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The Basic Speller
The Basic Speller is intended as a spelling program for elementary students. It is meant
to be introduced in the third grade, though it can be introduced later than that. I began
writing it in the late 1970's, working with third grade classes, and later fourth grade
classes, at Enatai Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington. I also worked with
some teachers from other elementary schools in the area. Since then it has served
some unexpected purposes, the first two books being used with learning disabled high
school students and in a tutoring program for deaf elementary and middle school
students. Its emphasis on pattern, structure, order, and system should make it useful
for students with language learning problems.
The Basic Speller consists of eight volumes of 48 lessons each. Each lesson is
intended to take about half an hour. About every seventh lesson is a ten-word
analytical test. The topics covered are indicated in the
Table of Contents
(
94 KB) and in the Scope and Sequence
(
53 KB) chart. The philosophy underlying the program are laid out in
some detail in the Teacher's Introduction
(
103 KB).
The sample here includes the following:
- Table of Contents
(
94 KB) and Scope and Sequence
(
53 KB)
- A Teacher's Introduction to the Basic Speller
(
103 KB)
- Book 1,
Lesson 1
(
62 KB) (Student's Edition): "Always Vowels: <a>, <e>,
<i>, <o>"
- Book 1,
Lesson 12
(
55 KB) (Student's Edition): "The Consonant Sound [p]"
- Book
1, Lesson 32
(
82 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "One Kind of Change: Adding Letters"
- Book 2,
Lesson 20
(
79 KB) (Student's Edition): "A Second Kind of Change: Deleting Letters"
- Book
2, Lesson 28
(
187 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "A Third Kind of Change: Replacing Letters"
- Book
3, Lesson 5
(
76 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "A New Word: Stem"
- Book
3, Lesson 20
(
68 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "The Vowel Sound Schwa"
- Book 4, Lesson 11
(
292 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "The Prefix ‹Ad-"
- Book 4, Lesson 40
(
55 KB) (Student's Edition): "When is [p] Spelled <pp>?"
- Book 5, Lesson 9
(
82 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "Homophones with [u]"
- Book 5, Lesson 35
(
95 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "Two Unusual Spellings of [m]:
<mn> and <mb>"
- Book 6, Lesson 32
(
75 KB) (Student's Edition): "The <I> Before <E> Rule
and Spelling [a] and [i]
- Book 6, Lesson 34
(
69 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "Instances and Holdouts to the <I>
Before <E> Rule"
- Book 7, Lesson 37
(
60 KB) (Student's Edition): "The Suffix -ion›"
- Book 7, Lesson 40
(
78 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "Very Often [sh] is Spelled <t>"
- Book 8, Lesson 11
(
72 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "VCV and the Third Vowel Rule"
- Book 8, Lesson 13
(
76 KB) (Teacher's Edition): "VCV and Words Like Lemon"
- Sample Test
(
55 KB) (Book 7, Lesson 43)
In spite of all the the years, the Basic Speller is still not in shape for regular
publication, especially some of the later books. But I am always anxious to have
interested teachers try the materials so, among other things, they can tell me how
things go in their classrooms, what seems to work, what gives trouble, what is under-explained, and what is over-explained. If you are interested in trying some of the
materials, or just talking about them, contact me at englishspelling@charter.net.
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