Post on 28-Mar-2016
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Copyright © 2013 by Fred Duckworth. All rights
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About Our Program Chapter 1
At TrinityTutors Virtual Academy, rather than require
participants to memorize individual spelling words
twenty at a time, we help them master the rules
governing those spellings—a logical, well-structured
approach that enables students to become
competent spellers who accurately encode auditory
speech into written language by applying common
patterns to the 250,000 or so words they must be
able to handle when writing in context.
In brief, we use a five step process that requires
learners to decipher the phonological structure of
each word by applying roughly 29 rules and 70
alphabetic codes to the 44 speech sounds on which
the English language is built.
Consequently, before using this approach your child
will need to be fairly familiar with the concepts of
syllables, vowels, consonants, and both short- and
long-vowel sounds.
The strategies we use have all been adapted from a
variety of sound, well-established spelling programs
like those offered by Romalda Spalding, Zaner-
Bloser and Discover Explicit Phonics, resulting in a
unique approach to spelling instruction that can be
tailored to any educational setting.
Each lesson focuses on a particular pattern related
to a common spelling rule or principle. The spelling
words in the list for that week are chosen to illustrate
the spelling strategy, which you can help your child
learn by spending time at home examining the
words together.
Moreover, you will probably want to encourage your
child to make a habit of using the following study
strategy and spelling ideas suggested by Zaner-
Bloser:
1. Look at the word.
2. Say the letters in the word. Think about how
each sound is spelled.
3. Cover the word with your hand or close your
eyes.
4. See the word in your mind. Spell the word to
yourself.
5. Write the word.
6. Check your spelling against the spelling in your
notes or on the spelling handout.
Your son or daughter will also grow as a speller by
writing stories, diaries, signs, letters, etc. Encourage
him or her to write frequently while playing and
exploring hobbies, as well as during quiet times.
Enjoy writing together!
The Weekly Routine Chapter 2
On the next page you will find a description of how
TrinityTutors Virtual Academy goes about
conducting rigorous, content-rich, criterion-
referenced/mastery-learning spelling program.
It is not meant to be an exact prescription that
parent-educators using this program must follow. It
does however indicate the type of word structure
analysis I strongly recommend you have your
learner carry out each week.
Of greater concern however than the minute details
of lesson execution is whether your child success-
fully masters the targeted skills and concepts by the
end of each week.
Short-a Spelling Words
GRADE 1 GRADE 2 GRADE 3
an ask land
can sat plan
man fan stand
ran map act
had hand last
dad cap band
am sad grand
at fat stamp
cat bat sand
hat as
has
and
Word Lists for Lesson 1:
Sample Lesson / Day 1:
During the first spelling lesson of the week, your
focus will be on having your learning use his or her
listening skills and draw on his or her preexisting or
background knowledge to see if he or she can
identify what the words in the new spelling list all
have in common.
At this point, you do not allow the students to see
the list. Instead, you have your learners listen
carefully as you read the new words one-by-one,
instructing them to listen for some “quality” all the
words share in common. You might even ask them
to repeat each word after you, saying something like
the following...
I’m going to read this week’s list of words and I want
you to repeat each word after me. Listen carefully
and pay close attention so you will be able to tell me
what sound you hear or feel in all the words, or
what it is you think all the words share in common.
If any of your learners are able to identify the
spelling rule, principle or pattern on which you are
focusing this week—wonderful! If not, show them the
list of words (distribute the spelling handout or have
them turn to the appropriate page in their spelling or
language workbooks) and ask them what letter or
letter combination or other common feature they
notice or recognize in all the words.
If they are still unable to identify the targeted spelling
rule, principle or pattern, go ahead and make
explicitly clear exactly which rule, principle or pattern
you are focusing on this week. (If you’re using a
keyword picture, show it at this time. Also, distribute
the spelling list if you have not done so already.)
If the spelling program you are using does not focus
on a particular spelling skill or concept, introduce
“closed syllables” and have your learners search the
words with the goal of locating all of the closed
syllables in the list.
Even if the spelling program you are using does
have its own focus pattern, rule or principal, make
sure you also discuss “close syllables” anyway
since, by the end of next week, all FIA students in
grades four to seven are to be able to verbally
answer the question “What do you know about
closed syllables?” if and when asked by the school’s
English head of department.
(Answer: A closed syllable is a syllable that ends
with a consonant, and the vowel in a closed syllable
is usually short.)
Unlike many in the education establishment, here at
TrinityTutors Virtual Academy we do not necessarily
frown on rote memorization and in fact, are of the
opinion that it can serve as a valuable instructional
tool. However, we do agree that rote memorization
for its own sake is rather pointless and therefore
make a practice of going on to check whether
students can apply all information presented in a
practical manner.
For example, we might write the following words on
the boardH
zon blug flo pru
Hand then ask the student to circle the closed
syllables.
Sample Lesson / Day 2:
After reviewing yesterday’s discussion, have the
students practice their handwriting by copying each
word as you write it on the board. Discuss how this
week’s pattern applies to each word as you provide
direct instruction with respect to how individual
letters are formed or written. If the students are in
grade four or above, these lessons should be
conducted using cursive handwriting.
(By the way, the previous lesson implies that
students are familiar with the concepts of syllables,
vowels, short vowels and consonants, so if this is
not the case, you will need to start there. [Such is
the case with child-centered and criterion-
referenced/mastery-learning instruction.] It should
also be mentioned that unless your students can
verbally explain or describe the above concepts [i.e.,
What is a syllable? What are the vowels? What are
the short vowel sounds?] we at TrinityTutors Virtual
Academy will regard this as a lack of evidence that
students have indeed mastered this material, so
please ensure your learners can verbalize all skills
and concepts they supposedly know.)
As you work your way through the list, have your
students verbalize the corresponding rule, pattern or
principle from time to time. Make sure you reinforce
the link between the targeted spelling concept and
its corresponding letter(s) or letter combination(s).
When finished, have your learners continue
practicing the verbalization of this week's spelling
rule until they can say it without any assistance.
Finally, have your learners use the rule to spell
words chosen randomly from the list as well as other
words (or nonsense words) that they should be able
to “encode” by applying the rules, patterns or
principals currently under study as well as those
learned previously.
Sample Lesson / Day 3:
Review what was learned during the first two
lessons. Then have the class read each word
twice—the first time at normal speed, but pausing
between each uninterrupted phonemic unit the
second time around (whenever they come to a multi-
syllabic word) to demonstrate how each word should
be divided or broken into syllables.
You might also want to have your learners tap their
fingers (or clap their hands) to emphasize the
number of syllables.
Another alternative is to have the students copy the
list of words on their own, writing the number of
syllables next to each word without any assistance.
You might even have them write the spelling words
phonetically using standard pronunciation symbols,
instructing them to be sure they divide the words into
syllables and use accent marks. Once they finish,
you can have them compare their spellings with
those in a standard dictionary of from a dictionary
website.
After completing the above activities, ask your
learners to identify the position of specific sounds by
asking questions like:
“Which syllable in the word ___________ has the
/__ / sound?”
And finally, review skills and concepts already
mastered or currently being learned by instructing
the class to identify spelling patterns from the
present and past lessons. Ask questions like:
“How do you spell the /__ / sound?”
Sample Lesson / Day 4:
Have each student choose one of the five spelling
activities below, directing your learners to alternate
activities from week to week and informing them that
each activity will be graded for completeness and
neatness.
1. List the spelling words in alphabetical order,
using one of the following alternatives.
a. Write each word on graph paper, placing
one letter in each box. Then draw an outline
around the entire word to see its overall
shape.
b. Study the most difficult words from the list
using “triangle spelling.”
2. Use each word in a sentence that has at least
six other words in it besides the spelling word.
a. Watch usage of the word, and make sure it
is in the context of the appropriate definition.
b. Underline each spelling word.
3. Write a paragraph or story that uses/includes all
of your spelling words. Underline the spelling
words.
4. Using the definitions to create clues, design a
crossword puzzle on graph paper. Include the
clues and leave the puzzle blank.
5. Write each of your spelling words and next to
each word, define it. Make sure that the
definition applies to the way the word was used
in class.
The following alternative can be used once the
students know most or all of the patterns:
Have the students “decode” the syllables comprising
each word, categorizing them according to the six
types of syllables.
Follow up on this task by asking questions like:
1. How many vowel sounds are in this word?
2. Are there any digraphs in this word? If so, what
are they?
3. Are there any diphthongs in this word? If so,
what are they?
4. Are there any r-controlled vowels in this word? If
so, what are they?
During the activity, make sure you stress all
important sound-symbol correspondence. Also, ask
questions like:
1. What type of syllable is the first syllable?
2. Which syllable is a ____ syllable?
3. Which syllable is accented?
You may choose to introduce the six types of
syllables as students encounter them, or you can
provide students with the definitions beforehand,
possibly even providing a lesson ahead of time
along with examples of each type of syllable.
Test Day:
Administer the final spelling test. When
administering the test, read each word one-at-a-
time.
First, clearly state the word. Then use the word in a
sentence. Finally, clearly state the word once more.
After that, move on to the next word.
After the last word is given, read through the entire
list just once more so that your learners can make
any last-minute corrections. (By the way, any
student in grade four or above must write each word
using his or her best cursive handwriting.)
Have your learners correct their own tests using a
pen or colored pencil and then record any
misspelled words in their Spelling Journals.
Lesson 1: Closed Syllables Chapter 3
Regardless of grade level, I always begin the school
year by ensuring all students understand the
concept of “closed syllables” (syllables that end with
one or more consonants) and that they know the
vowel in a closed syllable is usually short.
Of course, this implies that they also know what a
syllable is and are thoroughly familiar with each of
the short-vowel sounds. Note also that this will
probably be the only spelling principle grade one
teachers will address, though I personally include
the concept of “open syllables” as well.
Students are first introduced to closed syllables
when they learn what are known as CVC words (for
“consonant-vowel-consonant”) like cat, pot, bed, rug,
bit, etc. Such words are also examples of “closed
syllables.”
The importance of knowing the different types of
syllables (there are six of them altogether) lies in the
fact that whether a vowel makes its short- or long-
vowel sound often depends on the kind of syllable in
which it appears.
Before I go any further however, I had better make
sure we share the same concept regarding exactly
what a syllable is.
Here is the formal definition:
A syllable is an uninterrupted unit within a word that
contains exactly one vowel sound, or one vowel
diphthong, or one syllabic consonant.
Though accurate, the above definition is
nonetheless somewhat difficult to understand. For
this reason, I initialy use the following definition:
syllable: part of a word in which one or more letters
forma single unit containing only one vowel sound
It may be easier to think of syllables as the “beats” in
a word. It often helps to clap as the word is uttered
in a “choppy” fashion, as with...
clap clap clap clap clap clap
en – cy – clo – pe – di – a
As already mentioned, the first type of syllable we
will look at is called a closed syllable.
A closed syllable is a syllable that ends with one or
more consonants. The vowel sound in a closed
syllable is usually short (e.g., cat, it, speck, etc.). We
place a breve above the vowel to indicate that it
makes its short-vowel sound:
băt hŭt shŏck
Closed syllables are abbreviated with: (V-C)
Sometimes when you’re writing, a long word will
need to be divided at the end of a line to avoid a
long blank space next to the right-hand margin.
When this is necessary, you should always divide
the word between syllables, and use a “hyphen” to
mark the division.
(Note: This means you cannot divide words that
have only one syllable.)
Also, do not leave only one letter of a divided word
on a line. If you have a choice, divide the word more
or less in the middle.
For your first spelling assignment, divide your weekly
spelling words into syllables and label each syllable
according to the type of syllable that it is.
By the end of the week, your learner should be able
to do all of the following.
1. Verbalize two facts about “closed syllables.” (A
closed syllable is a syllable that ends with one or
more consonants and the vowel in a closed
syllable is usually short.)
2. Distinguish (by sight) between a syllable that is
closed and one that is not. (Carefully look at the
following group of syllables and circle the ones
that are “closed.” zet gle fid lim pra nig snu)
3. Apply the above information about closed
syllables to correctly sound out unknown and
unfamiliar (nonsense) words: ginron naklis fesfil
lomtric uzrum