9/6/2019 LSITS Mini-Lessons - Google Docs

WRTR Mini-Lessons
For moms too tired to think up their own word examples.

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Welcome!
The following pages are meant to help you “teach” the
preliminary skills and the spelling rules when your child
needs more than the examples on the rule page, or those
words are just too darn hard.

Preliminary Skills
Segment and Counting, Blending for Spelling…...… 2
Vowels, Consonants, Syllables……………………... 3
Blending Syllables, Syllable Types……………..….. 4

Rules
1-4 …………………………………………………….. 5
5-7……………………………………………...……… 6
8-10………………………………………………..…... 7
11-13…………………………………………....…….. 8
14-16……………………………………………..……. 9
17-20…………………………………………....……. . 10
21-23……………………………………………..……. 11
24-27…………………………………………..…….… 12
28-29, Syllable Division………………………..…….… 13
Memory Hooks ……………………………..……..... 15

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Segmenting and Counting Sounds

“Segmentation is the ability to break words down into individual sounds.” Sit beside the child.
Starting with the right hand thumb, student and teach count sounds on their fingers.

Verbal pattern: “Zag”, z-a-g (touch fingers), 3 sounds.

Practice segmenting and counting some of the following words with your child:
zag rich hog then mop me the pill
sun milk stop flee legs wish flip mush
yak brisk lunch twist crisp blush smell chimp
grasp still yelp spit slush trip scruff dress

Blending
Given a series of segmented sounds, the child should be able to put it back together. Try a few
of these. For a younger child, holding up fingers as you say the sounds helps.

Verbal pattern: z-a-g, what is that? “Zag." m-u-sh, what’s that? “mush.”

Orally give the child sound segments to blend:

me do and can brim nip snuff frog
stop stand must brand clasp lisp shift smith
he they she drop bless nut cry crutch
hand we no spot bush flint boat splash

Blending “for Spelling”

Spalding almost exclusively relies on the “say it funny” device for proper spelling, like how most
of us remember FebRUary or WeDNESday. Break single syllable words into sounds, then blend
them back “for spelling,” NOT for normal speech.

NOTE: Say the stupid short i. There are NINE ways to misspell /E/ but only a couple of ways
to misspell /i/. Forcing an /i/ makes the word memorable and drastically reduces the incorrect
spelling possibilities. It comes in really handy, especially when the words get longer. “I and Y
say EE as well, but that won’t help us spell.”

was: “/w/ /ah/ /z/, /wahz/” (not /wuz/)

do: “/d/ /oo/, /doo/”
cat: /ck /a/ /t/, /kat/
may: /m/ /A/, /mA/
ring*: /r/ /i/ /ŋ/, /riŋ/ (not /rEŋ/)
*In case you, like me, have never noticed, ŋ doesn’t have a /g/. It sticks to the roof of your mouth. Try saying ding, dong and
really pronouncing the g’s. Doesn’t work. Had no idea. You?

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Vowels
“Vowels are speech sounds made with an open vocal track." They are LOUD! Try screaming
“fish” without the “i”. Can’t do it. The child should be able to list the vowels easily. A, E, I, O, U. If
not, make a card and put it in your daily memory work.

Write a few of these on the board and have the child ID the vowel(s):
cat grip clod cut
cap crest fig gum
silk pulp hop cast
nut sprint stump sift

Vowel phonograms contain a vowel sound. Once the above exercise is easy, have him
underline the single and multi-letter vowel PHONOGRAM(S) in the following words:
bar her saw pea
light corn day eat
seem play fort point
rain count vein boat

Consonants
Consonants are speech sounds made by blocking sound or air with our lips, tongue, and teeth.
They can be voiced or unvoiced. Have the child feel his throat and yell MMMMM. This is a
voiced consonant, it uses your voice-box. Now yell SSSSSS. There are no vibrations to feel
Whether a consonant is voiced or unvoiced, it’s hard to scream one without adding a vowel.

Write some of these words on the board and have your child spot the consonants:
bug tramp crisp slim
bust big wept jump
bland soft grasp plan

Multi-letter consonant phonograms have NO VOWEL PARTS. Find them in the words below:
bath ship batch gnat
chin such parch shift
knit sign wring birth

Syllables
“A syllable is a unit of speech with one and only one vowel sound.” Feel your chin as you slowly
say the words below. Your jaw drops with each vowel sound. Count them in the following words:

hobnob me talcum butterfly

moon pancake goat skillet
understand Chicago coffee fan

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Sounding Out and Blending Syllables “for Spelling”

In Spalding, sounding out and blending is only for spelling; reading is always whole-word.
“Sounding it out” is considered a bad reading habit!

Sound and blend the words below “for spelling”. Accent every syllable. Preserve short vowels
(especially the stupid i) and the double letters between syllables. If you clap quickly as you
blend, it helps.

imitate: /im/ /i/ /tAt/, /im-i-tAt/ (not /im’-uh-tAt/)

valley: /val/ /li/, /val-li/ (not /ee/)
doctor: /doc/ /tor/, /doc-tor/ (not /er/)
civil: /si/ /vil/, /si vil/ (not si-vul)

Syllable Types
Your younger child DOES NOT NEED to know this, but I use some of the terminology in my
notes so it will help MOM or Dialectical-stage children to get the big picture.

There are six syllable types: Closed, Open, Vowel Teams, R-controlled, E Job-1 (called VCE
elsewhere), and E Job-4 (called CLE elsewhere).

● Closed: single vowel, door shut with one or more syllables. Short sound. (cat, hobnob)
Because of the Sister Rabbit Pattern (p.
● Open: single vowel, long sound yelled out the open door. (me, do, be-long)
● Vowel Teams: multi-letter phonograms say what they want, wherever. (see, feed, loud)
● R-controlled: say what they like, but act like closed syllables for suffixes. (bar, barring)
● E Job-1: a consonant closed the door, but “e” helps the vowel yell a long sound anyway
● E Job-4: these are all the consonant-L-E syllables that make no sense.

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THE RULES

Rule 1 (Q is a chicken): U always follows q and is not a vowel.

quit quest queen quip
quench squeal quaint squib
quiz quid

Write some of these on the board. Underline multi-letter phonograms. Ask for each word, “Why
did I underline qu?" “Because Q is a chicken. U is not a vowel here. It’s following Q.” Read
through for spelling and again in normal speech.

Rule 2: C says /s/ before e, i, and y.

cent pen cil cinch
ul cer cen ter cin der
cit rus ran cid ceil ing

Write some of these on the board. Underline multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 2 after each. Ask
for each, “Why is c saying /s/ here?" “Because it’s followed by e.” Read for spelling and again in
normal speech..

Rule 3: G may say /j/ before e, i, and y.

gem mag ic gin ger
mar gin germ gen der
gym con gest gen er ous

Write some of these on the board. Underline multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 3 after each. Ask
for each, “Why is g saying /g/?" “Because it is followed by i.” Read for spelling and again in
normal speech..

Rule 4 (Open Door): At the end of a syllable, a, e, o, and u are long.

bo nus de mon cro cus
stu pid lo tus ho tel
po tent be gan be long

Write some of these on the board. Underline multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 4 after each. Ask
for each, “Why is u long?" “The vowel can yell a long sound out the open door because no
consonant has closed it.” Read for spelling and again in normal speech.

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Rule 5: I and y usually say /i/, but may say /I/.

si lent ty rant cy ber
qui et i dol I rish
i ris by way gi ant

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms and long vowels. Write r. 5 after
each. “Why is i saying /eye/ here?” “Because he’s taking his option to yell a long sound out the
open door.” Read the list for spelling.

Rule 6: English words don’t end in i, please use y.

my fly dry
dan dy bel fry shy
plen ty flim sy gyp sy

Write some of these on the board. Underline multi-letter phonograms and long vowels. Notice
that you’re looking at a bunch of open syllables where y isn’t taking his long sound option. Write
r. 5, 6 after each word with a final /eye/. Write r. 6 after the rest. Read list for spelling. Keep those
multi-syllable final y’s as short i’s. Every time, I say “I and Y say EE as well, but that won’t help
us spell.” Then read the list in normal speech.

Rule 7: There are five kinds of silent e.

Job 1, jump 1 rode joke tune safe
V u, job 2 hue give groove sue
C g, job 3 quince prince grunge hinge
Job 4, more bun dle can dle sim ple hum ble
Handyman E house horse freeze cheese

Write some of these on the board. Underline multi-letter phonograms. See the book for proper
silent e markings. Ask for each, “What is e’s job here?”

Job 1, Let’s the little vowel yell his long sound over the head of the consonant that tried to close
the door.

For Job 5, I point out that he’s not entirely shiftless. He’s often keeping us from thinking words
are plural. Without him, horse would be hors, a plural of the nonsense word “hor." Cheese would
be chees, a plural of the nonsense word “chee.”

For a child that has difficulty remembering the silent e, we pop our hands over our mouths at the
end of a word. /r/-/O/-/d/-(*). It’s really memorable, especially if you read a whole list of them.

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Rule 8: There are 5 kinds of /er/. W makes “or” say /er/.

fern jerk perk verb
bird skir mish swirl squirm
burn slur church burst
worm world worst word
earn earl learn earth

Write some of these on the board. Mark the multi-letter phonograms. Put r. 8 after only the “wor”
words, because “W screws everything up!” Read for spelling and again in normal speech.

Rule 9 (Doubling Rule): To add a vowel-beginning suffix to a 1-syllable word with

1-vowel and 1 final consonant, double the consonant.
run ning pop ped big gest mad der
stun ning dip ped fat test pop per
fib bing trim ped thin nest hug ger

Do yourself a favor and go teach the Sister Rabbit Pattern (p. 17) first, it makes this rule easy.
I’m not going to even explain it the other way.

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 9 after each. For each
word ask, “Why did we double the n here?” “Because the suffix ___ starts with a vowel. To keep
the closed syllable up front, we need two consonants between.”

*Note: R-controlled syllables (p. 4) follow this rule too.

Rule 10 (Harder Doubling Rule): To add a vowel-beginning suffix to a 2-syllable word

with 1-vowel and 1 final consonant, (and the accent is on the 2nd syllable) double the
consonant.
ex cel ling un zipped ab hor ring
oc cur red in terred ex tol ling
un wrap ped re cut ting un fit ting
re but table trans mit table met al lic

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 10 after each. Some
also have other rules. It couldn’t be avoided on this one. Pop in your r. 4, 20, 28, and 29’s, if you
like. But, more importantly, ask for each, “Why is the ‘l’ doubled?" “Because ‘ing’ begins with a
vowel would snatch the consonant from that accented closed syllable.”

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Rule 11 (Dropping Rule): To add a vowel-beginning suffix to a silent e word, drop the e.
blam ing clos ing lik ing cut est
driv er fin er bak er whit ish
loved ad mired us ed fat ed

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 11 after each. Ask,
“What is the base word?” Also ask, “Where did the ‘e’ in ‘blame’ go?” “It was dropped because
the suffix starts with ‘i’.” “If the “E” is gone, how is that ‘a’ still long?" “Because magic ‘e’ works
even when he’s invisible.”

Rule 12: I before e, except after c, or sounded like /ay/.

wield priest pier
pix ie brie zom bie
shield die sel chief

de ceive re ceipt ceil ing

con ceit per ceive con ceive

vein rein skein

reign heir beige
veil feign sur veil

Write some of these on the board. Put r. 12 after each. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Ask for
each, “Why do we use ‘ei’?" “Because it followed ‘c’.” For the third set ask, “Why do we use ‘ei’?”
“Because it’s saying /ay/.” (Notice this isn’t the usual rhyme. “Neighbor” and “weigh” use “eigh”
which is its own separate thing.)

Rule 13 (Shiny Fish Friendship): In a base word, “sh” at the beginning or the end of a
syllable, or the suffix “ship.” Sh doesn’t start other syllables.
fish shrimp bash shoe
shelf blush fresh shin
lord ship queen ship lea der ship ow ner ship

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. You may write r. 13 after
these, but it’s used inconsistently in the spelling lists. I haven’t figured it out. Ask for each, “Why
is /sh/ “sh” here?" “Because it ends the base word ‘fish’.” Or, “It’s the suffix ‘ship’." And so on...

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Rule 14 (Special Mission Motion): Ti, si, ci, are used to say /sh/ to begin syllables after the
first one.
ques tion men tion ac tion
ses sion func tion sec tion
fa cial spe cial con di tion
mi li tia an cient na tion

Ti is the most common, especially when we’re talking “shun’s” (tion). Mark multi-letter
phonograms, write r. 14 after all, and ask for each, “Why did we use ‘ti’ here?" “Because it’s
starting the second syllable."

Note: We aren’t yet contrasting WHICH one, just that it’s not “sh”.

Rule 15 (Tense Discussion): “Si” says /sh/ when the syllable before it ends in s.
com mis sion di gres sion dis cus sion
pas sion mis sion Prus sian
sup pres sion ag gres sion ces sion

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 14, 15 after each. Ask
for each, “Why is ‘si’ saying /sh/ here?" Because the syllable before starts with an ‘s’.” Go
through each and read for spelling. Lots of repeating the double consonants and weird stuff:
“com-miss-shun.”

Note: When you hear a short vowel followed by “shun,” it’s often “ssion." When it’s the “root” that
ended in “S” (tense), you might not get the double. (tension)

Rule 16 (Persian Fusion): Si may say /zh/ as in vision

Hoo sier Per sia ver sion
vi sion am ne sia col li sion
cor ro sion de ci sion di vi sion
ero sion ex plo sion in clu sion

If the base or root does not end in “s”, “si” usually says /zh/. If you hear /zhun/ in a word, it’s
almost always “sion." /Zhah/ at the end is almost always “sia.”

Mark multi-letter phonograms; write r. 16 after each. A couple also need r. 4. Read each for
spelling.

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Rule 17 (FLoSsy): We often double final l, s, and f after a single, short vowel.
off buff whiff fluff
moss bass kiss mass
bill hill tell quill

Write some of these on the board. Underline the multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 17 after each.
“Why are there 2 f’s here?" “Because it’s following a single short vowel.” Read for spelling and
again in normal speech.

Rule 18: Use ay for /A/ at the end of a word.

may pray gray pay
stray sway hay bray
ray bay say clay

Write some of these on the board. Mark the multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 18 after each. Ask
for each, “Why do we use ay here?" “Because we hear a final /A/.” Read for spelling and again in
normal speech.

Rule 19 (Old Wild Words): i and o may say /I/ and /O/ before 2 consonants.
child mild wild
old bold gold
bind wind kind
bolt jolt colt
most post host

Write some on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. (We don’t underline the long i’s and
o’s.) Write r. 19 after each. Ask, “Why does o say /O/ here?" “Because o took his option to yell a
long sound over their heads even though the door is closed.”

Rule 20: Letter s never follows x. X already has one, /ks/.

ex ceed ex tra ex ist
ex cise ex cite ex it
ex cess com plex ex act

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 20 after each. (This
rule is only marked on multi-syllable words. I don’t know why.) Also, there’s only one word I
could find in English that breaks this rule: exsanguination.

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Rule 21 (Prefixes aren’t FLoSsy): All has 2- l’s but as a prefix only one l is written
al ready al right al though
al so al most

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms and r. 4. Write r. 21 after all.
Read for spelling, preserving those short vowels.

Rule 22 (Suffixes aren’t FLoSsy) till and full have 2-l’s but when written with another
syllable only one l is written
health ful un til ful fill
art ful len til pis til

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms and r. 4 and r. 19 instances.
Write r. 22 after all. Read for spelling, preserving those short vowels.

Rule 23 (Fudge Rule) “dge” is only used after a single vowel that says it’s short sound.
ledge edge fudge trudge
smudge lodge badge wedge
dredge hedge judge dodge
bridge pledge ridge nudge

English words don’t end in j. Your choices are ge or dge. If it’s a single short vowel, it’s dge.

Write some of these on the board. Mark the multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 23 after each. For
each ask, “Why did we use dge?" “Because it follows /e/.”

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Rule 24 (Changing Rule) When adding an ending to a word that ends with a consonant +
y, use i instead of y unless the ending is ing.
cried de nied var ied tries
cop ies en vy ing stud y ing lob by ist
vy ing bur ies fly ing re plied

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Add r. 4 and r. 5 where
needed. Add r. 24 to all. Ask for each, “What is the base word?" Then ask for each, “Why did we
use an ‘i’ here?" “Because with suffix ‘ed’, y changes to i.” Or “Why did we use ‘y’ here?"
“Because the suffix ‘ist’ begins with an ‘i’.”

Read for spelling. Don’t let your i’s and y’s go /ee/. Keep them short. It really does help avoid
spelling errors. Then go back through and read it for normal speech.

Rule 25 (Snack Truck): Use ck for /k/ after a short, single, accented vowel.
sick block back pick
black track pock et tick et
check chick en knock struck

Write some on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 25 after each. Ask for each,
“Why is /k/ ck?" “Because it’s following /i/.” Read for spelling and then again in normal speech..

Rule 26: Capitalize proper nouns.

Kan sas Ne bras ka Ben
New York Pat rick Eas ter
Ger man Mem phis Zach

I have yet to need to really teach this rule, but there you go.

Rule 27: /z/ is only Z at the start of a word.

zip zest zoom
zag zoo zeal

Write some on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 27 after each. Ask “Why is /z/ a
z?" “Because it’s up front." Read for spelling and then again in normal speech..

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Rule 28 (Ed-D-T): Ed says /t/ after unvoiced sounds, /d/ after voiced sounds, and /ed/ after
/d/ and /t/.
Voiced: cleaned maimed bowled peeled
Unvoiced: rushed stumped pinched asked
/d/ /t/: land ed hunt ed sift ed crust ed

Voiced sounds use our voice boxes. They hum. Feel your throat and say “mmmm, nnnnn, /d/,
/g/." Now try “shhhh, /ch/, /p/." There’s no hum. Ed changes to match. /rusht/ /cleend/

For adding ed to final /d/ or /t/ sounds, we need a spacer. Can’t say /bud-d/ for budded or /bat-t/
for batted. And since the spacer is a vowel, which is voiced, the d says /d/.

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 28 after each. Ask,
“Why does ed say /d/?" “Because it follows /n/.” Read for spelling and then again in normal
speech.

Rule 29 (Sister Stutters): For spelling, say both consonants in a middle double.
pos sum mut ton let ter
muf fin lad der ban ner
bet ter rub ber ten nis
shud der fos sil sup per

Write some of these on the board. Mark multi-letter phonograms. Write r. 29 after each. Read for
spelling, keeping the double letters between consonants and avoiding schwa. Ask for each,
“Why did I say /poS/ /Sum/?” “Because for spelling, we say both consonants between
syllables.”

Syllable Division
The child doesn’t need this , but it will help MOM to know what’s going on so she doesn’t throw
WRTR out the nearest window. Dictionary syllable division isn’t like spoken. Not all of the wacky
pronunciation is Spalding’s fault; some is Webster’s.

Pattern 1: If it’s there, “Count back three and chop consonant-L-E”

stum ble bat tle bub ble
sim ple snif fle han dle

Pattern 2: If there is only a single consonant phonogram between two vowel

phonograms, “give it to the second guy.”
o pen ra ven ze ro lo cust
hu man stu dent o men la bel

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Pattern 3: Divide between compound words.

pig pen dish pan whip lash
sun fish foot ball rail road

Pattern 4: Multi-letter phonograms stay together, even when it negates other patterns.*
or chard pan ther dol phin
au thor leath er* buck le*

Multi-letter phonograms never divide. They are still just ONE phonogram. Also, notice that the
consonant, multi-letter phonogram usually doesn’t go to “the second guy” unless there’s a vowel
team in the first syllable (or, ar, au, etc.) though leather and feather still keep it to themselves.

Pattern 5: If there are 2+ consonant phonograms (or none) between two vowel
phonograms, share and share alike, keeping “blends with their friends,” if you can.
but ton les son com plex
cap let bob bin rab bit

Pattern 6: The affix stands alone. (Remember the “cheese stands alone” from the song?)

Base- the smallest unit of meaning that is still an English word.

Affix- a word part that we add to a base word to change its meaning.
Suffix- an affix that attaches to the end of a base word
Prefix- an affix that attaches to the beginning of a base word

same ness hope less safe ly

bait ed use ful al read y

Syllable Division Summary

1. Count back three, chop “Consonant-L-E.”

2. If there’s only one consonant phonogram between, “give it to the second guy.”
3. Divide between compound words.
4. Multi-letter consonant phonograms stay together, even when it negates other rules.
5. More than one between? Share and share alike, keeping “blends with their friends.”
6. The affix stands alone.

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Memory Hooks and Fuller Explanations

We find the following memory cues very handy; they often “complete” the concept for a
particular Spalding rule. You will often see them pop up in my notes. I don’t make the kids mark
them anymore (used to in my old keys), but I do mention the memory hook each time.

For /k/ followed by any other letter, K takes e, i, y and c takes the rest! Because of Rule 2, if
/k/ is in front (not just of a word, even in front of other letters, K takes e, i, y, and c takes the rest.

● Kennel, kind, like, etc.

● Crash, cat, coin, bacon, etc.

K really LOVES to end words, but he’s afraid of short single vowels sneaking up on him.
Vowel teams and other consonants are okay, too. (In Rule 25 we see “c” come to his rescue.)
But, he can only stand it at all in the first syllable. For the end of a multi-syllable word, he runs
away entirely and c goes it alone. We sometimes call it Magic Milk Truck or just “K loves..”

● Dark, bank, squeak, milk

● r. 25 snack, truck
● Magic, tarmac, concentric

Sister Rabbit Pattern: “ A closed syllable up front needs two consonants between.” Why? A
single consonant always goes to the second guy .

1. With 2 between: sis-ter, rab-bit, pat-tern

2. With only 1 between: fi-nal, le-gal, la-bel

Happy Jumbo Kittens have closed syllables up front and don’t follow the Sister Rabbit pattern,
but they aren’t BREAKING it. Some letters CAN’T double. They’d follow the pattern if they could.
It’s just not an option. Cov-er isn’t breaking the pattern on purpose, there’s just no such thing as
“covver” in English.

“Happy Jumbo KittenS Wearing G iant Yogurt Vests.” The letters H, J, K, W, S saying /z/, G
saying /j/, Y, and V can’t double.

Camel words, alternatively, break the Sister Rabbit Pattern for NO REASON. “Camel” could
really be “cammel” right? “Camel” should be read /kA-mel/. Denim could really be “dennim.”
“Denim” should be read /dE-nim/. Camel words really could follow the pattern, they’re just being
obnoxious.

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Rule 30: Broken Bells (Bing-Bang-Bonk!) Multi-letter phonograms never divide, but they
often drop a letter when a similar sound follows. (“ng” is the most common)

Only “ng” says /ng/, but when followed by /k/ or /g/ the “g” melts into glue.
● “Bank” isn’t /b/-/a/-/n/-/k/, it’s /b/-/a/-/ng/-/k/
● “Ban-gle” isn’t /ban/-/gle/, it’s /bang/-/gle/. The “ng” didn’t divide. There’s a genuine “g”
sound following it, so the first “g” melted into glue.
● “Van-quish” isn’t /van/-/kwish, it’s /vang/-/kwish/ “Qu” has s /k/ sound in there so the “g”
melted again.

This comes up rarely with other phonograms, but can still be helpful.
“Budg-et” in syllables is budge + et, but the first “e” melted.

Rule 31: Extra Tall Squash “A” may say it’s third sound if preceded by /w/ or followed by /l/
(accented syllables), or if it’s hanging on the end all alone.

● Squash: /s/ /kw/ /ah/ /sh/.

● Call: /k/ /ah/ /l/
● Ex-tra: /eks/-/trah/

Suffixes like to match.

● If the preceding sound uses a voice box sound, suffix s does too. Birds, buttons, zoos.
● If the preceding sound is unvoiced, suffix s is too. Ships, rafts, books.
● If the preceding sound is TOO matchy-matchy (/s/, /sh/, /ch/), the suffix needs a spacer
vowel E. And since vowels are always voiced, you get /ez/. Fishes, foxes, benches.

Huge Fudge Batch

This expands Rule 23. Like k, final ch and ge LOVE to end words, but they’re afraid of short
single vowels. D often comes to help ge. T comes to help ch. We only mark r. 23 when Spalding
says so, but I mention the Huge Fudge Batch when we see final ge, ch, dge, or tch.

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Pumped Raft and Buttered Bread

This is a “test” for distinguishing between the “ed” suffix and base words ending in /d/ or /t/.

● If you hear a word like “prompt”, but you don’t see it spelled, is it a “t” or an “ed”? If it’s an
“ed” then it’s a past tense suffix word. To find out we check the “pumped raft”. We rip off
the /t/ sound and try to add “ing”. If it’s “promped” then there should be such a thing as
“promping”.
● Alternatively, for a word like “pumped” you can rip off the /t/ and add ing. Pumping is a
real thing.
● It works for the /d/ sound too. Rip the /d/ off “buttered” and add “ing.” Buttering is a real
thing. But, try that with a word like “yard.” Yarring? Not a thing. So it’s just a base word
ending in /d/.

Rare Stories
All of these phonograms/sound pairs appear in less than 10 English words. We use wacky
stories to remember them. Most of the time only I know them , but the pictures are so vivid, the
child easily remembers that there’s something crazy about that word.

AIGH: An Ideal G rowth Habit = straight. It’s the only English word with this phonogram.

AUGH: Awful Ugly G oat Hater = The farmer caught his haughty , naughty daughter and taught
her not to slaughter the animals. She was fraught and distraught.
● Even weirder: Slaughtering animals is no laughing matter.

EA #3: We took a break (with a bear) and had a great steak , yea!

EI #1,2:
● Weirdly , he put the receipt on the ceiling to deceive me about what he’d received. It was
conceit to conceive a plan and think I would not perceive his deceit.
● Their reigning heir was under surveillance. She wore a beige veil and feigned an
afternoon ride, but her horse tripped on a skein and his rein cut off his vein.

EIGH: Elves in G reen Hats = My neighbor has a sleigh with eight neighing ponies that pull the
weight of the freight.
● Even weirder: The ponies ran over an elf of sleight height.

EY #1: They obey and put the prey in the whey .

GU: A roguish guy in disguise guarded the guild’s guillotine. Without guile, he guided each guilty
guest away, guaranteeing a baguette and a Guinness if they guessed his guitar-playing guinea
pig’s name.

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IE #2: The pie vie was a tie, until one died from a lie.

OE: The foe of my toe is a doe with a hoe. Woe to me, I need aloe. Joe’s foe is the schmoe
with roe in his oboe.

OU(L) #2: Oh my soul! There’s a cantaloupe boulder on my shoulder. Get a poultry poultice!
OU(R) #2: Four pompadoured gourds mourn. Tears course from their source and pour onto the
tennis court.

OUGH: O ver Under G rinding Heels .

To remember what stories are grouped here: Thor and America are getting their feet done.

● Saying AH/AW: “For the evil he has wrought, Loki ought to be sought, fought, and
brought to justice,” Captain America thought, as he bought the dreadnought.

● Saying OH:
Thorough Thor, oh!
He watches o’er the borough
although he is on furlough.
And doesn’t make much dough, ho!

● Saying OO: Through

● Saying UFF: Pumice is rough and tough enough to slough a callus.

● Saying OFF: Feet gross me out, so I needed to cough in the trough.

● Saying OW: A drought broke the boughs.

UI: I am in pursuit of the recruit in a suit that bruised the fruit on the cruise and escaped out the
sluice.

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