salutations .............................................................. 26 B.2 Appellations............................................................. 28 B.3 Requisitionary phraseology .................................... 30 B.4 Adjectival and Adverbial Emphatics ...................... 32 B.5 Negation Phraseology ............................................ 34 B.6 Maintenance of Attention Phraseology .................. 36 B.7 Affirmation of Communication .............................. 36 B.8 Confrontational Phraseology .................................. 38 B.9 Ad Hominem Invectives ......................................... 40 B.10 Judgmental Imperatives ........................................ 42 B.11 Implementing Strategies:....................................... 44
Translated into Plain English
OVERVIEW How what we say and how we say it affects how we look at ourselves and how we feel. How what we say and how we say it affects how others look at us and react to what we say and how we say it. Body language Facial expressions. ........................................... 21 Body posture; use of hands and fingers .......... .23 Tone of voice .................................................... 25 The different kinds of speech habits Attention grabbers ............................................ 27 Names............................................................... 29 Demands vs. Requests .................................... 31 Cussing for emphasis ....................................... 33 No way, Jose .................................................... 35 Don’t interrupt me /Let me finish ....................... 37 Yeah, I’m listening, keep talking ....................... 37 Defend/Attack ................................................... 39 Name calling .................................................... 41 This is the way it is, I can’t be wrong ................ 43 Putting Ideas into Practice................................. 45
19
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
A.0 - THE GRAMMAR OF NONVERBAL LANGUAGE A.1 - KINESTHETIC POSITIONING OF THE FACIAL MUSCULATURE. The most effective non-verbal communication is with the eyes. By making oval or circular eye movements, non-focused or focused on the horizon, removing the eye focus from the person attempting communication with you in an upward direction or downward, maintaining a non-blinking focus upon the eyes of the person in question, narrowing the eyes into slits, closing just one eye rapidly, or repeatedly closing both eyes, we communicate a myriad of things to others and conversely to ourselves. Likewise, the eyebrows are part of the communication process as is the contraction of muscles underneath the skin on the forehead that produce deep furrows and the positioning of the lips, teeth, and tongue.
20
Translated into Plain English
Body Language Facial Expressions. The most effective body language is done with the eyes. By rolling them, looking away, looking up, looking down, staring, squinting, winking, blinking, etc., we can communicate almost any emotion. The eyebrows work with the eyes and so do our frowning and smiling muscles. Think about the way Lily Tomlin’s character Edith Ann communicates “And that’s the truth!” We can often tell when a person isn’t truly happy when his smile is not in sync with his eyes. To test this, all a person has to do is to look into a mirror and smile using only the lip muscles. What will be seen is a phony smile.
21
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE A.2 SPATIAL POSITIONING OF THE SKELETAL MUSCULATURE. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.
The positioning of the head up, down, sideways all communicate different things. The positioning of the shoulders communicates. The positioning of the spinal column communicates. The positioning of the legs communicates. The positioning of the arms communicates. The positioning of the hands and fingers communicates. The positioning of the entire body in relationship to another communicates.
MOST IMPORTANT: Our selection, voluntary or involuntary, of breathing method communicates to others and more importantly to ourselves.
22
Translated into Plain English
Body posture and use of hands and fingers. The tilt of our head is telling. The way we droop our shoulders or bring them back is telling. The way we sit or stand is telling. Questions to think about. Why do preachers say, “Let us bow our heads and pray.” Why don’t they say instead, “Stand tall, put your feet wide, wide apart, put your hands on your hips, pull your shoulders back, cock your head a little to the right, look up and to the right and tell God you’re sorry”? Try it. You can’t say “I’m sorry!” in that position without smiling. Keep the same position but fold your arms. Try to say, “Sure, I believe you.” Extend your middle finger and offer it to someone to sit on. What kind of a response do you think you’ll get? Stand close enough to another person that only a thin book can slip between you. Then move back until you feel comfortable. Give people a little space.
23
Individualized Spelling
Students learn only those patterns they need to learn. unique technique pique
Completely Cross-Referenced to The Patterns of English Spelling.
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Individualized Spelling
Students study only those patterns they need to learn.
by Don McCabe
These diagnostic-prescriptive spelling tests were first constructed and developed as part of a specialized program to teach spelling and reading to a learning disabled dyslexic adult at the AVKO Educational Research Foundation’s Reading Clinic.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation 3084 W. Willard Road, Suite 712 Clio, Mich. 48420-7801 Telephone (810) 686-9283 FAX (810) 686-1101
2
Dedication This work is dedicated to the memory of John E. Webb, my grandfather, without whose help and training in my early childhood, I myself may never have learned to read and to the memory of my first and most important teacher
Betty June Szilagyi I would also like to express my indebtedness to the work of the following: Robert J. Fitzimmons Harry A. Greene Bradley M. Loomer
Copyright © 1996, 1991, 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation Printed in the United States of America. Permission is hereby given for individual teachers, tutors, and educators to reproduce any page for onetime classroom use. Reproduction of these lists for entire schools or school districts is strictly forbidden. Publisher’s Cataloging in Publication Data McCabe, Don 1. Spelling–Miscellanea 2. Curriculum–Miscellanea 3. Literacy and Tutor Reference Tool. Library of Congress Subject Headings: Spelling, Curriculum Library of Congress Classification Number: LB1050.2F79 Dewey Decimal Classification Number 428.4 ISBN: 1-56400-726-X
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Table of Contents Working with Individual Students .......................................... 4 Giving the Initial Quick Survey...................................................... 4 Determining the Correct Level for a Student ................................. 4 Initial Quick Survey Test................................................................ 5 Tutoring Positions: Traditional...................................................... 6 Tutoring Positions: The AVKO Preferred Method ....................... 7 Using the Survey Level Tests to Help Individual Adults Improve Their Reading by Improving Their Spelling............... 8 Making Learning Assignments Based on Words Missed............... 9 Sample from The Patterns of English Spelling........................... 10 Sample from The New Word Families in Sentence Context ...... 11 Practice in Composition................................................................ 12 Advancing the Student.................................................................. 13 Alternate Forms of the Quick Survey Test of Levels ................... 14 Survey of Spelling Words Level A, Lessons 1-25 ....................... 15 Survey of Spelling Words Level B, Lessons 26-75...................... 40 Survey of Spelling Words Level C, Lessons 76-125.................... 90 Survey of Spelling Words Levels D through I ........................... 140
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
4
Working with Individual Students Giving the Initial Quick Survey to an Individual Student As you read these directions, please refer to the Quick Survey which is on the next page. When an adult comes to the AVKO Reading Clinic for tutoring, I give him this quick test. If he misspells the first word, candy, I just say, “Okay, we’ll just start somewhere in the first 25 lessons.” Only in the most severe cases do I really start from the beginning. Usually, I tell my student that I think we can skip the first five lessons because he probably knows all those words anyway. If he spells candy correctly but misses on the word again, I stop the test right there and say, “Okay, we can skip Level A which has twenty-five lessons and go directly to Level B which starts with lesson 26 and goes through lesson 75. I know that there will be many words in the first twenty-five lessons that he doesn’t know at this particular time. But I also know that during the course of the following lessons, he will learn all of those words we are theoretically skipping. For example, he may not be able to spell the word camp which is in lesson 11. However, if he doesn’t pick up the “amp” rime1 incidentally during the lessons in which the short a is stressed (e.g., -at, -and, and -ap) or related -mp words such as limp and lump, he will encounter it later on in Lesson 61 and will learn camp along with scamp and ramp and tramp while ostensibly just learning the word lamps!
Determining the Correct Level for an Individual Student There is no magic formula. Generally, if a student is a complete illiterate, I start with lesson one. If, however, there is some indication that he can spell some little words, I will start with lesson five. The fact that I am “skipping” some lessons tends to make the student feel that although he may be a “terrible” speller, there must be people who are worse spellers than he is. After all, he didn’t have to start at the very beginning. Some students who couldn’t even spell the first word (candy) I might start as high as lesson 15. A lot depends upon how badly the misspelled the candy. Here are some actual misspellings of the word candy and where I happened to choose to start them. Misspellings of the word candy
Lesson that I chose to start the student
dyn
1
cenyd
2
cnde
5
kandie
10
cande
12
1
No, this is not a misspelling of the word rhyme. It is the latest educational jargon for the ending spelling pattern of a word, i.e., what we used to call a word family in the good old days. Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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The AVKO Quick Initial Survey Stop giving the test the moment the student makes a mistake. Word
Degree Suggested of Level to 1 Difficulty Start at
Sentence Using the Word
candy
2.75
A
1. I enjoy eating a good candy bar.
again
4.75
B
2. I would like to do this again some time.
whale
6.75
C
3. Pinocchio was swallowed up by a giant whale.
crept
8.75
D
4. The soldier crept behind enemy lines.
views
10.75
E
5. They have opposing views on this subject.
bored
12.75
F
6. I get bored watching TV soap operas.
basis
14.75
G
7. Just what was the basis for your decision?
reign
16.75
H
8. When was the reign of King Arthur?
aisle
18.75
I
9. I almost tripped walking down the aisle.
Begin on the level of the first word missed. The following percentage figures are those of the adults who can be expected to spell the words in that level. PAGES LEVEL A
93%-99%
LESSONS 1-25............................................................ 15-39
LEVEL B
89%-92%
LESSONS 26-75.......................................................... 40-89
LEVEL C
75%-88%
LESSONS 76-125...................................................... 90-138
LEVEL D
71%-74%
LESSONS 126-153.................................................. 139-166
LEVEL E
65%-70%
LESSONS 154-177.................................................. 167-174
LEVEL F
59%-71%
LESSONS 178-201.................................................. 175-182
LEVEL G
50%-58%
LESSONS 202-225.................................................. 183-190
LEVEL H
33%-49%
LESSONS 226-249.................................................. 191-198
LEVEL I
05%-32%
LESSONS 250-265.................................................. 199-204
1
This level is based upon data from The New Iowa Spelling Scale by Harry Greene, in which the percentages of correct spellings are given. We have converted the percentage data to a rank ordering using gradations of .05 from 1.00 (the easiest) to 21.00 (the most difficult). Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
6 Giving the Regular Survey of Spelling Words Levels A & B, Lessons 1-75 to Individual Students Tutoring Positions: Traditional The traditional position is either to the right or the left of the student depending upon which hand you use to write. If you are right-handed, sit to the right of your student. This way, when you write on or touch your student’s paper, you will be able to do so without bumping him. Student
Right-handed tutor If you are left-handed, sit to the left of your student. This way, when you write on or touch your student’s paper, you will be able to do so without bumping him.
Left-handed Tutor
Student Incorrect Tutoring Positions Notice how the tutor cannot touch the pages of a book or write on his student’s paper without bumping him.
Student
Left-handed Tutor
Right-handed Tutor
Student
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
7
Tutoring Positions: The AVKO Preferred Method We at AVKO have gotten into the habit of doing our tutoring across the corner of a table from the student. The two biggest advantages of this are: 1. You can see the expressions on your student’s face as he reads and as he writes. 2. You are not invading his space. Do you like to have people leaning over your shoulder to read? I don’t. But this is what happens in the standard tutoring positions. And another thing you don’t have to worry about is being on the wrong side of your student. To do this well, does necessitate learning to read and write upside down. This, we have found to be very, very useful as far as helping tutors understand for themselves the real problems of learning to read and write. The best discussion that I know of regarding the usefulness to tutors in learning to read and write upside down is in an article in the Great Idea Reprint Series.1 The tutor should read the word for spelling and then the sentence that it is used in. The student should read along with the tutor. Some adults may be hesitant. Some adults may have had such disastrous experiences previously that they will refuse to read along. Don’t force it. They can hear you. They can mentally hear their inner voice as they read silently along with you. Using the AVKO method of tutoring, you can have an opaque wordcovering strip (See illustration on the next page) that you can peek under. If you are using the standard approach where you are sitting beside your student, you really can’t do this without constantly bumping your student. You will have to have a photocopy of the page for him or he will have to have his own copy of the book. In either case, he should have his opaque word-covering strip over the column of words. After you read the word and the sentence, the student writes the word. Before you go on to the next sentence, you have the student slide his word-covering slide down just enough so that he can see the correct spelling. If he gets it right, you praise him. A simple, “Good!” is usually quite sufficient. If he gets it wrong, you simply say, “Well, there’s one we’ll have to add to your list of words that you are going to learn.” Stop the moment your student has missed FIVE words.
1
McCabe, Don. “Learn about the learning to read process by teaching yourself to read and write upside down,” The AVKO “Great Idea” Reprint Series, Clio, MI: AVKO Foundation, 1996. Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Using the Survey Level Tests to Help Individual Adults Improve Their Reading by Improving Their Spelling Survey of Spelling Words, Level A-Lesson 5 Target Page in Word The Patterns of English Spelling cars
501
1. We have three _______ in our family for seven people. 2. The _______ at the place isn’t worth eating. 3. They _______ a hard time learning to tat (make lace. 4. When you’re _______ , you’re _______ . 5. You can _______ my hair with a wash cloth. 6. Who knocked in the winning _______ ? 7. If it’s all the _______ to you, I’ll go home. 8. _______ was never like this when I was a kid. 9. _______ me the way to go home. I’m tired and I want to go to bed. 10. Next _______ we’ll talk about something else. 11. That’s a _______ , and that’s no bull. 12. It takes _______ persons to make a basketball team. 13. _______ me a break, will you? 14. I _______ rhythm. Who could ask for anything more. 15. She told _______ where he could go. 16. Who sang, “Come on a my _______ “? 17. One thing for sure, Richard isn’t _______ . 18. _______ of us enjoy a good joke now and then. 19. Don’t burn the midnight _______ . 20. I hope you remember you _______ home.
1st Step: Discuss with your student the difference between testing for grades and diagnostic testing for learning. Compare these tests with a doctor’s blood tests, urine tests, etc. 2nd Step: Give your student either his own personal copy of this book or a photo-copied sheet of the lesson with an opaque strip of index stock covering the column of words. A paper clip works well holding the slide in place. 3rd Step: Explain what level you are starting your student on and why. Reassure him that if the words are too easy he can skip more lessons. If they are too difficult, he can always go back a few lessons or even a level or two.. Assuming you start your student at LEVEL A, Lesson 5 – 4th Step: Give sentence #1: Cars. We have three cars in our family for seven people. Student writes the word. 5th Step: Tell your student to slide the answer cover down until the correct spelling cars appears. See illustration. 6th Step. If a misspelling is made (doubtful), have your student correct it and then circle the number in the column which in this case is 501. STOP THE MOMENT YOUR STUDENT HAS MISSED FIVE WORDS. If your student gets the first five correct in a row without any struggle, praise him and then jump ahead two or three lessons and repeat the process. Anytime your student gets five in a row in a lesson correct–he probably knows most of the words in that lesson.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Making Learning Assignments Based on Words Missed CAVEAT: There is no one perfect way to treat all individuals. What follows are merely suggestions that you might want to try. Supposing on Level A, Lesson 5, your student missed the following words: cars, part, cold, show, and cow. 1. Have the student write the word once in cursive on a card. 2. Have the student write the word once in manuscript on the back of the same card. 3. Have the student put the word in his box of words that he is learning to spell. 4. Analyze problem area.
Words
Sample Problem Area—Instructional Tasks Misspelling
a. cars
car
Left off -s ending. No lesson necessary. Working with plurals will be part and parcel of this program.
b. part
pot
Possible dialect problem in which case pot and part may be pronounced identically. Treat as homophones especially in New England or wherever the “r” is frequently dropped in speech. Possible problem with “-art” family in which case work with other -art words such as cart, tart, start, chart, etc. is indicated.
c. cold
kcodl
Incorrect choice of letters for beginning blend. Slight confusion between cognitive concept of sounds and visual memory of letters. Note that all the correct letters are there, but the sequencing is wrong. Student should be praised for picking letters that produce the correct sound and which are in the word, but he must learn the proper order. The simple sound “OH-ld” is commonly spelled -old. He will eventually learn that the “k” sound may be spelled “c” as in cat, k as in Kate, ck at ends of words such as pick, ch in “FANCY” words such as technical, q as in queen, and qu as in liquor, but never, ever kc.
d. show
shew
Incorrect usage of -ew pattern. Although the word “sew” ends -ew, it is the exception that proves the rule. The ending “OH” sound can be spelled -o as in go, -oe as in toe, -ow as in low, and -eau as in bureau. It is recommended that the student work first with the -ow words on p. 310 of The Patterns of English Spelling or p. 310 in Word Families in Sentence Context.
e. cow
cau
Incorrect usage of the -au pattern. The ending -ow sound can only be spelled ow as in plow or -ough as in plough. It is recommended that the student work with the -ow words on p. 318 in either The Patterns of English Spelling or Word Families in Sentence Context. We also recommend Language Experience Activities in which you give the word and your student makes it into a sentence. You write the sentence complete except for the word. He then fills in the word and reads the sentence back to you.
5. Have the student look up the other words that follow the same pattern as the one he missed. For example, the very first time I gave this test to a 23-year-old learning disabled dyslexic, he missed the following words which I entered on a 3x5 card as follows:
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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23-year-old dyslexic I. M. Anonymous Word Missed
Page in Patterns of English Spelling & Word Families in Sentence Context
Misspelling
cars
501
car
part
510
pot
cold
241
kcodl
show
310
shew
cow
318
cau
I asked him which word would he like to learn first. Quite naturally, he said it didn’t matter to him. So, I picked cold for study and the others for re-testing and study if necessary. The following is what can be found on page 241 in The Patterns of English Spelling for cold. OH'l-d old bold cold hold scold fold gold sold told
OH'l-dz
OH'l did
OH'l ding
colds holds scolds folds
held** scolded folded
holding scolding folding
unfold blindfold scaffold uphold withhold behold mold
unfolds blindfolds scaffolds upholds withholds beholds molds
bifold fourfold household Harold
manifold marigold toehold resold
OH'l dee oldie
OH'l dur older bolder colder holder folder
Goldie
Power Vocabulary unfolded unfolding blindfolded blindfolding scaffolding upheld** upholding withheld** withholding beheld** beholding molded molding moldy ** Irregular past tense. See p. 240
beholder molder
Related Power Vocabulary trifold ahold stronghold unsold
billfold handhold threshold twicetold
twofold stranglehold foothold retold
More Related Power Vocabulary holdout
holdover
holdup
golden
coldest
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
boldest
centerfold leasehold Reynold untold
11 Using a piece of opaque index stock, I covered the beginning sounds (“onsets”) in the first column so that my 23year-old could see only the last three letters in the column which now looked like: old bold old Notice how covering up all but the target sound helps to focus old the learning disabled student’s mind on the problem— and how it old alerts his computer brain to how useful this three letter combination old can be. Notice also the relationship of this technique to the concept old of Task Analysis in which a task is broken down into components old small enough to be mastered by anyone. old We can practice making words by adding the initial sounds (“onsets”) as we slide the cover downward one word at a time. old bold cold Some scholars call this technique “vertical word processing.” We just hold call it learning patterns. Notice how many times the student encounters the pattern -old. If he were to write each word just once, he would be scold old writing -old at least 21 times! And it would be in a phonic context! old old Or we can practice reading the -old pattern on p. 241 of The New Word Families in Sentence Context. Notice how the pattern -old is in the same position in the first column. This helps the learning disabled discover for themselves the pattern and the distinctive, repetitious -s, -ed, -ing, endings. The following is the exact print size as in the book. We omitted a number of sentences so as to fit onto this page.
old (OH’l-d) old Never ask a woman how old she is, unless she’s over 100. bold A bowler who is bold may have bowled a perfect game. cold Why is it that I have to catch at least one cold every winter? colds Maybe if I washed my hands, I wouldn’t catch so many colds. colder It’s a lot colder in Michigan than it is in Florida. holder Not many smokers use a cigarette holder anymore. hold Just hold your horses, mister. holds In this fight, there will be no holds barred. holding Were Jack and Jill holding hands as they climbed the hill? sold They sold their house for almost as much as they paid for it. scold You shouldn’t scold a child for catching a cold. scolds The lady across the hall scolds us all the time for making noise. scolded It’s no fun being scolded by a police officer. scolding I hate to hear a mother scolding her child for just being a child. folding Do you have any extra folding chairs I can borrow for my party?
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Practice in Composition We strongly recommend practice in composition immediately. However, you may or may not be able to practice it quite the way we do at the AVKO Foundation’s Reading Clinic. What we do is to have the student give his tutor a sentence. The tutor then writes it. Occasionally, the tutor will spruce up the sentence a little. For example, when given the word bold to make into a sentence, the student might say: “I am not bold.” The tutor might spruce it up to, “Most of the time, I’m not very bold.” The tutor would then write the sentence, and the student would read it back. This technique is often labeled by the experts in the field of reading as a variation on the Language Experience Activity (LEA) method of teaching reading. The method you select will largely depend upon your particular situation and the needs and desires of your students. You might, for example, ask your student (for homework, perhaps) to pick any ten -old words and put them into sentences. We recommend that you take away any pressure about misspelling the other words he may choose to use in the sentence. A method we have found to be quite successful is having the student put quotation marks around words whose correct spelling he is unsure of. The words he doesn’t have any idea how they are spelled, he can still use them in his writing by attempting the probably first couple of letters and then just dashes. For example, supposing your student wants to write the following sentence using the -old word, told: “I told my boss he ought to see a psychiatrist.” It might look like this: “I told my “bose” he “awda” see a “si--------. You could then on a separate paper re-write (or type) or put into a computer his sentences with the corrections made. Now, you will have some of his writing for practice reading which might look something like this. Student X Original Dictated or Homework Corrected Sentences
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
old cold colds scold fold told gold
I don’t like to think about growing old I hate to catch a cold. There are a lot of colds going around. I once had a teacher who just loved to scold me. My wife likes me to help her fold the laundry. I told my boss he ought to see a psychiatrist. I have a gold wedding ring.
Although the object is to master the spelling of the word cold, a lot of different things can happen along the way of learning cold. Other words such as bold and scold and fold may be learned without any apparent effort. And even strange big words such as laundry may suddenly become part of the student’s reading vocabulary just because he initiated the word and it was correctly spelled out for him by his volunteer tutor. See sentence number five in the illustration above. We don’t do this for all words. It would take too long. But we are constantly doing it for a few words so that the student begins to discover patterns for himself. For adult students with severe learning disabilities, there is one thing that we do for all the words that are missed on the survey test. That is, we test and re-test and re-test out of the blue. We feel that if a student can correctly spell a word on five separate and consecutive occasions, he probably knows the word. Notice that on the chart on the following page, we never score a word as missed. Instead, we use a “NEED TO REVIEW DOT”(.) rather than a bloody red check mark. We tell the adult student that he knows the word, even if he missed it. And, really, that’s usually the case. Is there anyone who hasn’t had the experience of forgetting somebody’s name that they know they know? What’s the difference between that and forgetting the spelling of a word that you really know how to spell? The following is from an actual chart that we made for a bright young man who had severe learning disabilities and had been labeled a “dysphonic dyslexic” by an independent psychologist.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Words I am learning | = correct . = need to review ! = correct, but needs review anyway because it wasn’t automatic. Word
Days
Weeks
Started
Learned
Mastered
cars part cold show cow get
||||| ||||| ||!||||| |!||||| . ||||| ... |||||
||||| ||.|.|!||||| |.!||||| ||||| |||.||||| ||||.|||.|||||
2-11 2-11 2-11 2-11 2-11 2-11
2-15 2-15 2-15 2-16 2-16 2-21
3-18 4-22 4-8 3-18 4-15 6-3
The word “get” does seem to be very difficult for some dyslexics. I believe it largely comes from the fact that they quite often hear get as a rhyming word with fit, bit, sit, etc., and consequently follow the wrong pattern. I don’t try to change their pronunciation—I just try to make them aware of the fact that get can rhyme with bet and definitely must be spelled as an -et word even though comic strip writers and novelists often use the misspelling “git” for such literary effects as showing that the speaker is poorly educated. The number of words I have a student working on at any one time depends upon my personal assessment of how many he can handle without being overloaded. Usually, if the student has been diagnosed as a learning disabled dyslexic, I will have six words as the maximum as in the case above. As we progress, I then may start to slowly increase the number from six to seven to eight to nine to ten words which he is learning. Note: Among the words he is learning are whole families of words such as fold, gold, uphold, etc., that are related to cold.
Advancing the student As a student progresses through the tests and the assignments, he may find that on one of the diagnostic tests, he spells five words in a row correctly. In that case, he probably will be able to spell all the other words in that lesson. So, you can have him skip the rest of that lesson and maybe even all of the next. You don’t have to worry about the student missing out on learning an essential word. Since almost all words belong to word families but individually are of differing degrees of difficulty, the student will be tripped up later on if (and only if) he doesn’t know the principles involved. If he knows the principles and patterns, he will know the words.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Alternate Forms of the Quick Survey Test of Levels Six-letter words Word
Degree Suggested of Level to 1 Difficulty Start at
Sentence Using the Word
around
2.75
A
1. I’ll see you ____________ .
monkey
4.75
B
2. I need a new ____________ wrench.
caught
6.75
C
3. I ____________ a cold last week.
insist
8.75
D
4. I ____________ that you let me pay for it.
secret
10.75
E
5. I have a ____________ .
notify
12.75
F
6. Did you ____________ your boss?
fierce
14.75
G
7. The wind is blowing something ___________ .
occurs
16.75
H
8. An eclipse ____________ rather infrequently.
aisles
18.75
I
9. That store must have at least 20 ___________
Seven-letter words Word
Degree Suggested of Level to Difficulty Start at
Sentence Using the Word
walking
2.75
A
1. I enjoy ____________ to the store.
content
4.75
B
2. I am perfectly __________ to watch you work.
catches
6.75
C
3. My brother always _________ a cold in March.
knocked 8.75
D
4. The soldier ____________ the sailor down.
nickels 10.75
E
5. We just play for ____________ and dimes.
quarrel 12.75
F
6. I have no ____________ with you.
sheriff
14.75
G
7. I think we had better send for the __________ .
voucher 16.75
H
8. I wonder what happened to my pay _________.
counsel 18.75
I
9. I had to ____________ my son.
Begin on level of the first word missed.
1
This level is based upon data from The New Iowa Spelling Scale by Harry Greene, in which the percentages of correct spellings are given. We have converted the percentage data to a rank ordering using gradations of .05 from 1.00 (the easiest) to 21.00 (the most difficult).
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Survey of Spelling Words, Level A Lesson 1 Target Word
I — is a —in you he the — out good it me old one see she time ten up book come get go love we car day
Page in The Patterns Of English Spelling1 --123 317 304 431 404 133 304 241 340 305 304 333 122 130 409 334 132 309 326 304 501 301
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.
____________ hope this test ____________ easy. ___________ stitch ___________ time saves nine. Do ____________ like apple pie? ____________ likes his apple pie with ice cream. Did you let ____________ the cat ____________ ? I think I will do pretty ____________ on this test. Do you know what time ____________ is? I think learning to spell will really help ___________ . Do you know how ____________ our president is? Let’s learn to spell our words __________ at a time. Did you ____________ Jack go up a hill with Jill? I don’t think ____________ really likes Jack. Do you know what ____________ it is? It took ____________ men to push Norman’s truck. I think it’s time to get ____________ . I think I can learn to read almost any ___________ . Will you please ____________ here? It’s not nice to tell someone to ____________ lost. It isn’t time to ____________ yet. I just ____________ apple pie. How about you? I think ____________ can do it. Did you see Norma’s new ____________ ? Do you know what ____________ it is?
Homophones: we/wee see/sea you/ewe he/hee me/mi one/won 1
Words with similar patterns can be found on the pages mentioned in The Patterns of English Spelling or in sentences in The New Word Families in Sentence Context which are available from the AVKO Educational Research Foundation, 3084 W. Willard Road, Suite 712, Clio MI, 48420. Note well, the first digit of the page number refers to the volume number. There are 10 Volumes. They can be purchased separately or together. Thus, page 123 is in Volume 1 while page 317 is in Volume 3. See the descriptions on pages 10-11.
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Survey of Spelling Words, Level B Lesson 35 Target Word
Page in The Patterns Of English Spelling
farming laws tops use (YOO-z) cold having number somebody caves gray kids schools wave above use (YOO-ss) blowing only rubber teach clay party pool sides
508 319 129 365 241 324 639 711 324 301 108 414 324 326 346 310 750 632 437 301 757 414 322
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.
It costs a lot of money to start in ____________ today. Do you think there are too many ____________ ? Have you ever seen any mountain ____________ ? What kind of oil do you ____________ in your car? I think I’m catching a ____________ . It’s no fun ____________ a bad cold. Last year I had any ____________ of colds. I wish ____________ would help me out. We had better get out before it ____________ in. My hair isn’t turning ____________ . It’s white. Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your _________ . How many different ____________ did you go to? Jason just learned how to ____________ good-bye. What just came down from ____________ ? Oh, what’s the ____________ of talking about it? The wind isn’t ____________ outside. It’s howling. She’s not the ____________ pebble on the beach. He bounced up and down like a ____________ ball. I had to ____________ my own son how to read. Rose bushes grow best in ____________ . Did you go to the retirement ____________ ? Sometimes, I wish we had a swimming ____________ . Shall we choose up ____________ ?
Homophones: gray/grey Heteronyms: use (v. YOO-z) / use (n. YOO-ss)
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Survey of Spelling Words, Level B Lesson 64 Target Word
thanked cane farms God outdoors Friday mothers anyhow fully stones hunted leaving stock trying dishes higher strange fallen felt goes grace kick November
Page in The Patterns Of English Spelling 220 335 508 109 532 301 646 318 749 339 249 441 216 307 210 308 367 873 247 309 343 215 639
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.
The pilgrims ____________ the Almighty for His blessings. In Cub they raise ____________ cane. The ____________ around her raise sugar beets. We should thank ____________ for small favors. Timmy just loves to play ____________ . Is next ____________ going to be the thirteenth? One day a year is set aside to honor ____________ . They said we couldn’t do it, but we did it ___________ . Duane is ____________ capable of doing anything. Sticks and ____________ may break my bones. We ____________ all over for you. Bob will be ____________ us pretty soon. Jim got a job as a ____________ boy. Linda is ____________ out for the leading role. Whose turn is it to do the ____________ ? He came in ____________ than a kite. He thought it ____________ they wouldn’t hire him. She had ____________ by the wayside. She ____________ she had gotten a raw deal. But that’s just the way it ____________ in life. There but for the ____________ of God, go I. I’d like to give him a ____________ in the pants. My daughter’s birthday is in ____________ .
Homophones: god/God cane/Cain higher/hire
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Survey of Spelling Words, Level D Lesson 130 Target Word
Page in The Patterns Of English Spelling
seek thoughts gleam using picnic quack fifteen inspect artist comply shipping information captured provided gasoline resort vanish decay hadn't breaking habits parent howling pale pail
408 430 418 365 807 214 420 224 510 307 128 849 924 322 336 519 1060 301 134 408 689 256 415 330 411
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
I don't want to play hide and go ____________ . Are you having second ____________ about it? I rather like the ____________ in your eye. What method are you ____________ to solve it? Don't pick Nick and Kay to go on a ____________ . Did you hear a duck ____________ ? We'll be done in ____________ minutes. Did anyone ____________ your house? I have a friend who is an ____________ . Did you ____________ with the order to leave? Sometimes ____________ costs more than it should. For your ____________ , London is not in France. That scream sure ____________ my attention. It also ____________ me with an excuse to leave. What's the price of ____________ this week? I had to ____________ to trickery to get him here. The magician made the tiger ____________ . Does fluoride help prevent tooth ____________ ? If I ____________ have told you, you wouldn't know. I hope I'm not ____________ any laws. Old ____________ are sure hard to break. It isn't always a joy being a ____________ . The dog just sat there ____________ at the moon. His face turned ___________ as if he'd seen a ghost. Will Jill fetch Jack a ____________ of water?
Homophones: pale/pail
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Survey of Spelling Words, Level D Lesson 250
Lesson 251
Lesson 252
Target Page in Word The Patterns of
Target Page in Word The Patterns of
Target Page in Word The Patterns of
English Spelling
English Spelling
English Spelling
installation 848 eligible 622 physician 810 corresponding 230 crisis 1070 absolutely 748 initial 828 recommending 228 colonel 626 yews* 316 possess 157 inquiries 727 sewers* 671 whooping cough 313 precisely 747 quarterly* 751 quarries* 706 worrisome* 503 workmanship* 128 watchman* 869 wanderers* 666 sewers* 671 kernel 626 ewes* 316 peril 628 Homophones: yews/use/ewes kernel/colonel
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
allowance* swallower* fellowship* lewd* feud* babied* babying* rubies* probably* possibly* democracies* keys* malady* remedies* subsidies* melody* melodic* forestry* cavalry* juicy* quays* Calvary* conveyor* surveyor* geyser*
259 671 128 404 404 709 709 709 746 746 710 306 711 711 711 711 802 755 754 709 301 725 681 681 666
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
amplifier* 661 stuffy* 702 energetic* 813 geographic* 804 cemetery* 722 discoveries* 727 forgeries* 725 burial* 821 fantasy* 728 fantastic* 815 heresy* 728 heretics* 813 jealousy* 728 varieties* 729 personalities* 732 entries* 755 bigotry* 755 psycho* 961 psychic* 803 mazel tov* 627 dozens* 875 analyze* 361 analyses* 1070 analyst* 1070 analytic* 817
Homophones: keys/quays
Heteronyms: sewers (SOO urz)/sewers (SOH wurz)
Look-Alikes: cavalry/Calvary
Copyright © 1996 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
If it is to be, it is up to me to do it
Helping Anyone (Adults, Children, Neighbors, Friends) Overcome Reading/Spelling Problems Great for Family Literacy Adult Community Education Courses
by Don McCabe AVKO Educational Research Foundation
If it is to be, it is up to me to do it Helping Anyone (Children/Parents/Neighbors/Relatives/Friends)
Overcome Reading/Spelling Problems
by Don McCabe
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation 3084 W. Willard Road, Suite 716, Clio, Michigan 48420 Telephone (810) 686-9283 FAX (810) 686-1101 E-mail:
[email protected]
2
Dedication This book is dedicated to all the members of the AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation, but especially to the memory of one of its first members,
Mary Clair Scott without whose work and devotion to the cause of literacy, the AVKO Foundation might never have gotten off the ground,
Betty June Szilagyi who was my first and by far my most important teacher,
Devorah Wolf without whose encouragement and commitment to the ideals of AVKO this edition would not be possible,
Ann, Robert, and Linda McCabe all of whom have sacrificed much of their time and energy helping AVKO grow my grandchildren, Jason and Brian McCabe as well as all those friends and relatives who have been a source of encouragement.
May this book help you to help others improve their abilities to read and write. Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation Printed in the United States of America. Permission is hereby given for individual teachers, tutors, and educators to reproduce any page for classroom use. Reproduction of these pages for entire schools or school districts is strictly forbidden. AVKO Educational Research Foundation, 3084 W. Willard Road, Suite 716, Clio, Mich. 48420-7801 Publisher’s Cataloging in Publication Data McCabe, Donald J. 1. Spelling-Miscellanea 2. Reading-Miscellanea 3. Curriculm-Miscellanea 4. Literacy Library of Congress Subject Headings: Spelling, Reading, Curriculum Library of Congress Classification Number: LB1050.2F79 Dewey Decimal Classification Number 428.4 ISBN: 1-56400-746-4
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Table of Contents What is AVKO? ............................................................................................ 4 Don, Who? ................................................................................................... 5 Basic Directions ........................................................................................... 6 Decision #1-Tutoring Schedule .................................................................... 7 Quick Questionnaire to be completed BEFORE beginning Lesson 1.......... 8 Lesson 1 .................................................................................................... 10 Student-Tutor Contract............................................................................ 13 Lesson 2 .................................................................................................... 14 Lesson 3 .................................................................................................... 17 Things to say OFTEN to your student .................................................. 17 Things NEVER to say to your student .................................................. 17 Lesson 4 .................................................................................................... 19 Lesson 5 .................................................................................................... 22 Lessons 6-64 ............................................................................................. 23 Lessons 65-180 ......................................................................................... 82 More AVKO books & activities that you can use with your student such as Word Families in Sentence Context .............................. 96 Suggested types of trade books for reading for fun—that’s fundamental!107 Suggested materials for a tutor’s private library....................................... 107 Lesson 1 Student Work Sheet ................................................................ 109
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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What is AVKO? AVKO is a non-profit tax-exempt 501(C)3 membership organization dedicated to finding an economical solution to the widespread problem of dyslexia in our nation. AVKO believes that we can eliminate the vast majority of reading and spelling problems by: disseminating its discoveries relating to the specific inner consistencies of English spelling that good readers learn without having been taught and which both dyslexics and poor readers cannot learn without being taught. spreading the concepts that: 1. parent and spouse tutoring in spelling/reading skills can be successfully taught in adult community education classes. 2. members of a problem reader’s support group can greatly assist the efforts of any volunteer tutor, whether a Laubach, LVA, or other literacy group member. Please note that although presently through the nation adult community education programs and literacy programs are in place, conspicuous by their absence are any specific programs designed to teach adults the art of tutoring their children (or spouses, other relatives, or friends) in reading or spelling. Granted, this group might be a minority—but we believe this minority has as much right to learn tutoring skills as that minority of adults who wish to learn how to decorate cakes or make flower arrangements. This is why we offer free lesson plans to schools who would include such a course in their adult education programs. AVKO provides free daily tutoring at its AVKO Reading/Spelling Clinic. If a dyslexic cannot come every day, then, for a modest fee, a tutor of his choice (usually a spouse, parent, neighbor, etc.) is trained at the clinic in how to tutor. AVKO was founded in 1974. Its name comes from the four modalities of learning. A is from Audio V is from Visual K is from Kinesthetic (the muscle memory of hands-on learning style) O is from Oral. (we can learn as we speak) AVKO provides newsletters to its members. It also affords them an economical opportunity to participate in research projects. AVKO planned to go out of existence on June 30, 1999 and leave all its assets to that 501(C)3 organization AVKO believes will make the best use of Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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them. The reason that AVKO planned to go out of existence is simple. At its inception in 1974, its board of directors felt that if AVKO could not achieve its major goals in 25 years, it would never achieve them. We have NOT gone out of existence for the simple reason we have yet to find a non-profit organization that would guarantee carrying on our mission. We are still looking. As it is, AVKO has already achieved all its primary goals. That is, AVKO has discovered: the causal relationship between the spellings of words in English to the nature of reading/spelling problems. the types of instructional techniques necessary to correct the problems. the types of instructional materials necessary to implement the teaching techniques.
Don, Who? Besides being AVKO’s Research Director and the author of over forty books and articles on reading, Don McCabe is a former reading teacher. He taught in the Flint Community Schools at Northwestern High School, Zimmerman Junior High, the Alternative Junior High, and the Regional Detention Center. It was in these schools that he first developed and tested the materials that became the basis for all the AVKO materials and the techniques that worked on the hardest of all subjects, the dyslexic juvenile delinquents, many of whom were labeled learning disabled with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). McCabe is himself a dyslexic with ADHD who considers the “affliction” the gift that enabled him to learn how to teach dyslexics. His autobiography To Teach a Dyslexic1 describes (1) how he was lucky enough to learn to read because of a rare fortunate combination of circumstances, (2) how his experiences while in the Army Security Agency and learning the Russian language helped prepare him for teaching illiterates, and how his punishment for being a union leader put him in the position of having to work with the worst students in the city of Flint, Michigan. Not only is McCabe a dyslexic, but so is his son Robert and his grandson Jason. Robert, whom he had to teach to read, is now himself a published author. Jason, who was tested as “gifted” in kindergarten but who had to be taught to read by his mother using AVKO materials, became a honor student despite his school’s prognosis that he couldn’t successfully learn to read without repeating kindergarten. Since that time McCabe has opened the AVKO Reading/Spelling Clinic where he has successfully taught adult dyslexics to read and has taught adults to teach their dyslexic spouses and/or children to read. 1
The book To Teach a Dyslexic can be ordered directly from the AVKO Foundation. Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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What does AVKO mean? AVKO is a word coined from the four basic ways we learn. A is for Audio (Some learn best through their sense of hearing.) V is for Visual (Some learn best through their seeing.) K is for Kinesthetic (Some learn best by doing, using their body, their muscles, their sense of touch often referred to as tactile.) O is for Oral (Some learn best by talking aloud, repeating sounds, hearing themselves speak.)
General Direction #1 Set aside 20 minutes a day to work with your student. The actual time of day is not really very important. What is extremely important is that it is the same time every day. Occasionally you will have a student whose work schedule is so irregular that this is impossible. However, even with irregularity you can find some regularity! For example, the tutoring can be done first thing upon getting back from work—or just before going to work!
What if my student can only afford to come to my house once a week? Find someone in your student’s family or a neighbor, relative, or friend of his and train that person to use this book twenty minutes a day with him. You then will become the master tutor and can check his progress and work on other areas of reading and composition with him during your weekly session.
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General Decision #1 I will work with (or find a helper to work with)________________________________________. (Insert your student’s name) every day, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays included for 20 minutes. I will work with my student (check one) ____________ first thing in the morning. ____________ right after breakfast. ____________ as soon as ____________ comes home from school or work. ____________ right before supper. ____________ right after supper ____________ right after the evening news ____________ at ____________ o’clock AM ____________ at ____________ o’clock PM If something unavoidable prevents a tutoring session I will try my best to have a second tutoring session some other day—but not at the same time as the regularly scheduled tutoring session. ____________ Yes
____________ No
Do not read any further unless you have made your decisions and filled in the appropriate blanks.
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The AVKO Quick Questionnaire Remember, we expect you to write in this book. Books are tools for learning that should be used. Please answer by checking with a pen or pencil. Yes No __________
__________
Did you make your decision and commit yourself to a program of action by writing your answer to Decision #1 on page 7? If you answered NO, go get a pencil. Go back to page 7. If you answered YES by checking with pencil, continue on.
__________
__________
Did you get this book in an Adult Community Education Course? If yes, decide now that you are going to make every session. No matter how good we believe this book to be, it doesn’t replace a good teacher who can help you with problems that come up. Besides, there will be many things presented in class that can’t be presented in a book. You also can learn from the other students in your class in informal discussions. If no, call your local Adult Community Education Director and ask to have one added to the course offerings. Better yet, send to AVKO for a free copy of How to Set Up a Community Education Course for Adults Whose Children (OR SPOUSES) Have Reading/Spelling Problems. Then, personally hand the booklet to the director.
__________
__________
Can a book answer your questions?
__________
__________
Can you talk back or argue with a book?
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I will go to every session of the class so that my __husband, __wife, __child, __neighbor, __friend, __student knows that I care enough about him/her to go every week to the class.
__________
__________
__________
__________ It important that I know that other ___tutors, ___adults,
___parents have the same problems and that I am not alone. __________
__________
It is important that I meet other ___tutors, ___adults, ___parents who are working with dyslexics so that out of sharing experiences and sharing mistakes we can all learn.
If you did NOT get this book as part of an Adult Community Education Course No
Yes __________
__________
I promise to do my best.
__________
__________
I promise not to get discouraged.
__________
__________
I promise to follow the directions exactly as written for at least the first thirty days of the 180 day program.
__________
__________ I love (respect) ___my child, __spouse, ___parent,
___neighbor, ___friend, ___student enough __________
__________
to PRAISE him/her when he/she does something right,
__________
__________
NOT TO CRITICIZE when a mistake is made,
__________
__________ that I am willing to FORGIVE MYSELF when I make
mistakes. __________
__________
I agree with AVKO’s motto, “Mistakes are opportunities to learn.”
__________
__________
I agree that the natural way of learning is by making mistakes. This is the way I learned to stand, to walk, to talk, to ride a bicycle, and even to feed myself.
Only if you have answered all the questions with a pencil or a pen should you turn to the next page.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Lesson 1 From now on, we ask you to please substitute the word that you want to use for the word student and where necessary substitute the proper gender. For ease of writing we will use the masculine pronouns, he, him, and his. However, if your student is female, use she, her, or hers as the case may be. Read the next few pages through before meeting with your student and practice it. When you meet your student, smile. After you finish greeting him, take out his Lesson 1 sheet (page 109). Read to him the words on the bottom of the page. With your finger point out each word as you read:
Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn. Then show your student the little essay on the next page. Read it to him. Remember to sit across from your student so you have to read upside down. Use your finger or a sheet of paper to keep your place. Tell your student that the paper (or finger) is for you—not him. Let your student know that you are learning how to read upside down.
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Did you remember to turn this upside down? Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn. Everybody makes mistakes. Mistakes are how we learn. When we were born into this world, we didn’t know how to stand, how to crawl, how to walk. Everybody falls down thousands of times while learning to walk. Everybody makes billions of mistakes. Mistakes are no big deal. We all learned to talk by trying. No one ever was born being able to speak. We all had to learn by making zillions of mistakes. No one ever learned to ride a bicycle without taking a spill. It took me a long time to learn to ride a bike. After about a thousand falls, two pints of blood, and a broken arm, I finally learned to ride my bike. And sixty years later, I can still ride a bike. Everybody can learn to read. Everybody can learn to spell. But not everybody can learn to read and to spell in one day. We are going to work together. Every day we are going to learn together. For the first few weeks we are going to work just on spelling. As we get used to working together and learning together, we will branch out into many other activities. Right now, we are going to prove to you that you can learn by making mistakes. Are you ready?
Stop Turn the book around so that it’s easy for you to read. Now, go to the index tab, open the notebook and take out pages 109 and 110. Give the page to him. Continue reading to him: Just to prove to you that you can learn something without studying, I want you to write on the bottom of your page just the word scatters as in “When my friend Jack works on his car, he scatters his tools all over the place.” Spell scatters. Or just write down whatever letters you think ought to be in the word scatters. Don’t worry about it. If you could just automatically spell scatters, you probably wouldn’t need any of my help. Just put down the letters you think might be in the word scatters. When we get to the 5th lesson, you’ll know how to spell scatters without ever having seen the word. Trust me. The things we know best we never studied.
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Okay? Let’s start. On the sheet I just gave you Lesson 1 (page 109) and in the blank that is in the sentence (not the one on the left) I want you to spell the word at as in: at
1. What are you looking
at
?
at
If your student gets it right, say: “Good!” and go to number two. If your student got it right but put it in the very first blank, tell him that you want it written in the blank that is part of the sentence. But don’t bother erasing it. If your student got it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase and spell the word at, a-t. at. Cover it up. Now write the word at one more time in the first blank. Good, now try...” bat
1. Sammy Sosa broke his
bat
.
bat
If your student gets it right, say: “Good!” But make sure he put the word in the second blank, the one that goes with the sentence. If your student gets it wrong, say, “Don’t worry about. just erase it and spell the word bat, b- a-t. Cover it up. Now write the word bat one more time. Put it in the first blank. Good. Now let’s try..” rat
1. Who said, “Okay, you dirty
rat
!”?
rat
If your student gets it right, say: “Good! Okay, now let’s try...” If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell rat, r- a-t. Cover it up. Now write rat one more time in the first blank. Good. Now, let’s try...” brat
1. The kid across the street is a little
brat
.
brat
If your student gets it right, say: “Good!” If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell brat, b-r- a-t. Cover it up. Now write brat one more time in the first blank. Good. Would you believe that this is all the spelling for our first lesson? Right now I want you to read along with me the student-tutor contract.1”
1
The student-tutor contract is on the next page. Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Student-Tutor Contract As a student I _____________________________________promise to do my best to never say the word can’t because I know that the word can’t is perhaps the worst four letter word a person can say. Saying “I can’t” won’t help me learn to improve my reading and spelling. to be on time for my tutoring sessions. to wear a smile. to learn from my mistakes. & and to thank my tutor for helping me learn that I can learn to improve my reading and spelling. ___________________________________ Signature of student
_______________________ Date
As a tutor I _______________________________________promise to do my best to never say the word can’t because I know that the word can’t is perhaps the worst four letter word a person can say. Saying “I can’t” or allowing my student to say, “I can’t” won’t help me help my student improve his reading and spelling. to be on time for my tutoring sessions. to wear a smile—and let my student know that I enjoy seeing him improve his reading/spelling skills. to learn from my mistakes and help my student understand that mistakes are opportunities to learn. to attend regularly (if available) a local adult community education class designed to help me improve my tutoring skills. and to cooperate fully with the school system and never, never critize the schools or other teachers especially in front of my student because blaming others is not constructive. Teaching and tutoring is what is important. ___________________________________ Signature of tutor
_______________________ Date
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Lesson 2 Before you meet with your student fill in the blanks. Mistakes are opportunities to __________ I __________ my student. I __________ be patient with him (love or respect) will or will not I will try to praise him much __________ than I criticize him. (more or less) Things to SAY OFTEN to your student
Things NEVER to say to your student
Very good!
Didn’t I just tell you?
Great!
Can’t you remember anything?
Good going!
Just sound it out.
See you’re learning without studying! You’re not trying. Hey, don’t worry about mistakes! We all make mistakes, but don’t expect me to tell you all of my mistakes. Just use your eraser and make it right. When you meet your student, smile. Say something like: “Hey, you’re looking good today. Are you ready for a real fast learning session? Are you ready to make mistakes and to learn from them? Okay, here’s lesson 2.” Give him page 110. bats
1. Would you like some
bats
for pets?
bats
If your student gets it right, say: “Good! Okay, now let’s try...” If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell bats, b- a-t- s. Cover it up. Now write bats one more time in the first blank. Good. Now, let’s try...” If your student spells bats “BAS” congratulate him on his great ear for sounds. There are only three phonemes (distinct sounds) in bats, the /b/, the /a/ and the /-ss/1. The sound of the /t/ actually disappears. But no matter, In our language, we have to first spell the word bat which ends with the letter t and then we have to add the letter s. Please don’t ask me why. We just do. rats 1
2. I won’t let you have
rats
for pets.
rats
The Russians have a special letter for this phoneme. Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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If your student gets it right, say: “Good! Okay, now let’s try...” If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell rats, r- a-t -s. Cover it up. Now write rats one more time in the first blank. Good. Now, let’s try...” brats
3. You shouldn’t call those kids
brats
even if they are. brats
If your student gets it right, say: “Good! Okay, now let’s try...” If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell brats, b-r- a-t -s. Cover it up. Now write brats one more time in the first blank. Good. Now, let’s try...” flat
4. Everybody falls
flat
on their face once in a while.
flat
If your student gets it right, say: “Good! Okay, now let’s try...” If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell flat, f-l a-t. Cover it up. Now write flat one more time in the first blank. Good. Now, let’s try...” flatter 5. I like people to
flatter
me once in a while.
flatter
If your student gets it right, don’t just say: “Good!” say “FANTASTIC!!!” You’re the first student I’ve ever had that got that word right the first time!” Although most students will not double the “t” in flatter, most of them will at least get either the beginning “fl-” right or the “at” right or have at least the letter “r” for the ending sound. Praise your student for getting that part right. One word of praise I often use is: “Good, you got almost all the right letters and they’re in the right order. You just left out one letter. Can you guess which letter it is?” If he does, great. And tell him, “Great!” If he doesn’t, just say, “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell flatter, fl- a-(double t) -er. Cover it up. Now write flatter one more time in the first blank. Good. Now, let’s try...” NOTE: The misspellings such as “fladr”1 or flatr” actually show a very fine ear for what linguists call phonemes. If your student misspelled flatter something like that, tell him he spelled flatter the way it should be spelled if English were truly phonetic. But it isn’t. So, he’ll just have to learn the the /atr/ or /adr/ sound is correctly spelled: A - double the T and add -E-R” or “A-T-T ER” spat
6. A little fight is often called a
spat
.
spat
If your student gets it right, say: “Good! Okay, now let’s try...”
1
In normal sloppy speech, the word flatter is most often pronounced as if it were spelled fladder! Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell spat, s-p -a-t. Cover it up. Now write spat one more time in the first blank. Good. Now, let’s try something a little different. How would you like to read some of those sentences we just had along WITH me. Now remember, I’m going to be reading the sentences with you. Only, I’m going to be reading them upside down. So please don’t laugh at my mistakes. I’m learning, too.” Now, use a piece of paper or your finger to hold your place and read with your student. Your student should at least be able to read some of the -at words the two of you are working on. Who knows, he might be able to pick up some other words in this process. However, don’t try to teach him any of the other words. We don’t want an overload. We’re just working on the -at words—remember?
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Lesson 3 Before you meet with your student fill in the blanks. Mistakes are opportunities to __________ I respect my student. He is not ___________. It doesn’t matter how fast he learns. It only matters that he does __________. Forgetting is normal. You forget. I forget. What did you have for supper on April 19, 1997. Have you forgotten? ___Yes. ___No. If you answered “yes” does that mean you are dumb or just plain normal? Things to SAY OFTEN to your student
Things NEVER to say to your student
Very good!
Didn’t I just tell you?
Great!
Can’t you remember anything?
Good going!
Just sound it out.
See you’re learning without studying! You’re not trying. Hey, don’t worry about mistakes! We all make mistakes, but don’t expect me to tell you all of my mistakes. Just use your eraser and make it right. When you meet your student, smile. Say something like: “Hey, you’re looking good today. Are you ready for a real fast learning session? Are you ready to make mistakes and to learn from them. Okay, here’s lesson 3.” (Give him p. 111). batted 1. Babe Ruth
batted
in the winning run many times.
batted
If your student gets it right, say: “Good! Okay, now let’s try...” If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell batted, b- -a- double the t and add -ed. Cover it up. Now write batted one more time in the first blank. Good. Although Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, he also set the record for strike outs! 1,330 times which stood for many years until Reggie Jackson came along. I guess he made a few mistakes, didn’t he. But Babe Ruth didn’t let his mistakes bother him. He just kept swinging.
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ratted 2. My sister
ratted
her hair.
ratted
If your student gets it right, say: “Good! Okay, now let’s try...” If your student gets it wrong, say: “Don’t worry about it. Just erase it and spell ratted, r- -a double the t and add ed. Cover it up. Now write ratted one more time in the first blank. Good. Have you got the routine down pat as to what to do when your student gets it right or gets it wrong? __Yes ___No. If yes, assume the direction is there after each word in each lesson. If no, put a book mark on this page and refer to it as often as necessary. But again, please congratulate your student EACH TIME he gets a word right. Remember, he hasn’t studied the word! If he misses, help him understand that it’s all right to make a mistake. This is the way we are learning — from our mistakes. The following are the rest of the words and their sentences for Lesson 3. batter
3. I would like to be the first batter up.
Flats
4. Flats are what some people call apartments.
flatters
5. The dress you bought your mother really flatters her.
spats
6. We never have fights in our family—just little spats.
mat
7. Do you think we should have a welcome mat?
matter
8. What’s the matter with me?
hat
9. The Cat in the Hat1 has the silliest hat.
1
The first “hat” is capitalized because it is part of a name-The Cat in the Hat. Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Stop the spelling for the day. If you have time go back and read the sentences with your student. Remember you are to be across the corner of the table from your student and you should be reading the sentences upside down! You might want to practice ahead of time. Again, your student isn’t expected to know any of the words except the ones that belong to the -at family. The last sentence about the “Cat in the Hat” is a reference to a book by Dr. Seuss. If you haven’t read it, you should. You can almost always find a copy in the library— but you might have to reserve it, because kids love the book. If your student is an adult (as I expect he is) let him know that one of the greatest joys in life is reading Dr. Seuss books to little kids. When you think he is ready for one of those books, have him buy or borrow one and practice reading it aloud with loads and loads of expression and different voices for different characters. Make reading fun!
Lesson 4 Before you meet with your student fill in the blanks. Is it true that the things we remember the best, such as names of relatives, friends, TV characters or actors such as Jerry Seinfeld, we never studied? ___Yes ___No. Is it true that the things we studied the hardest in school such as the names of the capitals of all the states, the largest and second largest cities in all the states, the names of all our presidents in order, we tend to forget? __Yes __No. Mistakes are ____________________ to learn. We also must learn to accept mistakes as part of life. As a tutor, one of the most important things I can do for my students is to help them accept mistakes as just mistakes. When was the last time you said, “Didn’t I just tell you...”? If you forget and make the mistake of saying that (for the 10,000th time), it’s a mistake—just a mistake. Just as you should forgive your student his mistakes, you must be able to forgive yourself for making mistakes. But just as you expect your student to learn from his mistakes, so too, you should try to learn from yours. Whenever you make statements like: “Didn’t I just tell you?”, what you are really saying is: “You’re so dumb you can’t remember anything.” Your student is smart. He reads you. So please don’t use any of those easy pat phrases that make him feel dumb. Build your student’s confidence with positive statements. Make your student feel worthwhile by making positive statements.
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Things to SAY OFTEN to your student
Things NEVER to say to your student
Very good!
Didn’t I just tell you?
Great!
Can’t you remember anything?
Good going!
Just sound it out.
See you’re learning without studying!
You’re not trying.
Hey, don’t worry about mistakes! We all make mistakes, but don’t expect me to tell you all of my mistakes. Just use your eraser and make it right. When you meet your student, smile. Say something like: “Hey, you’re looking good today. Are you ready for a real fast learning session? Are you ready to make mistakes and to learn from them. Okay, here’s lesson 4. (Give him p. 112).
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Lesson 4 batting
1. I think batting practice is more fun than fielding practice.
ratting
2. My sister is always ratting her hair (or ratting on me).
batters
3. Their team doesn’t have any real good batters.
pat
4. Everybody needs a pat on the back once in a while.
flattered
5. Men enjoy being flattered just as much as women do.
Note: The /urd/ sound in the word flattered is one of those “crazy” things about the English language. Look at some of the different ways /urd/ is spelled: ard (wayward) erd (herd) eard (heard) ered (entered) erred (inferred) ird (bird) irred (stirred) ord (word) urd (curd) urred (slurred) . You might want to show these to your student. But you don’t have to. And certainly, please don’t try to teach him all these sounds or words right now! It’s enough to teach him that all the “at urd” sounds are spelled the same, -attered as in -at, double the t and add -er to get -atter and then add the -ed to get -attered.
spatter
6. I don’t like to have hot grease spatter all over me.
mats
7. We should have a couple “STAY AWAY” mats.
matters
8. What matters the most to me is that you try your best.
spats
9. Not very many men wear spats anymore.
cat
10. Who ever heard of a cat wearing a hat?
scat
11. Tell the crazy cat to go scat.
scatter
12. You shouldn’t scatter your tools all over the place.
Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn.
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Lesson 5 chat
1. It’s about time we sat down and had a little chat.
chatter
2. Nat just loves to chatter. I think he talks too much.
battered
3. It’s no fun to see someone who has been badly battered.
patted
4. He patted himself on the back so hard he broke his arm.
flattering
5. That dress looks real flattering on your mother.
spatters
6. It isn’t funny when hot grease spatters all over you.
gnat
7. There is a dumb bug called a gnat. But how can you look up the word gnat if you don’t know that gnat starts with the dumb letter g?
matters
8. It really matters a lot to your mother.
tat
9. How did the saying, “tit for tat” get started?
cats
10. Why does it rain cats and dogs? Why not horses and cows?
scats
11. When a cat scats it runs. When a singer scats, that’s something else.
scatters
12. If your brother scatters your toys, just tell me about it. Don’t beat him up.
Check your student’s spelling of the word scatters. If he has it right, show him his misspelling on the bottom of page 109 (Lesson 1). Praise him for learning a word without ever having had it shown to him. If by chance, your student misspelled scatters, just have him correct his spelling. Wait until tomorrow when he gets to spell the word scattered or the following lesson when he gets to spell scattering. We bet he will have learned it by then. Praise him. Let him know that he is learning the natural way, by correcting his own mistakes.
rag
13. Can you find a clean rag for me?
bag
14. We always used to have a rag bag to keep our clean rags.
brag
15. If you are really good, you don’t have to brag. Be proud of who you are and what you do.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Lesson 6 chats
1. She stops by for a cup of coffee and chats with me.
Nat’s
2. Did you ever see a car like Nat’s car?
battering
3. They used to use battering rams to knock down doors.
patted
4. She patted herself on the back so hard she broke her arm.
flattery
5. Everybody enjoys a little honest flattery.
spattered
6. The hot grease spattered all over me—and did it burn!
gnats
7. I hate gnats. They are dumb bugs that start with g.
mattering
8. Something is always mattering to my sister.
tats
9. I can’t believe that she tats for a living (Makes lace).
vat
10. Pickles are pickled in a vat. Beer is brewed in a vat.
cat’s
11. My cat’s tail tickles.
scattered 12. My dog’s tail hit the cards and scattered them all over. rags
13. We need a place to keep clean rags.
bags
14. We don’t need a dozen bags to keep rags.
brags
15. Nancy brags about how she beat me once in checkers.
lag
16. I used to lag pennies up to a line pretty good.
flag
17. We all know how to pledge allegiance to the flag.
wag
18. You don’t have to teach a dog how to wag its tail.
Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
24
Lesson 7 chatted
1. Don chatted with us for over an hour.
Rats
2. Rats and snails and puppy dog tails. That’s what little girls are made of. Right? Okay, so I got it wrong. So what?
battery
3. I think this flashlight needs a new battery.
patting
4. She is always patting herself on the back.
chattering
5. I love to hear little squirrels chattering.
spattering
6. Don’t get close to the stove when the grease is spattering.
drats
7. I have never heard anyone say, “Oh drats!”
smattering 8. I have learned a smattering of this and that. mattering
9. Can you find the word mattering in smattering?
tatting
10. She tatted that with a special needle called a shuttle made for tatting (Making lace.)
vats
11. Pickles, beer, and whiskey are made in vats.
slat
12. Go fix that broken slat on the bench before someone gets hurt.
scattering 13. She is always scattering her clothes around the room. tattered
14. I don’t like a shirt that looks real tattered.
bagged
15. My brother went hunting but he never bagged a thing.
lags
16. A good putter lags the golf ball close to the cup.
flags
17. There must be thousands of different flags.
hag
18. It’s not nice to call your sister an old hag.
Jag
19. Jag was originally a load.
Mag
20. Do you know anybody by the name of Mag?
zag
21. If you know how to zig, do you know how to zag?
Be proud of who you are and what you do.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
109
The student does NOT guess what word goes in the blanks. z z z z
The tutor reads the word, the sentence, and the word again. The student attempts the spelling of the word in the blank that is within the sentence. The tutor gives the correct spelling of the word. The student corrects his/her own spelling. The student then covers up the corrected word and then writes the correct spelling one more time in the blank to the left of the sentence.
The complete script with directions for the tutor begins back on page 10
Things to notice about this book z Even though the sentences happen to be fairly easy to read (2.0 to 3.0 readability), the sentences don’t turn off an adult. z The students will learn without studying. The tutors will teach without having to correct papers! z The words are carefully sequenced. Notice AVKO guarantees that if the directions are followed, even your most dyslexic student will, on the 5th lesson of the program, correctly spell the word you just now asked him to spell (See p. 11) even though he has never seen nor studied the word before.
Lesson 1 ______________1.
What are you looking ____________?
______________2.
Sammy Sosa broke his ____________.
______________3.
Who said, “Okay, you dirty ____________!”?
______________4.
The kid across the street is a little ___________.
_____________________________________________________________________________ Student writes the “pre-test” sentence or just the target “pre-test” word on this line.
Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
110
Lesson 2 _____________ 1. Would you like some ______________ for pets?
_____________ 2. I won’t let you have ______________ for pets.
_____________ 3. You shouldn’t call those kids ________________ even if they are.
_____________ 4. Everybody falls _________________ on their face once in a while.
_____________ 5. I like people to _____________________ me once in a while.
_____________ 6. A little fight is often called a ________________.
Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
111
Lesson 3 ______________1. Babe Ruth __________________ in the winning run many times.
______________2. My sister __________________ her hair.
______________3. I would like to be the first __________________ up.
______________4. _______________ are what some people call apartments.
______________5. The dress you bought your mother really ____________________ her.
______________6. We never have fights in our family—just little ________________.
______________7. Do you think we should have a welcome ________________?
______________8. What’s the __________________ with me?
______________9. The Cat in the ____________ has the silliest ______________.
Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn. Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
112
Lesson 4 _____________ 1. I think __________________ practice is more fun than fielding practice.
_____________ 2. My sister is always ________________ her hair (or ______________ on
me).
_____________ 3. Their team doesn’t have any real good __________________.
_____________ 4. Everybody needs a ______________ on the back once in a while.
_____________ 5. Men enjoy being __________________ just as much as women do.
_____________ 6. I don’t like to have hot grease __________________ all over me.
_____________ 7. We should have a couple “STAY AWAY” ______________.
_____________ 8. What ________________ the most to me is that you try your best.
_____________ 9. Not very many men wear ________________ anymore.
____________ 10. Who ever heard of a ______________ wearing a ______________?
____________ 11. Tell the crazy _____________ to go ______________.
____________ 12. You shouldn’t ______________________ your tools all over the place.
Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
113
Lesson 5 ______________1. It’s about time we sat down and had a little ____________. ______________2. Nat just loves to ________________. I think he talks too much. ______________3. It’s no fun to see someone who has been badly _________________. ______________4. He ________________ himself on the back so hard he broke his arm. ______________5. That dress looks real ________________ on your mother. ______________6. It isn’t funny when hot grease __________________ all over you. ______________7. There is a dumb bug called a ______________. But how can you look up the word ______________ if you don’t know that ____________ starts with the dumb letter g? ______________8. It really ________________ a lot to your mother. ______________9. How did the saying, “tit for ____________” get started? _____________10. Why does it rain ______________ and dogs? Why not horses and cows? _____________11. When a cat ________________ it runs. When a singer _________________, that’s something else. _____________12. If your brother ____________________ your toys, just tell me about it. Don’t beat him up. _____________13. Can you find a clean ______________ for me? _____________14. We always used to have a ______________ ______________ to keep our clean ________________. _____________15. If you are really good, you don’t have to ________________.
Be proud of who you are and what you do.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
114
Lesson 6 _____________ 1. She stops by for a cup of coffee and ________________ with me. _____________ 2. Did you ever see a car like ________________ car? _____________ 3. They used to use ____________________ rams to knock down doors. _____________ 4. She __________________ herself on the back so hard she broke her arm. _____________ 5. Everybody enjoys a little honest ______________________. _____________ 6. The hot grease __________________ all over me—and did it burn! _____________ 7. I hate ______________. They are dumb bugs that start with g. _____________ 8. Something is always __________________ to my sister. _____________ 9. I can’t believe that she ________________ for a living (Makes lace). ____________ 10. Pickles are pickled in a ___________. Beer is brewed in a _____________. ____________ 11. My ______________ tail tickles. ____________ 12. My dog’s tail hit the cards and ____________________ them all over. ____________ 13. We need a place to keep clean ______________. ____________ 14. We don’t need a dozen ________________ to keep ________________. ____________ 15. Nancy ________________ about how she beat me once in checkers. ____________ 16. I used to ______________ pennies up to a line pretty good. ____________ 17. We all know how to pledge allegiance to the ________________. ____________ 18. You don’t have to teach a dog how to ________________ its tail.
Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn.
Copyright © 2003, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1978 AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Apostrophes Made Easy
by James D. Webb, Ph.D.
Educational Consultant for AVKO Educational Research Foundation
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc. 3084 W. Willard Road. Clio, Mich. 48420-7801 Telephone: (810) 686-9283 FAX (810) 686-1101 URL: www.avko.org/ eMail:
[email protected]
Preface This book was written with the learner in mind. I know how hard it was for me to learn when and how to use apostrophes. When I first learned what they were, or thought I had, I used them in front of almost all ending s's. Then, when I got my papers back most of them were circled in bloody red ink. It didn't take me long to be hopelessly confused. Why should "ITZ" (its/it's) sometimes have an apostrophe and sometimes not? The way grammar was taught to me in the "modern" style of the day that was anything but systematic; I began floundering when it came to apostrophes. Sometimes I used almost no apostrophes -- and got lots of bloody red marks on my paper. Other times, I used lots of apostrophes with the same discouraging results. It took a teacher with great patience to slowly and systematically walk me through what I thought was a maze of rules. What this teacher did was not just have me do exercises and mark them right or wrong. The teacher made me -- right in front of her -- do the exercises. When I put down my answer, she would ask me why I picked the answer I picked. It didn't matter whether I was right or I was wrong. It did matter to her that I knew why I picked the answer. This is why in the final exercises, I designed them so the student has to decide whether or not a word needs an apostrophe and to state the reason. It is also why I designed it with immediate feedback. We have had individuals use this book to teach themselves. This has been quite successful, in fact. However, I feel it is always best to have someone next to you. It does tend to make you a little more honest and not to peek at the answers. You might notice that there aren't any cute little pictures of dogs named Spot or little girls with balloons named Jane. The book was written for adults. However, one thing is for sure. This book can be used with kids. You can almost always treat kids as adults, but it's rarely wise to treat adults as if they were kids.
4
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
Suggestions for Use Adult Education: The tutor is to follow the directions the teacher gives regarding the usage of this book. Volunteer Literacy Tutors: If this book is being used independently by a volunteer tutor with an adult, we suggest that: 1. The tutor read along with the adult being tutored, 2. The adult answers the questions, 3. The tutor immediately tells the adult whether or not the answer given is correct, 4. The tutor uses some form of praise for each correct answer, if only the simple words "good" and "right," & 5. The tutor does NOT make a big deal out of a mistake. We expect mistakes. AVKO's motto is: Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn. Independent Classroom Work: If a student can read all the words or can be trusted to ask, "What is this word?" or "What does this word mean?"--then, and only then should the student be able to use this as a programmed text and correct each answer as he/she goes. If the student does not understand why an answer is the way it is, the student should feel secure enough to ask the teacher to explain it. Regular Elementary or Secondary Classroom: We recommend that this be used as a class exercise with the teacher reading the sentences. The students writes their answer after each sentence. Then, the teacher gives the correct answer and the reason for it being correct. Then the students correct their own answers. This brings in the important elements of Immediate Student Self-Correction which research has proven time and again to be the most consistently effective method of instruction.
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
5
What is an Apostrophe? Question: 1. What is an apostrophe? Can you point out the apostrophes in the answer below?
Answer: It's that funny looking mark between the t and s in the first word of this sentence and the first word of the next sentence. It's also that funny looking mark between the k and the s in the next to the last word in this sentence, Jack's house.
Exercise One: Count all the apostrophes you can find in the next paragraph. Apostrophes are more than just funny little marks. They have two jobs that they do. It's too bad that we can't use a special kind of apostrophe like this Ø to show that it's being used as a contraction. It's also too bad that we can't use a different kind of an apostrophe like this < to show when it's being used to show possession. Or another kind like this ~ to show when it's being used to make a plural when we use 2's and 3's and p's and q's.
Answer: There are 11 apostrophes unless you want to count the Ø, <, and ~, in which case the answer is 14.
6
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
Programmed Instruction Design When the book is open, cover up the right-hand side of each page. Read the left-hand side and when you come to a question, answer it. Then, before going on, uncover the correct answer on the right-hand side of the page. See the illustration below of a sample page. 1. 2. 3. 4.
We read question one. We answer question one. We uncover the correct answer and see if we got it right. If we get it right, great! If we get it wrong, we try to figure out why. Usually, there is a clue given in the answer to why the answer given is right. If that does not satisfy you, ask your teacher to teach you why that answer is right. Believe it or not, teachers love to teach. Give them a chance to do what they love best. Exercises on When to Use or NOT use an Apostrophe
Answers
1. “TAHMZ” mother runs a shoe store. (Toms or Tom's) __________
Tom's (Shows possession)
1. Tom's mother runs a shoe store. 2. “HIZ” son works in a factory. (his or his') __________
his (Already shows possession) Adjective
2. His son works in a factory 3. We “WUR” looking for some “PINZ” and (were or we're) (pins or pin's) “NEE dulz.” (needles or needle's) __________
were verb
__________
pins plural
__________
needles plural
3. We were looking for some pins and needles. __________ * We are deliberately using phonetic spellings to indicate the word we are using to both test and teach the concept of apostrophes. If you don't wish to use the phonetic spellings, you can give the correct spelling of the base word, such as Tom in number 1.
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
7
What is a contraction? Second Question: What is a contraction? ("kun TRAK shun") Answer: A contraction is what we call it when we show in writing that we have run two words into each other and have made them sound just like one. For example -- We could say very slowly: It
is
very
cold
in
Alaska
in
the
Or we could say it faster like this: It
is
very cold
in Alaska
in the winter.
Or faster yet: It is
very cold in Alaska in the winter.
Or we can run the word it and the word is together and just say: It's very cold in Alaska in the winter. Some Apostrophes are used to make Contractions. It's is the contraction of the two words _______ _______
it is
Question: What are the most common contractions? Answer: The most common contractions are little words such as: does/us/is which becomes… were/are not have will shall had/would
8
's 're n't 've 'll 'll 'd
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
winter.
Underneath the apostrophes write the two words that are run together: Example: If you'd just pay attention, you'll have no problem. you would you will
1. What's this all about? __________ __________ this all about?
What is
2. Do you know Jack and Mary? They're my best friends. __________ __________ my best friends.
They are
Exercises Using: does/us/is which becomes 's were/are not have will shall had/would
're n't 've 'll 'll 'd
Underneath the apostrophes write the two words that are run together. 1. That's nice. ____________________ nice.
That + is
2. They're going to come here. ____________________ going to come here.
They + are
3. We should've known better. ____________________ known better.
should + have
4. I'll get done before Jim does. ____________________ get done before Jim does.
I + will (shall)
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
9
5. I'd be careful if I were you. ____________________ be careful if I were you.
I + would
6. What'd you have for breakfast? ____________________ you have for breakfast?
What + did
7. They weren't there. They ____________________ there.
were + not
8. I couldn't hear him. I ____________________ hear him.
could + not
9. Didn't you know that? ____________________ you know that?
Did + not
10. Jimmy's my very best friend. ____________________ my very best friend.
10
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
Jimmy + is
Using Apostrophes to Show Possession We all know that we add an -s (or -es) to make most plurals. For example: Singular
Plural
Possessive
One car. One fox.
Two cars. Ten foxes.
The car's fender was dented. The fox's leg was cut.
And we sometimes have funny plurals as in: One child.
Nine children.
One deer.
Eleven deer.
A child's hat. The children's room. The deer's antlers.
The Apostrophe + s ('s) is used as a contraction AND to show possession. If the apostrophe is used as a contraction, write the words that are being contracted below the contraction. If the apostrophe is used to show possession, write P for Possession. Exercises:
Answers:
a. The car's getting fixed.
__________
car + is
b. The car's radio is on the blink.
__________
P
c. Jack's a good friend of mine.
__________
Jack + is
d. Mary's older brother sells cars.
__________
P
e. Tom's no sissy.
__________
Tom + is
f. Tom's older sister repairs cars.
__________
P
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
11
Exercises to Identify Apostrophes as being used for Contraction or to show Possession Is the apostrophe being used to make a contraction or from a possessive? If it's being used as a contraction, write the words that are contracted. If the apostrophe shows possession, write the letter P.
Exercises:
Answers
1. David's going over to Tom's house first.
__________
__________
David + is
P
we + are
P
cat + is
P
P
P
dog + is
P
Jack + is
P
Let + us
P
2. Then, we're going over to David's house.
__________
__________
3. The cat's eating the dog's food.
__________
__________
4. Tom's dog tried to drink the cat's milk.
__________
__________
5. My dog's older than David's dog.
__________
__________
6. Jack's going to buy Tom's car from him.
__________
__________
7. Let's go over to Jim's house.
__________
12
__________
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
Apostrophes are also used to make plurals ONLY WHEN it wouldn't look right just to add an -s as we normally do. For example: "Mind your Ps and qs" looks better written as “Mind your p's and q's.” 1s and 2s looks better written as 1's and 2's. Contraction
Possessive = P
= PL
Plural
Example: a. Mary should've studied with Ida's group if she wanted A's and B's. should've
should + have
Ida's
P
A's
PL
B's
PL
Exercises: 1. Tom'll tell you just what Mary's teacher told him about x's and y's. Tom'll
__________
Tom + will (shall)
Mary's
__________
P
x's
__________
PL
y's
__________
PL
2. Betty's going to talk to June's friends about the way she crosses her t's. Betty's
__________
Betty + is
June's
__________
P
t's
__________
PL
3. We're going down to Ms. Smith's room and get in groups of 2's and 3's. We're
__________
We + are
Smith's
__________
P
2's
__________
PL
3's
__________
PL
4. You're going to find that Jason's sneezes come in 4's and 5's. You're
__________
You + are
Jason's
__________
P
4's
__________
PL
5's
__________
PL
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
13
Is the apostrophe being used to form a possessive (P) or make a plural (PL)? Example: a. Linda's dad keeps telling her to mind her p's and q's. Linda's
P
p's
PL
q's
PL
Exercises: 1. That boy's biggest problem in math are the 7's and 8's. boy's
__________
P
7's
__________
PL
8's
__________
PL
2. Do you know how many A's were on Bob's report card? A's
__________
PL
Bob's
__________
P
3. The teacher gave out two B's for the paper about the bee's knees. B's
__________
PL
bee's
__________
P
4. The skater's marks were mostly 5.9's. skater's
__________
P
5.9's
__________
PL
5. The grades for the boys' group project were C's. boys'
__________
P
C's
__________
PL
NOTE: When the apostrophe comes after the s, it indicates a plural possessive. "Boys's" would look funny so the last s is dropped.
6. The two girls' marks for their project were also C's.
14
girls'
__________
P
C's
__________
PL
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
When NOT to use apostrophes 1. Don't use an apostrophe to make a plural -- except with letters and numbers. 2. Don't use an apostrophe to show POSSESSION if the word already is a POSSESSIVE. Right
Wrong
We saw three rabbits and five cows.
We saw three rabbit's and five cow's.
The cat licked its paw.
The cat licked it's paw.
The idea was hers.
The idea was her's.
Look at this list of POSSESSIVE pronouns. All show possession but NOT one has an apostrophe! Pronoun
Possessive Possessive Adjective Pronoun
I you it he she we they
my your its his her our their
mine yours its his hers ours theirs
I said, "My glasses are mine." You just think that your house is really yours. It hurt its leg. He broke his arm. That book is his. She lost her ring. That car is hers. We know our team lost. The prize was ours. They knew their school won. The win was theirs.
Concepts to LOCK into the automatic response memory. Because we already know: My does NOT need an apostrophe to show possession as in "my feet." His does NOT need an apostrophe to show possession as in "his feet." Her does NOT need an apostrophe to show possession as in "her feet." Our does NOT need an apostrophe to show possession as in "our feet." It should be automatic to know that: Your does NOT need an apostrophe to show possession as in "your feet." Their does NOT need an apostrophe to show possession as in "their feet." Its does NOT need an apostrophe to show possession as in "its feet." Therefore: You're can only be a contraction of you + are -- Never a possessive. They're can only be a contraction of they + are -- Never a possessive. It's can only be a contraction of it + is -- Never a possessive.
Copyright © 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
15
Making sense out of
the complete 1before 'erule
Programmed Learning. Students learn from their mistakes as they correct them.
Don McCabe
AVKO
Educational Research Foundation
Why Teach the I before E Rule? One reason for teaching the rule is that it is a rule that works 99% of the time -- that is, if the complete rule is taught! Another reason for teaching the rule is to give your students the opportunity to master a rule that most "bright" students don't know and can't apply even if they have the rule in front of them. Knowing something that most bright students don't know always gives a little boost in selfesteem. It doesn't matter if your students are learning disabled. They can learn this rule. They can learn to apply the rule, if you will just take your time, follow the directions, and have faith in your students. The students the author used to develop this little program were learning disabled adolescent juvenile delinquents. He insisted that they memorize the rule. He insisted that they learn to apply the rule. He also insisted that they score 100% on the test. Because each student took the test individually and orally at the author's desk, there was no way they could cheat. And as hard as it may be to believe, all the students in his class passed the test. Not in a day. Not in a week. But within eight weeks, they all had managed to memorize the rule, learn to apply the rule and pass the test -- an accomplishment that they will never forget. By the way, if you personally have ever had problems determining whether or not a word was ei or ie, this little book should eliminate those problems for you, because you will learn right along with your students by using this programmed text.
Copyright O 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
Memorize
The AVKO
I Before E Rule Use i before e except after c, Or when sounded as "EYE" or "AY," As in Einstein or weigh. Neither, weird, foreign, leisure, Seize, forfeit, and height, Are exceptions spelled right.
Understanding the Rule -- Part I "Use i before e ... " means: Use ie unless you a reason to write ei that is stated in the rule. This also means that if you choose to use ei in a word without having a reason to do so, chances are you will misspell the word. Again, according to the rule you must have a reason to use ei -- otherwise, you should spell the word using ie. In the following exercises, you will be expected to give the reason for your selection of ie or ei. Your questions are on one side of the page. The answers are on the right hand side. Use a piece of heavy paper to cover the answer. Write the answer under the correct reason and then check your answer.
0 If you get it right, go on to the next. 0 If You get it wrong, erase your incorrect answer and try to figure out why the answer given is right. If you don't understand why it is right, ask your teacher to teach you why.
Copyright O 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
Exercise 1
AVKO's I before E Rule
Rule = ie Use i before e Except after c, cei u ~ y ~ "= /ei " ~ ~ Or when sounded as "EYE" or "AY," As in Einstein or weigh. 1 1 =~ ei Neither, weird, foreign, leisure, IIXII = ei Seize, forfeit, and height, MXII = ei Are exceptions spelled right. But don't let the "C-I-E-Nuwords get you uptight! cie n Understanding: Use i before e means use ie unless you have a good reason to use ei. Except after c means use ei after c as in: cei- in ceiling, receive, etc. Examples: a. be1 ve b. sh---id c. c- -lings
ie words believe shield
ei words
ceilings
Reason Rule Rule cei
Check Your Answers below.
Spell the word correctly in the right column and give the right reason. ie words
ei words
Reason
ie words
ei words
Reason
1. gr- -f
grief
Rule
2. p- -r
~ier
Rule
3. th- -ves
thieves
Rule
belief
Rule
chief
Rule
I
4. be1- -f 5. ch- -f
6. rec- -ve
7. ach- -ve 8. rec- -vers 9. rec- -pt 10. conc- -ted
I I -I -I
I,
receive
Rule
achieve
I
cei
receivers
cei
recei~t
cei
conceited
cei
Copyright O 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
Exercise 2
AVKO's I before E Rule
n
Use i before e Rule = ie cei ~ x c eafter ~ t c, l l E y E l l ~=~ei~ Or when sounded as "EYE" or "AY," As in Einstein or weigh. IIX" = ei Neither, weird, foreign, leisure, = ei Seize, forfeit, and height, "X" = ei Are exceptions spelled right. cie But don't let the "C-I-E-N" words get you uptight!
Understanding: Use i before e means use ie unless you have a good reason to use ei. Except after c means use ei after c as in: cei- in ceiling, receive, etc. Examples:
a. be1 ve b. sh--id c. c- -lings
ie words
believe shield
ei words
Reason
- Rule ceilings
Rule cei
Spell the word correctly in the right column and give the right reason. ie words
ei words
Check Your Answers below.
Reason
ie words
ei words
Reason
1. re1--ve
relieve
Rule
2. fr- -nd
friend
Rule
3. pr--st
vriest
Rule
4. conc- -ve
conceive
5. f--rce
cei
Rule
fierce 3
received
6. rec--ved
7. pat--nce
cei
Rule
~atience
8. c--ling
ceiling
cei
9. rec- -ving
receiving
cei
10. pat--nts Homophones:
vatients pat- -nts/pat nce c- -ling/sealiG
Homophones:
Copyright O 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Inc.
Rule patientslpatience ceiling/sealing
I
AVKO's I before E Rule -
Exercise 3
--
Use i before e Rule = ie Except after c, cei "EYE"/"A~ = ei Or when sounded as "EYE" or %Y," As in Einstein or weigh. W x = ei Neither, weird, foreign, leisure, M()M = ei Seize, forfeit, and height, IIx = ei Are exceptions spelled right. But don't let the "C-I-E-N" words get you uptight! cie n Understanding: Use i before e means use ie unless you have a good reason to use ei. E x c e ~after t c means use ei after c as in: cei- in ceilina. receive, etc. Or when sounded as "EYE" means use ei as in Einstein Or when sounded as "AY" means use ei as in weigh. Examples: a. be1 ve b. c- --1hgs C. leen d. k--gh
ie words
ei words
believe -
ceilings Eileen weigh
Reason Rule cei "EYE"
"AY1 Check Your Answers below.
Spell the word correctly in the right column and give the right reason. ie words
ei words
ie words
Reason
ei words
Reason
1. - -n
ein
"EYE"
2. st- -n
stein
"EYE"
Einstein
"EYE"
3. - -nst- -n ,
4. f- -Id
field
Rule
cei
5. rec- -ve
receive
6. - -ght
eight
"AT'
7. w- -ght
weight
"AT'
8. fr- -ght
freight
"AY'
9. fr-
-rids
friends
I
10. rec- -ving Homophones:
ate/ ght waiOG- -ght
-
Rule
receiving
Homophones:
Copyright O 1989 AVKO Educational Research Foundation, lnc.
ateleight waitlweight
cei