Phonic Spelling Rules Grades 1-6

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Phonic Spelling Rules: Grades 1-6

The ABC’s and All Their Tricks
Margaret Bishop

This invaluable teacher’s resource for understanding the rules of phonics and spelling belongs on every homeschool parent’s bookshelf. Mrs. Bishop’s excellent introduction explains letter names and sounds, the two styles of English spelling, syllables, roots, vowel sounds and letters, including vowel teams and silent vowel letters, consonant sounds and letters, including consonant teams, blends, silent consonants, etc.,and homonyms and spelling options. The bulk of the book is the alphabetical listing of letters and letter teams. You will need this book to understand and implement the following phonic spelling rules. This book goes way beyond just listing rules, and explains why the rules work the way they do. If you can only buy one teacher’s resource for the whole grammar stage, make it this one.

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Consonants

The phonograms: b c d f g h j k l m n p qu r s t v w x y z 1) Q is always written with two letters, qu, when we say “kw.” The u is not considered a vowel in this case.
2) C before e, i, or y says “s.” When c by itself has a sound, it always says “s” if followed by e, i, or y (cent, ci ty, cy clone); otherwise its sound is “k” (cat, cy clone, mu sic).
3) G before e, i, or y may say “j.” When g has a sound by itself it can say “j” only if it is followed by e, i, or y. When followed by any other letter, it always says (hard) “g.” “Get,” “girl,” and “give” show that e and i do not always make g say “j.”
4) Gu before e, i, or y says “g.” In order to keep g hard before e, i, or y within a word, a “u” is added after the g, as in guest, guide, guit ar. The u goes with the g and does not act like a vowel in this case. Most words containing gu are from French and Spanish.

Vowels

The phonograms: a e i o u y
1) The vowels a, e, i, o, and u usually say (short) a, e, i, o, and u, when followed by a consonant before the end of a syllable, as in at, end, in, odd, and up.
2) The vowels a, e, i, o, and u usually say (long) a, e, i, o, and u at the end of a syllable, as in na vy, me, si lent, o pen, and mu sic.
3) “I” can say (long) “e” when it comes before another vowel in a suffix, as in ra di o or mil li on.
4) “Y” says (long) “i” at the end of short words or at the end of a syllable, as in my, try, ty rant; but at the end of a suffix y usually says (long) “e” as in ba by, love ly, and hap py.
5) A, o, and u can sometimes have a third sound, as in want, do, and put.

Silent Final E

1) time: The silent e is there to let the vowel say its name.
2) have: In English we cannot end a word with a “v,” so the silent e follows the “v.”
3) chance, change: The silent e follows the c and g so that they can say “s” and “j.”
4) lit tle: Every syllable in English must contain at least one vowel. The -ble, -cle, -dle, -fle, -gle, -kle, -ple, -sle, -tle, and -zle endings are the only syllables that would not contain a vowel without the silent e.
5) please: The silent e comes after a single s or z at the end of a root which is preceeded by another consonant or vowel team. The silent e shows that the s or z belongs to the root and is not a part of a suffix. Compare “pleas” (more than one plea) to “please,” and “dens” (more than one den) to “dense.”
6) are: The silent e gives length and importance to very short words, so that they can be used as main-idea words, as in come, ewe, awe.

Consonant Teams for Special English Sounds

The Phonograms: ch gh ng ph sh th wh
1) ch: pronounced as in church (English pronunciation); as in Christmas (Greek pronunciation), or as in chef (French pronunciation).
2) gh: is silent, as in straight, light. “Gh” is a team which represented a special German sound that has completely disappeared from the English language, although it remains present in some spellings.
3) ng: as in long, ring, playing. “Ng” only occurs at the end of roots, and in the -ing ending.
4) ph: as in phone, and is a Latin consonant team for the sound of “f.”
5) sh: as in ship, fish. “sh” is used only at the beginning and ending of English root words (not in words of foreign origin, ever).
6) th: voiced, as in the, them, and these; or unvoiced, as in three, thing, and thank.
7) wh: says “hw” as in when and wheel, and only occurs at the beginning of roots, never at the end of words. In spelling, remember to use “wh” for question words (who, what, when, why, where, which) and for words having to do with whistling or whining noises (whinny, whisper, whip, whirl).

Consonant Teams for the End of a Root Word

The Phonograms: ck dge tch ff ll ss zz
1) ck: as in duck, clock, quack, and is used at the end of a root word right after a short vowel. Use “k” at the end of a root right after consonants (risk), long vowels (leak), or special vowel teams (book).
2) dge: as in bridge, edge, sledge, and is used at the end of a root word right after a short vowel. Use “ge” at the end of a root right after a consonant (hinge), long vowels (page), or special vowel teams (gouge).
3) tch: as in watch, scotch, stitch, and is used at the end of a root word right after a short vowel. Use “ch” at the end of a root right after a consonant (bench), long vowels (reach), or special vowel teams (couch).
4) ff: as in stiff, fluff, and is used at the end of a root word right after a short vowel. Use “f” at the end of a root right after a consonant (gulf), long vowels (loaf), or special vowel teams (roof).
5) ll: as in well, hill, and is used at the end of a root word right after a short vowel. Use “l” at the end of a root right after a consonant (curl), long vowels (feel), and special vowel teams (tool).
6) ss: as in glass, dress, moss, and is used at the end of a root word right after a short vowel. Use “se” at the end of a root right after a consonant (tense), long vowels (please), or special vowel teams (house).
7) zz: as in fizz, jazz, and is used at the end of a root word right after a short vowel. Use “ze” at the end of a root right after a consonant (bronze), long vowels (breeze), or special vowel teams (gauze).

Silent Consonants

The Phonograms: gn kn mb mn rh wr
1) gn as in gnat, reign, sign. “G” is silent before “n” at the beginning or end of a root word. In Old English, the g was pronounced, which is why it still shows up in spelling. When the root ends in gn and English suffixes are added, the g remains silent (sign, signing), but when Latin suffixes are added, the g sounds (sign, signal).
2) kn as in knife, knee, knight. “K” is silent before “n” at the beginning of a root word. In Old English, the k was pronounced. Most words containing kn have meanings related to knuckles or knees.
3) mb as in lamb, comb, climb. “B” is silent after “m” at the end of a root word. But when some suffixes are added to the root, the b sounds (crumb, crumble).
4) mn as in autumn, hymn. “N” is silent after “m” at the end of a root word. But when suffixes are added to the root, the “n” sounds (condemn, condemnation).
5) rh as in rhyme, rhythm, rhubarb. “H” is silent after “r” at the beginning of the root word, and in rare cases, at the end of the root (myrrh). “Rh” is a Latin team used for sounds in Greek words the Romans borrowed.
6) wr as in write, wring, wrist. “W” is always silent before “r” at the beginning of a root word. In Old English, the “w” was pronounced. All words containing the wr team have meanings related to twisting.

R-Controlled Vowels

The Phonograms: ar er ear ir or wor ur yr
The rule is the same for all r-controlled vowels: the short sound is controlled by a final r or r followed by other consonants; however, if the next sound following the r is a vowel, the vowel will capture the r sound and leave the first vowel unchanged.

1) ar: controlled in car, carton, carnation. Unchanged in carry, barrel, paragraph, daring.
2) er: controlled in her, clerk, father. Unchanged in berry, herald, period.
3) ear: controlled in heard, learn, earnest. Unchanged in wearing, bearing.
4) ir: controlled in first, girl, bird. Unchanged in mirror, spirit, tiring.
5) or: controlled in or, for, fortune. Unchanged in sorry, borrow.
6) wor: Always controlled: worm, worthy, workmanship.
7) ur: controlled in nurse, church, burn. Unchanged in fury, purest, security.
8) yr: controlled in myrrh, myrtle, martyr. Unchanged in syrup, pyramid, lyric.
Six teams say “er”: er, ear, ir, wor, ur, and yr.

Vowel Teams

The Phonograms: ai-ay ei-ey ey ee ea oa-oe ow ui-ue eu-ew ie cei
1) ai and ay are partner teams for long a: ai is found within the root (rain), and ay at the end of the root (play).
2) ei-ey are partner teams for long a: ei is found within the root (eight), and ey at the end of the root (they).
3) ey can say long e when it is used as a suffix, as in money, turkey, or valley.
4) ee is a vowel team for long e used within or at the end of a root (see, sheep, meet).
5) ea is a vowel team for long e used within or at the end of a root (sea, each, please). Ea can say short e in certain words, many of which are suffixed forms of root words containing the ea team for long e, as in meant (mean), health (heal), and pleasure (please).
6) oa-oe are partner teams for long o: oa is found within the root (coat), and oe at the end of the root (toe).
7) ow is a vowel team for long o used at the end of a root (blow, grow) or before a final l or n (blown, grown, bowl). Most of the words in which ow is before a final n are past tense forms of verbs ending in ow. Ow is also a native English suffix, as in yellow, pillow, arrow.
8) ui-ue are partner teams for long u: ui is found within the root (fruit), and ue is found at the end of the root (blue).
9) eu-ew are partner teams for long u: eu is found within the root (feud), and ew is found at the end of the root or before a final n (blew, hewn).
10) ie is a vowel team for long e used within the root, as in chief, piece, relief. Ie can say long i when it occurs at the end of a short root word, as in pie, tie, or lie, or when it is used in a suffix as a substitute for y that has the sound of long i, as in cried (cry), flies (fly), or denied (deny). The exceptions are friend and sieve.
11) cei always says long e, as in receive, ceiling, and conceit.
12) Learn these sentences to help you remember the use of ie-ei: I before e except after c or if it says a as in neighbor and weigh. (Ei in neighbor and weigh is part of the partner team ei-ey.) Exceptions: Neither foreign sovereign, (low on) protein, seized either (the) counterfeit, forfeited leisure, (or the) weird heifer.

Vowel Teams for Special English Sounds

The Phonograms: au-aw oi-oy ou-ow oo
1) au-aw are partner teams for the sound “aw”; au is found within the root (cause), and aw is found at the end of the root or before a final k, l, or n (paw, hawk, crawl, yawn).
2) oi-oy are partner teams for the sound “oy”; oi is found within the root (oil), and oy is found at the end of the root (boy, loyal).
3) ou-ow are partner teams for the sound of “ow”; ou is found within the root (loud), and ow is found at the end of the root or before a final l, n, and sometimes d (cow, tower, howl, down, crowd).
4) oo has a short and long sound. It is long at the end of a root and within the root as in too, tool, balloon. It is sometimes short within the root, especially before k, as in good, foot, book.

The Wild “ou” Vowel Team

The ou vowel team can stand for six vowel sounds.
1) As part of the ou-ow partner team, ou says “ow” as in loud or shout. This is by far the most common use of the ou phonogram.
2) ou can say the long “oo” sound, as in you, group, through. Many of these words are borrowed from French, where the long oo sound is the normal sound for the phonogram ou.
3) ou can say long o, as in four, though, soul. In many of these words, an r or l follows the ou phonogram.
4) ou can say short u, as in touch, young, country. Ou also says short u in the suffix -ous, as in famous, raucous, pious.
5) When the vowel team ou is followed by the consonant team gh, the resulting phonogram, ough, can say many different sounds, as in though, cough, rough, drought.
6) When the vowel team ou is controlled by a final r at the end of a root, the resulting team, our, can say “er”, as in journey, flourish, and courage. The words in which ou is r-controlled are all from French.

T, S, and C Distortions

The Phonograms: ti, tu, si, su, ci, ce
1) sh is used to say “sh” at the beginning and end of a root word, and at the end of a syllable (sheep, fish, dishes), but except in the suffix -ship (friendship, worship), it is not used at the beginning of an inside syllable.
2) ti and si are most frequently used to say “sh” at the beginning of an inside syllable (nation, partial, tension).
3) t before an unstressed u in a suffix says “ch”, as in picture, fortune, statue.
4) s before u says “sh” or “zh” as in sure, tissue, pleasure.
5) si and su are the only phonograms to say “zh” as in vision, pleasure.
6) ci can be used to say “sh” at the beginning of an inside syllable, especially when the root word ends in -ce, as in face, facial.
7) ce and ci as a single syllable says “she”, as in oceanic, associate.

Spelling Rules for Adding Suffixes

Native English Suffixes
1) If the suffix begins with a consonant, the suffix is added to the root without changing the root.
2) If the suffix begins with a vowel, add the suffix to the root without changing the root, unless:
a. the root contains a short vowel right before a final consonant, then double the final consonant before adding the suffix (run to running; dip to dipped, red to reddish, cut to cutter).
b. the root ends in a silent e, then drop the silent e before adding the suffix (bake to baked, wide to widen, large to larger).
c. the root ends with the vowel y (not the “ay” vowel team), then change the y to i and add the suffix (cry to cries, dry to drier), but if the suffix to be adding is the -ing ending, then leave the root as it is and add the suffix (cry to crying, dry to drying).
3) When two or more suffixes are added to the root in succession:
a. if the first suffix is -y or -ly, change the y to i before adding a second suffix, regardless of whether the second suffix begins with a vowel or a consonant (like to likely to likelihood, hap to happy to happiness, hap to happy to happier).
b. If the first suffix is the -le syllable, we keep the e before a second suffix beginning with a consonant (settle to settlement, gentle to gentleness); but we drop the e if the second suffix begins with a vowel (straggle to straggler, haggle to haggling).
To add Latin suffixes to roots, please refer to Mrs. Bishop’s excellent discussion of the subject in Appendix B: Syllables, Stress, and Word Structure, pages 299-332 in The ABC’s and All Their Tricks.

Teaching Spelling by Syllables

Do not give your children all these spelling rules at once. Introduce them gradually, and even just parts of them at a time, as you progress through Webster’s Elementary Spelling Book or other spelling program. Before beginning a formal spelling program, your children should recognize the sounds of all the phonograms, the vowel and consonant teams, in order to read them.

The first list in Webster’s is ba, be, bi, bo, bu, by, ca, ce, ci, co, cu, cy and so on. For this list, introduce the long vowel rule: vowels say their name at the end of a syllable. You can also introduce the c before e, i, and y rule, or save that for another list, omitting the ca, ce, ci, co, cu, and cy syllables for now. The fourth list in Webster’s is ab, eb, ib, ob, ub, and so on. For this list, introduce the short vowel rule: the vowel is short when the syllable ends with a consonant.

Some of the rules will not be introduced at all until 4th, 5th or 6th grade, or perhaps a child will learn one part of a rule right away (the “sh” sound is spelled “sh”) but will not learn another part until several years later (the “sh” sound can also be spelled “ti” or “ci”). Use the lists in Webster’s or other spelling program as a guide, proceed in order, and give your children as much of the rule as is necessary for that list, building on it over time.

It seems, looking at all the spelling rules in one big chunk, that it’s a lot to memorize, but because the children copy them over and over throughout the course of the grammar stage, and because many of the rules follow the same pattern, it really isn’t that hard. By the time they have reached the end of Webster’s or other spelling program, they will have internalized so many of the rules that they often don’t realize that they have memorized something.

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