Mr Donnelly’s Little Book of Spells

Word STUDY

Standard Spelling Development

Spelling is developed through familiarity. The more we are familiar with the word the more recognisable

it is and the easier it is to remember. As word and sound familiarity increases students are able to

generalise ‘sound rules’, like p says “p”, which in time they are able to apply to the spelling of unfamiliar

words. Other ‘rules’ follow.

Visual generalisations follow sound generalisations. Visual generalisations include recognition of

multiple representations for the same sound, silent letters and double letter patterns. The study of word

patterns to this point is often referred to as phonology.

Inflectional endings are the next patterns to be incorporated into our spelling schema. These are the

rules for adding s, ed and ing. While inflection creates plurality and tense, it often creates confusion

when applying conventional syllable knowledge e.g. clapped. To avoid this confusion, inflections should

be removed when syllabifying words.

From their knowledge of inflectional endings the developing speller becomes aware of affixes. Affixes

are made up prefixes and suffixes and either changes the meaning or function of the base words on

which they are affixed. Knowledge of the base word will often reveal the correct letter sequencing in

medial syllables of challenging words e.g. special to speciality. Studying how words change from a base

word is known as morphology.

The final stage of spelling awareness is etymology. Etymology is the study of word history. Why is the

Egyptian word for king, pharaoh, spelt with a ph? “ph” is a Greek reference indicating that at some stage

in the history of Egypt that it was successfully invaded by Greece. English spelling often maintains

spelling patterns for historical purposes.

Over the years English spelling has been plagued by the notion of exceptions. Exceptions are a short

hand way of disregarding irregularities in the phonology. However, far from having a language which is

complicated by exceptions we have a beautifully robust language which is incredibly rule bound. Even

invented words like “humungous”, blend sound groups from the more familiar words “huge” and

“enormous” and maintains the “ous” pattern signifying its use as an adjective. It may be made up but it

requires correct spelling. If a word appears not to be rule bound... look harder!

The stages of spelling development have been various described as: preliminary, semi-phonetic,

phonetic, transitional and independent (First Steps); emergent, letter name/alphabetic, within word

pattern, syllables and affixes, derivational (Words Their Way); phonological, visual, morphemic and

etymological (Spelling: Improving Student Outcomes).

Word STUDY

Word STUDY is a description of the stages if spelling development that can be easily used with very

young spellers. Word STUDY is an acronym which stands for: well-known words, sounds, tricks, use a

rule, derivations and years of age.

Word STUDY Spelling EASY and USEFUL Words

No Excuse Words

W Well-known Words

Word STUDY

We love it!

Real Words

Real Texts

S Sounds

Sound Charts

� Consonants,

a-e-i-o-u (short & long)

Other vowel choices, Doubles, Silent letters, Homonyms & Ə D: Delete A: Add R: Rearrange T: Trade

T

Tricky Bits

Orthographic Knowledge Alphabetic Patterns

Meaning

Use when writing

Use when reading

U

Use a Rule

Use a Rule (+s, +ed, +ing) Inflectional endings:

� Tense � Plurals

Does it have word family?

Base Words

Prefixes Suffixes

D

Derivations

����The Big Five

����Recognise (easiest not all) ����Have a go (show me board) ����Best Guess (DART) ����Check (authoritative text) ����Learn (WACAWAC)

WOW= Excellence!

����5555���� W: Willingly O: Often W: Well

Duration Frequency Intensity

Y

Years of age!

Share the story of words.

Word Origins

Scope and Sequence: Spelling

(Queensland Studies Authority)

Spelling: Improving Student Outcomes CD-Rom

(Literacy Professional Development)

Word STUDY

Pat Donnelly

Well-known words

� Sight words

� Personal words

� KLA words

Phonological knowledge Phonological Sounds

� Consonants

� Short & Long vowels

Visual knowledge Tricks

� Other Long vowels (Diphthongs)

� Silent letters

� Doubles

� Homophones

Word function knowledge Morphemic knowledge Use a rule

� Plurals

� Tense

Meaning knowledge Morphemic knowledge Derivations

� Word level grammar

Word history knowledge Etymological knowledge Years of age

� Word Origins, from history to emerging conventions

Well-Known Words

The words you identify as being well-known is unique to you. However, some well-known words are

shared by most people at certain stages of spelling awareness. The following represents some of the

stages very early learners go through in developing their consciousness of spelling.

1. Word awareness: Words: exist; can be read from left to right; represent a single idea; remain

constant; and contain letters.

2. Words as pictures: Highly personally familiar words that represent something as a whole

without the need for sounding out e.g. Your name, Mum, Dad, Your friends’ names,

McDonalds...

3. High frequency words: Small words used daily in texts like a, the, and, ...

4. Environmental print: Students use authoritative sources for “perfect” spelling by copying labels,

words from the board, words on charts and in books.

Sounds

One way to introduce sounds is through narrative and personification. For example, I like to think of

consonants as calm because of their stable nature and vowels as bossy. It is because of their stable

nature that consonants are the easiest sounds to recognise. Within the group of consonants those that

have a sustained or stretched sound, continuants and nasal continuants, are the easiest to identify

precisely because they can be stretched. The /x/ sound, which is a combination of /k/ and /s/ should be

introduced through words that have /x/ in the final position.

After the stretchable consonants come those that explode. These are also known as plosives. These

exploding sounds are also easy to identify because they are easily separated from their surrounding

sounds.

The final two groups are usually the hardest to distinguish. They are the consonants that whisper and

those that blend.

The Calm Consonants

• Consonants that stretch: f, l, m, n, r, s, v, z, x.

• Consonants that explode: b, k (hard c), d, g, j, p, t.

• Consonants that whisper: h, w, y (sometimes vowel).

• Consonants that blur (consonant digraphs): ch, sh, th, ng (non-distinguishable constituents)

• Consonants that blend: bl, br, cr, cl, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, tr, tw, sc, sk, sm, sn, sp, st, sw, qu (kw)

(distinguishable constituents)

The area of greatest difficulty, especially for young children with non-standard pronunciation, is the

distinction between closely related sounds like /f/ and /v/. The difference between these two sounds is

extremely subtle. They form a pair of sounds that can only be distinguished by the degree of vibration

they cause the vocal chords in the larynx (throat). In certain cases the sense of touch may augment

one’s aural discrimination.

23 Common Australian Pronunciations of Consonants

Unvoiced Voiced Nasal Other

/p/ /b/ /m/

/w/ and /wh/ /qu/ (kw)

/th/ (the, thong) /th/ (feather, then)

/t/ /d/ /n/ /l/

/s/ /z/

/sh/ /y/

/ch/ /j/

/k/ /g/ /ng/ /x/ (ks)

/h/

/r/

Bossy Vowels Every syllable needs one!

Vowel sounds most often appear sandwiched between two consonant sounds however the vowel

links more naturally to the final consonant than the initial one. Sound groups, or syllables, can

therefore be broken into their two distinct parts, the onset and the rime. The onset is the initial

consonant sound and the rime is everything after the vowel. In short words this pattern will typically

be consonant, vowel consonant or CVC. From a single CVC word one can generate lists of words

containing the same onset or the same rime. From the rime one is then able to separate the vowel

sound from the final consonant. These types of lists are known as analogist or like lists.

The study of words with common rimes is the most efficient way to introduces novice spellers to

short vowels. The short vowels are /a/ as in bat, /e/ as in bet, /i/ as in bit, /o/ as in pot and /u/ as in

but. There are a number of ways of categorising vowels however the following is possibly the easiest

way to represent vowels to students.

Common Rimes

The introduction of rimes should start with the simplest and move to the more complex. The

following has been adapted from the work of David Hornsby.

Sounds a e I o u

Short vowel &

final consonant

/at, /an, /ap,

/at

/et, /ed, /ill, /ip, /in, /ot, /op /ug

Short vowel &

final consonant

blend

/ack, /ash,

/ank

/est, /ell /ill, /ick, /ink,

/ing

/ock /uck, /ump,

/unk

Long vowel

(bossy e)

/ake, /ale, ame /ice, /ide,

/ine,

/oke

Long vowel (two

vowels walking)

/ail, /ain /eat

Tricks

Pretend vowel

/y/

/ay

/r/ influenced /aw /ir, /or, /ore

others /ight

The Four Vowel Groups

The four vowel groups are the Rowdy Monkeys which make the short vowel sounds, the Proud

Peacocks which say their own name. These are often referred to as long vowels. The group which

represent the /r/ influenced vowel sounds and the remaining diphthongs can be classified as Tricky

Pirate sounds.

Rowdy

Monkeys

Proud

Peacocks

Tricky

Pirates

Make monkey noises Say their own name Make pirate noises

The short vowels The long vowels The other long vowels

a-a-a

e-e-e

i-i-i

o-o-o

u-u-u

Cap, mat

Bed, then

Bit, mitt

Tom

Glum

ā

ē

ī

ō

ū

Plate, gain

He, reach, key,

lady, field

Pie, high, dry, kind

Note, boat, snow

Cute, due, crew

air

ar

ir

or

Pair, care,

ant

Harm

Dirt, sister,

hurt

For, paw,

talk, auto

oy

oo

ew

ow

Oil, boy,

Book, bull

Moon, drew

Cow, ouch

The consonants, short vowels and long vowels that say their own name constitute the “Sound” stage

of the “Word STUDY” strategy. The Proud Peacocks (vowels that say their own name) follow two

fairly stable patterns, namely:

• Bossy ‘e’ makes other vowels say their own name. (plate, gate)

• When two vowels go walking only one does the talking. (gain, reach, field)

The other long vowel sounds (Tricky Pirates and Woo Hoo the Cuckoo) are a little tricky and fall into

the next major strategy when being learnt developmentally.

Tricks

When it comes to spelling the Identification of sounds will only get you so far. At some point we

internalise that words not only have to sound right but they have to look right as well. Young

students often include unusual arrangements to represent words but a closer look will reveal that

what they have presented is a close visual alternative to the perfect spelling. The writing of visual

alternatives is evidence that the speller has generalised that:

1. The letter sound relationship is not a strict one to one correlation;

2. The same sound may be made using different combinations of letters; and

3. Letter combinations may make more than one sound.

Here are some of the generalisations that spellers can make:

• Bossy ‘e’ softens ‘c’ and ‘g’ e.g. race and bridge.

• Bossy ‘e’ keeps final ‘v’ company e.g. gave.

• Be careful of vowel gangs e.g. the OR Gang: or, aw, au, al

• Be extra careful when consonants hangout in a vowel gang e.g. the Long I Gang: high, fly,

bye, buy

• Sneaky schwa /@/ has little to say. Davd or Dav@d @=/i/, tigr or tig@r @=e

Other Tricks

Doubles e.g. little, kitten, common, paddle...

Silent letters e.g. ghost, gnome, knife...

Homophones (sound the same but spelt differently) e.g. great/grate, their/there,

Use a Rule

All spellers generate rules. Any generalisation which is applied to an unfamiliar word is essentially a

rule. Poor spellers tend to over-generalise and maintain incorrect assumptions longer than others.

For example the overuse of “sounding-out” plagues the spelling of many poor spellers long after

their peers have moved onto to other, more robust, generalisations. Good spellers, however, test

their generalisations and learn the most common rules for use in the future. Keep in mind that it is

less effective to learn a rule and then attempt to apply it when the generalisation hasn’t been

properly established.

Some rules, once discovered, require almost continuous practice. The two main sets of rules revolve

around inflectional endings and syllabification.

a e i o u

Bossy E

Makes other vowels say their own name!

E.g. bake, Eimeo

Softens C and G!

E.g. face and page

Protects v at the end of words.

E.g. have and give

Rules for Inflectional Endings

• Inflectional endings change the number (plurality) or tense of the base word

• /s/ is the most common plural ending

• For words ending in /ch/, /sh/, /z/, /s/ or /x/ add /es/.

• For most words ending in /y/ change the /y/ into /i/ and add /es/

• For words ending in /y/ but preceded by a vowel just add /s/ e.g. monkeys

• /ed/ is the most common tense changing suffix for creating past tense

• For words ending in /e/ drop the /e/ and add /ed/

• For small words containing a short vowel and a single final consonant, double the final

consonant before add /ed/ e.g. hop, hopped

• For words ending in /y/ change the /y/ into /i/ and add /ed/

• /ing/ creates a variety of tense forms e.g. is running, was running, will be running

• For words ending in /e/ drop the /e/ and add /ing/

• For small words containing a short vowel and a single final consonant, double the final

consonant before add /ing/ e.g. hop, hopping

• Identify base word before syllabifying (watch/watched)

Rules for Syllabification

• Every syllable has a vowel sound

• The number of vowel sounds in a word equals the number of syllables e.g. boat (1), re/ject

(2), yes/ter/day (3)

• Consonant blends (nt) and digraphs (ph) are never separated e.g. rant/ing, ge/og/raph/y

• Compound words are divided between their constituent words

• Double consonants (not blends and diagraphs) are split e.g. sis/ter, but/ter

• Syllables separate vowel sounds but not necessarily vowels ge/og in geography

• Remove inflectional endings before syllabifying (much easier to syllabify especially when

/ed/ says /t/ e.g. watched).

• Short vowels have closed syllables (the vowel sound is closed by a consonant) /ge/ in

geography

• Long vowels have open syllables (the syllable ends after the vowel) /og/ in geography

Other Rules

• Limited use rule for past tense words ending in /t/ e.g. crept, slept and /ough/ cough,

enough, fought...

• Adjective, comparative and superlative rule: happy, happier, happiest (y to i rule)

• /y/ is adjective forming e.g. noise+ y = noisy (drop the e rule)

• /ly/ is adverb forming, don’t drop /e/ in the in multisyllabic words e.g. appropriately, keep

/e/ when /e/ softens /g/ e.g. hugely, but drop /e/ in duly.

Derivations

A thorough understanding of inflectional endings creates an awareness of the concept of base

words, other suffixes and the existence of prefixes. The study of the way words change in this way is

known as morphology.

The most common suffixes and prefixes are:

• /ion/ noun forming suffix

• /un/, /dis/, /mis/ opposite forming

• /er/ and /or/: one who

• /fu/, /ous/ adjective forming

Years of Age

Etymology is the study of word history which simply refers to its age and origin. Probably the most

amazing feature of English spelling is how often it maintains a pattern for historical purposes. This

feature will often override previous phases by maintaining an unusual combination in order to

remain true to the words origins. The word “protein” does not comply with the /i/ before /e/ rule

not because it is an exception but because it is French in origin. The “gr8” combinations when text

messaging works because of an economy of graphemes. The word “graphemes” uses the /ph/

combination for the /f/ sound which has been brought to us from the Greek.

The exploration of words from an etymological perspective has no obvious designated beginning or

end. Every word has a history and for some it will reveal the logic of its spelling. It is in this phase

that an investigative mind will assist the speller as they meet new and interesting words in their daily

lives.

Morphology The morphemes that make up words are: affixes (prefixes and suffixes); and root or base forms

derived from each words etymology or word history.

Affixes

Roots or Base Forms

Prefixes Anglo-Saxon Origin Anglo-Saxon

roots

knife, knock, plot, plough

over

after

down

mis

un

overshadow, overdrive

afterthought, afterburner

downstairs, downhill, downtown

ill – mistake, misfit, mislead, misplace

not – unbelievable

Latin Roots

ago,actus animatus

cardo, casus

capio, captus

caput

cedo, cessus

centi

cito, citatus

colo, cultus

curro

decem

dico

duco

faciio

fortis

jacio, jectus

lego, lectus

magnus

memor

minor

milli

multus

porto

rego, rectus

rumpo, ruptus

scribo

sentio, sensus

tendo

teneo

tracho, tractus

verto, versus

video,visus

I act, I do

to live, breathe

I fall

take captive

the head

I go

one hundred

I rouse

I till

I run

ten

I say

I lead

I make

strong

I throw

I choose

great

mindful

small

a thousand

many

I carry

I rule

I break

to write

I feel

I stretch

I hold

I draw

I turn

I see

agent, active

animation, animal

cadence

captive, captivate

captain, capital

cede, precede

century, centimetre,

excite

cultivate

current

decimal, decimate

diction, predict, dictionary

deduce, deduction

factory

fort, fortify, fortitude

reject, inject, eject

elect, election

magnify, magnitude

memory, memorable,

memorial

minority

millimetre, millilitre

multitude

transport, export, deport

regal, regent

rupture

describe, inscription,

script, scribble

sensitive

tend, tendency, attend

tenet, tenable

tract, retractable, traction

avert, convert, revert

video, visible, vision

Latin Origin

ante

bi

circum

de

inter

post

pre

trans

ultra

before – anteroom,

two – bicycle, bifocal

around – circumnavigate, circumference

down or away – describe, defeat, deport

between, - intercity, intermarry, interschool

after - postpone

before - preschool l

across – transfusion, transport

beyond – ultralight

Greek Origin

auto

dia

hypo

meter

peri

tele

self/same – autobiography, automobile

through, between – diameter, dialogue

under, less than – hypodermic, hypotension

measure

around, about, beyond – perimeter, periscope

far – television, telescope

Suffixes Anglo Saxon

er

ful

hood

ing

ness

ship

ly

one who or connected to (n forming) –

bowler, diner, remainder

comparative adjective – fatter, smaller

full of (adj. form)- beautiful, careful

state of being (n forming) – childhood

(v forming) - playing

quality (n forming) – darkness, goodness,

preparedness.

condition (n forming) – kinship, friendship,

leadership.

manner of (adv forming) – softly, sweetly

(adj. forming) nicely, goodly

Latin Greek Roots

Able

ance & ence

ant

ant

ate

er

ice

ory

ous

tion/ion/sion

able to be (adj. forming) – portable

state of being (n forming) - patience

agent of (n forming) – servant, attendant

for ing (adj forming) – resistant, pleasant

duty of (n forming) – legate, advocate

one who (n forming) – worker, cricketer

quality (n forming) – service, justice

place of (n forming)- directory, dormitory

full of (adj forming)- dangerous, enormous

state of action (n forming) dictation

Astrom

baros

bios

demos

graphos

kilo

metron

phono

therme

zoion

a star

weight

life

people

to write/draw

a thousand

a measure

sound

heat

animal

astronomy, astronaut

barometer

biology, biography

democracy

graphic, graphite

kilogram, kilometre

meteorology, metronome

phoneme, phonics

thermal, thermometer

zoo, zoology

Greek

ist

ism

one who does (n forming ) – machinist,

socialist, realist

practice of (n forming) – barbarism,

plagiarism, realism.

Adapted from the 1996 Queensland English Syllabus

Nominalisation

Nominalisation is the process of converting verbs, adjectives, modals and conjunctions into nouns.

By converting other grammatical units into nouns the author increases the lexical density of the text

while reducing the number of clauses per sentence which, in turn, makes the text appear more

formal.

Nouns from verbs

Noun ending Verbs whose noun fits the pattern

-ion Depress, victimise, suspect, persuade, include, receive, deceive, satisfy,

classify, qualify

-ment Disappoint, embarrass, amuse, encourage, judge, announce, develop,

require

-al Refuse, approve, propose, survive

-ance Perform, resist, appear, disappear, assist

Miscellaneous Complain, apologise, prove, praise, sleep, heat, blame, experience,

forgive, lose

Nouns from adjectives

Noun ending Adjectives whose noun fits the pattern

-ence Absent, adolescent, confident, patient

-ity Able, capable, respectable, equal, original, familiar, generous

-th Strong, wide, broad, long

-ness Deaf, sharp, narrow, cool, nervous, mean, friendly, happy, ready

-dom Wise, bored

Miscellaneous Honest, fluent, hungry, angry, thirsty, guilty, high, enthusiastic

Nouns from conjunctions

Noun Causal conjunction

Reason, cause,

result, effect

Because, since, therefore, hence

Nouns from modal finites and adjuncts

Noun Modals

Possibility, chance,

probability, tendency

Might, could, should, possible, possibly, probably

Expectation,

requirement,

inclination

Must, should, ought to, need to, required to, expected to

Adapted from The State of South Australia, Department of Education and Children’s Services 2004

publication: Language and Literacy: classroom application of functional grammar

Spelling

Emergent

Stage

Letter Name Stage

Simple Words

Within Word-Pattern Stage Common

Words

Syllables & Affixes Stage

Difficult Words

Derivational

Pattern Stage

Challenging

Words

Word

STUDY

Code

Well-

known

words

S1 S2 S3 S4 T1 T2 U1 D1 D2 Y1

Description Own name,

sight words

Initial

final

Digraph

Blend

Short

vowel

Long

Vowel

Other

vowels

Silent,

flat…

Syllable

juncture

Inflection Prefixes

Suffixes

Base words

morphemes

Challenging

Typical Year

Levels

� Kindy-

Prep

� Prep - Year 1 � Years 2-4 � Year 3-6 � Year 6-10

Spelling

Examples

� WOS was � T TP TEP tip

� M MN MIN mine

� BOTE boat

� HOPING hopping

� WOOLEN woollen � SOLEM

solemn

ANACRONOS

anachronous

Suggested

Strategies

� https://www.

learningplace

.com.au/deliv

er/content.as

p?pid=50912

� https://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/conte

nt.asp?pid=50913

� https://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?

pid=50914

� https://www.learningplace.com

.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=50

915

� https://www.lear

ningplace.com.au

/deliver/content.a

sp?pid=50916

Words

Their Way

Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Eimeo Road State School DRAFT Spelling Checklist 2012

Student name: Class:

Emergent

Stage

Letter Name Stage

Simple Words

Within Word-Pattern Stage

Common Words

Syllables &

Affixes Stage

Difficult Words

Derivational

Pattern Stage

Challenging

Words

Word STUDY

Code

Well-known

words

S1 S2 S3 S4 T1 T2 U1 D1 D2 Y1

Description Own name,

sight words

Initial

final

Digraph

Blend

Short

vowel

Long

Vowel

Other

vowels

Silent,

flat…

Syllable

juncture

Inflection Difficult

suffix

Base Challenging

DATE ATTEMPTED SPELLING

CORRECT SPELLING Word STUDY Code