Spelling Homework

We're trying something a little different with spelling.  Instead of giving students a list of words to memorize, we're concentrating on learning a specific pattern or phonics rule.  The idea is that by learning a phonics rule students can then apply that rule to spell and decode many more words than they would've learned otherwise just through by memorizing a list of ten words.  This week students are studying short vowel sounds.  Specifically, they are studying the principle that when a vowel is followed by a consonant the vowel is usually short.  Today students took a pre-test to see how familiar they were with this rule.  Students who demonstrated total mastery of the rule by earning 100% on the pretest will be given challenge words tomorrow.  You can help your child prepare for Friday's test by studying the following words and looking for short vowels followed by a consonant in each word.  Understand, though, that words on Friday's test while following the same pattern may or may not come from this list. 

crop         pumpkin
plan         clock
smell        gift
shut          class
sticky       skip
spent       lunch


If you're confused by our new spelling plan, know that we'll discuss it in greater detail onCurriculum Night.  Hopefully we can answer any questions you might have.