Pennington Publishing Blog

The “ion” Ending Spelling Rule

One spelling pattern that drives kids and adults crazy is the “ion” suffix. Specifically, when do you spell “cian,” “sion,” and “tion.” The latter two spellings are especially confusing.

The Ending “ion” Spelling Rule

1. If the suffix sounds like /shun/ and indicates a person, spell “cian” (musician).
2. When a suffix sounds like /shun/ and follows an l or s, spell “sion” (expulsion, mission). Also, when the suffix sounds like /zyun/, spell “sion” (explosion).
3. In all other cases, spell the /ion/ sound as “tion” (motion).

Exceptions to the rule: The “mit” root changes to “mis” and adds on “sion” instead of “tion.” Examples: commit-commission, permit-permission

Check out the song! The Ending “ion” Rule

Ending “ion” Twinkle

(to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)

1. If the /shun/ sound you do hear

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

And it follows l or s.

How I wonder what you are.

Or if you, hear a /zyun/

Up above the world so high,

For both spell “s-i-o-n”.

Like a diamond in the sky.

Both these rules will serve you well,

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

Learning all the ways to spell.

How I wonder what you are.

2. When a person you describe,

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

You should spell “c-i-a-n.”

How I wonder what you are.

In most every other case,

Up above the world so high,

Simply spell “t-i-o-n”.

Like a diamond in the sky.

Both these rules will serve you well,

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

Learning all the ways to spell.

How I wonder what you are.

*****

A Model Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence

Differentiated Spelling Instruction

Preview the Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence tied to the author’s comprehensive grades 3-8 Language Strand programs. The instructional scope and sequence includes grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary. Teachers and district personnel are authorized to print and share this planning tool, with proper credit and/or citation. Why reinvent the wheel? Also check out my articles on Grammar Scope and Sequence, Mechanics Scope and Sequence, and Vocabulary Scope and Sequence.

FREE DOWNLOAD TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF PENNINGTON PUBLISHING AMERICAN ENGLISH AND CANADIAN ENGLISH SPELLING PROGRAMS. Check out these grades 3-8 programs HERE. Administer my FREE comprehensive Diagnostic Spelling Assessment with audio file and recording matrix. It has 102 words (I did say comprehensive) and covers all common spelling patterns and conventional spelling rules. It only takes 22 minutes and includes an audio file with test administration instructions. Once you see the gaps in your students’ spelling patterns, you’re going to want to fill those gaps.

Get the The Ending ‘ion’ Spelling Rule FREE Resource:

Grammar/Mechanics, Spelling/Vocabulary cian suffix, differentiated spelling instruction, ion suffix, Mark Pennington, remedial spelling worksheets, sion suffix, spelling, spelling programs, spelling rules, spelling sorts, spelling tests, spelling worksheets, suffix spelling rules, suffix spelling sorts, tion suffix

The “able” or “ible” Spelling Rule

By far, writers struggle over the spelling of suffixes more so than the spelling of prefixes or roots. Of the eight conventional spelling rules, all but one (the i before e) covers the spelling of suffixes. Of course, the spelling of the root (either an incomplete root or a base word) determines which suffix spelling to use in most cases.

The “able” and “ible” suffixes give writers fits because both sound similar (if not the same). Both are two syllables and both have the schwa /uh/ sound in each syllable. Abandoning the proper diacritical pronunciation marks, we would provide this approximate pronunciation for both “able” and “ible” suffixes: úh / buhl.

Sometimes the “ible” suffix tends to have more of this pronunciation: í (pronounced /ĭ/) / buhl.

About 80% of these suffixes have the “able” spelling (http://www.spellitright.talktalk.net/ends8.html), so if you must guess, don’t guess “ible.” Additionally, the list of “able” suffix new words is growing; no new “ible” suffix words are being added to our language. However, spelling isn’t solely about educated guessing; it’s about applying the rules and memorizing the few which don’t conform.

The “able” or “ible” Spelling Rule

End a word with “able” if the root before has a hard /c/ or /g/ sound (despicable, navigable), after a complete root word (teachable), or after a silent e (likeable). End a word with “ible” if the root has a soft /c/ or /g/ sound (reducible, legible), after an “ss” (admissible), or after an incomplete root word (audible).

Note that a complete root word is called a base word.

Exceptions to the rule: collapsible, contemptible, flexible, formidable, indomitable, inevitable, irresistible, memorable, portable, probable

Check out the song! The song focuses on the “able” rule (as “able” is the most frequent spelling of the two and adds “but for all others add “ible.” Like many things in life, if it’s not one thing, it’s the other. 

The “able” or “ible” Rule (to the tune of “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt”) 

Base words add “able” to the end,

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,

As do word parts,

That’s my name, too.

That end in silent e

Whenever we go out-

Or with hard c or g

The people always shout,

But for all others add “i-b-l-e”.

Saying, “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.”

*****

A Model Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence

Differentiated Spelling Instruction

Preview the Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence tied to the author’s comprehensive grades 3-8 Language Strand programs. The instructional scope and sequence includes grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary. Teachers and district personnel are authorized to print and share this planning tool, with proper credit and/or citation. Why reinvent the wheel? Also check out my articles on Grammar Scope and Sequence, Mechanics Scope and Sequence, and Vocabulary Scope and Sequence.

FREE DOWNLOAD TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF PENNINGTON PUBLISHING AMERICAN ENGLISH AND CANADIAN ENGLISH SPELLING PROGRAMS. Check out these grades 3-8 programs HERE. Administer my FREE comprehensive Diagnostic Spelling Assessment with audio file and recording matrix. It has 102 words (I did say comprehensive) and covers all common spelling patterns and conventional spelling rules. It only takes 22 minutes and includes an audio file with test administration instructions. Once you see the gaps in your students’ spelling patterns, you’re going to want to fill those gaps.

Get the The able or ible Spelling Rule FREE Resource:

Grammar/Mechanics, Spelling/Vocabulary able spelling rule, able suffix, able word list, differentiated spelling instruction, ible spelling rule, ible suffix, ible word list, Mark Pennington, spelling, spelling programs, spelling rules, spelling sorts, spelling tests, spelling worksheets, when to spell able, when to spell ible

The “Ending an” and “en” Spelling Rule

The suffixes “-ant” and “-ent” are adjectives, meaning the state of, quality, or condition. Both suffixes also take noun forms: “ance-ancy” and “ence-ency.”

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The Ending “an” or “en” Spelling Rule

End a word with “ance”, “ancy”, or “ant”  if the root before has a hard /c/ or /g/ sound (vacancy, arrogance) or if the root ends with “ear” or “ure” (clearance, insurance). End a word with “ence”, “ency”, or “ent” if the root before has a soft /c/ or /g/ sound (magnificent, emergency), after “id” (residence), or if the root ends with “ere” (reverence).

Exceptions to the rule: assistance, different, perseverance, resistance, violence

Check out the song! The Ending “an” or “en” Rule

This Old “an” or “en”

(to the tune of “This Old Man”)

If you see, “e-a-r”, or there is a “u-r-e”,

This old man, he played one, he played nick-nack on my thumb

In the root, or if you hear hard c or g,

With a nick-nack paddy-whack, give a dog a bone,

Then spell “ant”, “ance”, or “ancy”.

This old man came rolling home.

If you see, “id” like “fid”, or there is an “e-r-e”

This old man, he played two, he played nick-nack on my shoe

In the root, or if you hear soft c or g,

With a nick-nack paddy-whack, give a dog a bone,

Then spell “ent”, “ence”, or “ency”.

This old man came rolling home.

*****

A Model Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence

Differentiated Spelling Instruction

Preview the Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence tied to the author’s comprehensive grades 3-8 Language Strand programs. The instructional scope and sequence includes grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary. Teachers and district personnel are authorized to print and share this planning tool, with proper credit and/or citation. Why reinvent the wheel? Also check out my articles on Grammar Scope and Sequence, Mechanics Scope and Sequence, and Vocabulary Scope and Sequence.

FREE DOWNLOAD TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF PENNINGTON PUBLISHING AMERICAN ENGLISH AND CANADIAN ENGLISH SPELLING PROGRAMS. Check out these grades 3-8 programs HERE. Administer my FREE comprehensive Diagnostic Spelling Assessment with audio file and recording matrix. It has 102 words (I did say comprehensive) and covers all common spelling patterns and conventional spelling rules. It only takes 22 minutes and includes an audio file with test administration instructions. Once you see the gaps in your students’ spelling patterns, you’re going to want to fill those gaps.

Get the The Ending ‘an’ or ‘en’ Spelling Rule FREE Resource:

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Consonant Doubling Rule

The Double the Consonant Spelling Rule

The Double the Consonant Rule

Double the last consonant, when adding on an ending (permitted), if all three of these conditions are met: 1. the last syllable has the accent (per / mit)  2. the last syllable ends in a vowel, then a consonant (permit). 3. the ending you add begins with a vowel (ed).

Check out the song! The Double the Consonant Rule

Double the last consonant, when adding on an ending (suffix)(permitted), if all three of these conditions are met: 1. the last syllable has the accent (per / mit) 2. the last syllable ends in a vowel, then a consonant (permit). 3. the ending you add begins with a vowel (ed).

Exceptions to the rule:

acquitted, busing, cancellation, crystallize, equipped, excellence, excellent, gases, handicapped, questionnaire, transferable, transference

Consonant Doubling Doodle

“Yankee Doodle”

(to the tune of “Yankee Doodle”)

Double the last consonant

Yankee Doodle went to town

When adding on an ending

‘A riding on a pony

If these three do all agree

Stuck a feather in his cap

On this you’ll be depending.

And called it macaroni.

Is the accent at the end?

Yankee Doodle keep it up!

With a vowel, then consonant?

Yankee Doodle da-an-dy

Does the ending you must add

Mind the music and the step

Begin with a vowel?

And with the girls be handy. Let’s change this line. How about And with all friends be dandy, instead?

The Pennington Publishing Goldmine of Spelling Program FREEBIES

Want a concise list of all eight conventional spelling rules with corresponding songs? Click HERE.

Want a list of the 10 English Accent Rules to help you teach the conventional spelling rules? Click HERE.

Want a list of the 20 Advanced Syllable Rules to help you teach the conventional spelling rules? Click HERE.

Want the 104-word Diagnostic Spelling Assessment with audio file and recording matrix? Click HERE and download at the end of the article.

One great way to practice the rule is with worksheets targeted to the results of the Diagnostic Spelling Assessment. Download the FREE Double the Consonant Spelling Pattern Worksheets at the end of this article to help you check out the quality of Our Pennington Publishing spelling programs. Each worksheet sound-spelling example words, a spelling sort, rhymes or book searches, word jumbles, a short writing application, and a brief formative dictations assessment.

Why waste your time downloading each of these? Buy the grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 Differentiated Spelling Instruction and get everything you need to have the best grade-level and remedial spelling program. Canadian and American English versions.

*****

Differentiated Spelling Instruction

I’m Mark Pennington, author of the full-year Differentiated Spelling Instruction programs for grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The grade-level programs include weekly tests, based upon conventional spelling rules and developmental spelling patterns, weekly spelling sorts, review games, and audio links to catchy spelling songs. Additionally, the comprehensive diagnostic spelling assessment (audio file included) tests spelling patterns from previous grade levels, and the corresponding worksheets allow you to pinpoint instruction according to individual needs. Each worksheet includes a formative assessment to help you determine whether students have mastered the spelling instruction. The program is simple to implement and doesn’t take up too many valuable instructional minutes. You do have other subjects to teach!

A Model Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence

Differentiated Spelling Instruction

Preview the Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence tied to the author’s comprehensive grades 3-8 Language Strand programs. The instructional scope and sequence includes grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary. Teachers and district personnel are authorized to print and share this planning tool, with proper credit and/or citation. Why reinvent the wheel? Also check out my articles on Grammar Scope and Sequence, Mechanics Scope and Sequence, and Vocabulary Scope and Sequence.

Get the Consonant Doubling Rule FREE Resource:

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The Final y Spelling Rule

The Final y Spelling Rule drives people crazy. I just typed in “final y spelling rule” into Google and 40,300,000 searches came back, so if you searched the same, you are not alone.

That final y is one of the most adaptable letters. Of course you all remember that the vowels are a, e, i, o, and u…plus sometimes y. This “sometimes y” is true because, by definition, every English syllable has a vowel sound, and when y follows a consonant at the end of a syllable or serves as the syllable itself, it produces the long /i/ vowel sound (when accented) or long /e/ vowel sound (when unaccented). Examples: by/pass, ba/by

Also, some words have y in the middle of a syllable and it is pronounced as a short /i/ vowel sound. Examples: gym, mys/tic

However, the final y spelling at the end of the syllable, when adding on a suffix, is the spelling that bothers most writers. When do you keep the y and when do you drop it before adding on the suffix?

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The Final y Spelling Rule

Keep the y when adding an ending if the word ends in a vowel, then a y (delay-delayed), or if the ending begins with an i (copy-copying). Change the y to i when adding an ending if the word ends in a consonant, then a y (pretty-prettiest).

Exceptions to the rule: daily, dryly, dryness, paid, said, shyly, shyness, slyly, slyness

Check out the song! The Final y Spelling Rule

Hickory Dickory Y

The Clock Struck One

(to the tune of “Hickory Dickory Dock”)

If a root ends in a vowel,

Hickory, dickory dock,

And after that a y.

The mouse ran up the clock.

Just keep the y—and then said I,

The clock struck one—the mouse ran down,

“Add on the suffix to end.”

Hickory dickory dock.

But if a consonant then

Hickory, dickory dock,

A y should end a word,

The mouse ran up the clock.

Just change the y into an i

The clock struck two—the mouse ran down,

Except if the suffix has i.

Hickory dickory dock.

*****

A Model Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence

Differentiated Spelling Instruction

Preview the Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence tied to the author’s comprehensive grades 3-8 Language Strand programs. The instructional scope and sequence includes grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary. Teachers and district personnel are authorized to print and share this planning tool, with proper credit and/or citation. Why reinvent the wheel? Also check out my articles on Grammar Scope and Sequence, Mechanics Scope and Sequence, and Vocabulary Scope and Sequence.

FREE DOWNLOAD TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF PENNINGTON PUBLISHING AMERICAN ENGLISH AND CANADIAN ENGLISH SPELLING PROGRAMS. Check out these grades 3-8 programs HERE. Administer my FREE comprehensive Diagnostic Spelling Assessment with audio file and recording matrix. It has 102 words (I did say comprehensive) and covers all common spelling patterns and conventional spelling rules. It only takes 22 minutes and includes an audio file with test administration instructions. Once you see the gaps in your students’ spelling patterns, you’re going to want to fill those gaps.

Get the The Final y Spelling Rule FREE Resource:

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i before e

People love to break rules; sadly and happily it’s in our nature. Even more so, people love to discover and point out when rules aren’t rules at all. The latter is often the case with regard to the i before e spelling rule. People love to challenge that rule. The editor of Reddit posted the following take-down of the most well-known English spelling rule:

I before E…

…except in a zeitgeist of feisty counterfeit heifer protein freight heists reining in weird deified beige beings and their veiny and eidetic atheist foreign schlockmeister neighbors, either aweigh with feigned absenteeism, seized by heightened heirloom forfeitures (albeit deigned under a kaleidoscope ceiling weighted by seismic geisha keister sleighs) or leisurely reimbursing sovereign receipt or surveillance of eight veiled and neighing Rottweilers, herein referred to as their caffeinated sheik’s Weimaraner poltergeist wieners from the Pleiades.

Christopher Ingram titled his recent Washington Post article: “The ‘i before e, except after c’ rule is a giant lie” and reported the findings of the University of Warwick statistician, Nathan Cunningham, who analyzed the data of 350,000 English words to test the rule. Cunningham’s study found that in 75% of the “ie” or “ei” spellings, the “ie” spelling is used.

The balance of the article is used to debunk, the “cei” portion of the rule and to suggest that the “wei” pattern is worth memorizing. No mention is made of the long /a/ “ei” spelling. Ingram closes his article with a dancing word graphic: “lol nothing matters.”

Now, I’m not above writing a provocative article to sell my curriculum to teachers. Taking a contrary viewpoint on a controversial or popular subject makes people think (and read an article). However, Ingram is playing out of his league on this one. The 143 comments (now closed) rip Ingram’s assertions and Cunningham’s study apart.

I would like to chime in with two comments not mentioned in response to the article. By the way, as an English teacher and reading specialist, who has authored nearly a dozen spelling books over the years (crass promo to follow article), this subject is in my league.

Comment #1: Conventional English spelling rules don’t apply to foreign words, derivatives, plurals, and syllable divisions. The latter, not mentioned in any of the 143 comments, requires an example: Ingram mentions “being” as an exception to the rule. Any third grader, clapping out the syllables, knows that “be/ing” has two syllables. The conventional spelling rules apply to syllables, not words. Spellings are used to map sounds; a syllable has one vowel sound and, yes, vowels have different spellings. Reading teachers know this.

This is true even for the connecting spelling rules, such as the Consonant Doubling Rule. Cunningham’s study and the Reddit posting don’t apply the proper orthographic rules to analyze the utility of the rules. I recently played Settlers of Catan for the first time with my two nephews. I could tell within minutes that they were making up and changing the rules of the game to their advantages. No, they would not allow me to read the directions. Respectfully, Ingram, Cunningham, and the Reddit editor have not read or properly applied the directions to the spelling rules game.

Rules Matter

Comment #2: My second comment refers to the presupposition behind the closing “lol nothing matter” comment. Obviously, it was meant to be humorous, but it is also counterproductive. Like it or not, proper use of our language does matter and spelling is a “high stakes” indicator of one’s literacy. The rules of language, even with their exceptions, serve useful purposes. Knowing the rules, whether spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc., provides tools for proper usage and a foundation upon which to append exceptions. Settlers of Catan is only fun when played by the rules.

One more point regarding spelling rules: If there are no conventional spelling rules, than every word must be memorized by sight and analogy. We’ve been down that road before. Reading and orthographic research have thoroughly debunked that practice. English is an alphabetic system: a code which is designed to be mapped out with sound-spellings. English does not use a logographic writing system, such as the Chinese symbols; let’s not make it into one.

BOTTOM LINE: The i before e rule has some exceptions, but not as many as people believe. It is well-worth memorizing and applying to one’s spelling. One great way to practice the rule is with worksheets targeted to the results of the Diagnostic Spelling Assessment. Download the five FREE i before e Spelling Pattern Worksheets at the end of this article to help you check out the quality of Our Pennington Publishing spelling programs. Each worksheet sound-spelling example words, a spelling sort, rhymes or book searches, word jumbles, a short writing application, and a brief formative dictations assessment.

Following is my wording of the i before e spelling rule:

Usually spell i before e (believe), but spell e before i after a c (receive) and when the letters are pronounced as a long /a/ sound (neighbor).

Exceptions to the rule: beige, caffeine, codeine, conscience, either, feign, feint, foreign, forfeit, freight, heifer, height, heinous, heir, heist, neither, protein, rein, science, seismic, seize, veil, vein, weird

Check out the song! The i-before-e Spelling Rule

i before e Song

(to the tune of “Rig ‘a Jig Jig”)

Spell i before e ‘cause that’s the rule

Rig-a-jig-jig and away we go,

That we learned back in school.

Away we go, away we go!

But e before i comes after c,

Rig-a-jig-jig and away we go,

and when you hear long /a/. Hey!

Hi-ho, hi-ho, hi-ho.

*****

The Pennington Publishing Goldmine of Spelling Program FREEBIES

Want a concise list of all eight conventional spelling rules with corresponding songs? Click HERE.

Want a list of the 10 English Accent Rules to help you teach the conventional spelling rules? Click HERE.

Want a list of the 20 Advanced Syllable Rules to help you teach the conventional spelling rules? Click HERE.

Want the 104-word Diagnostic Spelling Assessment with audio file and recording matrix? Click HERE and download at the end of the article.

One great way to practice the rule is with worksheets targeted to the results of the Diagnostic Spelling Assessment. Download the FREE i before e Spelling Pattern Worksheets at the end of this article to help you check out the quality of Our Pennington Publishing spelling programs. Each worksheet sound-spelling example words, a spelling sort, rhymes or book searches, word jumbles, a short writing application, and a brief formative dictations assessment.

Why waste your time downloading each of these? Buy the grades 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 Differentiated Spelling Instruction and get everything you need to have the best grade-level and remedial spelling program.

*****

A Model Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence

Differentiated Spelling Instruction

Preview the Grades 3-8 Spelling Scope and Sequence tied to the author’s comprehensive grades 3-8 Language Strand programs. The instructional scope and sequence includes grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary. Teachers and district personnel are authorized to print and share this planning tool, with proper credit and/or citation. Why reinvent the wheel? Also check out my articles on Grammar Scope and Sequence, Mechanics Scope and Sequence, and Vocabulary Scope and Sequence.

FREE DOWNLOAD TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF PENNINGTON PUBLISHING AMERICAN ENGLISH AND CANADIAN ENGLISH SPELLING PROGRAMS. Check out these grades 3-8 programs HERE. Administer my FREE comprehensive Diagnostic Spelling Assessment with audio file and recording matrix. It has 102 words (I did say comprehensive) and covers all common spelling patterns and conventional spelling rules. It only takes 22 minutes and includes an audio file with test administration instructions. Once you see the gaps in your students’ spelling patterns, you’re going to want to fill those gaps.

Get the i before e Spelling Pattern Worksheets FREE Resource:

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“Johnny could be a great writer, but his terrible spelling just gets in the way. He just can’t get down on paper what he wants to say. Johnny repeats the same spelling mistakes over and over in his writing, now matter how many times I red-mark them. I’ve had him write out a spelling word fifty times and still misspell that same word on his next assignment. It drives me crazy.”

Know a student like Johnny? Everyone does. Is there something neurologically mis-wired or does he have dyslexia? Probably not. Yet, year after year, Johnny lags further and further behind his classmates in his spelling proficiency. Can we blame the English sound-spelling system? Only about half of our spellings exactly match their sounds. Or how about blaming the “whole language” instructional fad in which teachers threw out their spelling workbooks and the traditional weekly spelling test? Or how about blaming Dad or Mom?

With more brain research, we may find a genetic predisposition to poor spelling. It may be unfair, but society judges poor spellers quite harshly. Misspelling words on a job application won’t land Johnny a job. And “spell check” and dictionaries are not complete fixes. After all, you have to be able to recognize a correct spelling or know how to spell a word to use these resources. Frankly, we do a disservice to Johnny when we excuse his deficiency with a comment such as “Spelling doesn’t matter. Albert Einstein was a poor speller, too.”

So what can we do that really works to improve Johnny’s spelling? First, find out what exactly Johnny knows and does not know. Use an effective diagnostic test that pinpoints his spelling weaknesses. Target those weaknesses with specific skill worksheets, word sorts, and game card practice. Find these resources at your local bookstore or on the web. Next, teach the rules of syllabication and have Johnny practice sight syllable spellings with oral drills. Spelling is an auditory process-it is not a visual process. Encoding a word involves connecting letter relationships to the sounds that make up that word. Students need to develop automaticity with the most common sight syllables. Finally, connect spelling instruction to vocabulary instruction. Over 50% of our academic language is built on ancient Greek and Latin word parts. Spelling and vocabulary have a reciprocal relationship-spelling influences vocabulary and, conversely, vocabulary influences spelling. Have Johnny practice the spellings and definitions of the most common Greek and Latin roots and affixes.

Next, teach the rules of syllabication and have Johnny practice sight syllable spellings with oral drills. Spelling is an auditory process-it is not a visual process. Encoding a word involves connecting letter relationships to the sounds that make up that word. Finally, connect spelling instruction to vocabulary instruction. Over 50% of our academic words are built on ancient Greek and Latin word parts. Spelling and vocabulary have a reciprocal relationship-spelling influences vocabulary and, conversely, vocabulary influences spelling. Have Johnny practice the spellings and definitions of the most common Greek and Latin roots and affixes. Use the highest utility word parts, game cards, worksheets, and fun games to aid effective practice.

*****

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted, sounds to print instruction and practice with the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities every grades 4-adult reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness and Morphology 2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling 3. Sounds and Spellings (including handwriting) 4. Heart Words Practice 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). Plus, digital and printable sound wall cards, speech articulation songs, sounds to print games, and morphology walls. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5 Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE  includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

Click the SCIENCE OF READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM RESOURCES for detailed program description, sample lessons, and video overviews. Click the links to get these ready-to-use resources, developed by a teacher (Mark Pennington, MA reading specialist) for teachers and their students.

Get the SCRIP Comprehension Cues FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic ELA and Reading Assessments FREE Resource:

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Spelling/Vocabulary diagnostic spelling rules, Mark Pennington, phonics, spelling, spelling tests, spelling worksheets, teaching spelling, Teaching the Language Strand

Meet Johnny. Although… you probably already know him. In fact, you probably have a Johnny in your class right now. It may also be possible that you also have a few Johnnys that you don’t know about yet. Johnny has reading problems.

Johnny didn’t quite catch on to reading in kindergarten and first grade. His second and third grade teachers did spend a few minutes each day with Johnny, along with a few other students, and he did make some progress. However, by the time Johnny was handed his fourth grade social studies and science textbooks, he was not at all prepared for the multi-syllabic decoding, academic vocabulary, and expository text structure of these books. Apparently, other students had reading problems, because the teacher rarely used the textbooks. Instead, she taught the “power standards” to prepare her students for the standardized tests in both subject areas. His upper elementary and middle school teachers focused on the short stories in the literature anthology and on the assigned “core novels.” The teacher read the stories out loud or had the students take turns reading in “popcorn” style. Sometimes the teachers played audio books. Of course, Johnny’s teachers wisely learned to avoid calling on him to read to protect his self-esteem. Clearly, Johnny’s reading deficits continued to compound.

In middle school, Johnny was placed in an intervention class for language arts. The focus of the class was to teach grade-level language arts standards at a slower pace. Addressing individual reading problems was not the primary focus of class, although the composition of the class was loosely based upon the reading scores of last year’s standards-based test. Johnny scored “Far Below Basic” because he was able to read only parts of the passages. Undoubtedly, a few students were placed in the class because they randomly marked answers on the test. Most of the students in this intervention class did have significant reading problems. However, they did not all have the same reading problems. Some students, such as Johnny, lacked phonemic awareness and could not decode. Other students had poor comprehension or low fluency scores. Still others were English language-learners. A few students were simply placed in the class due to behavioral problems.

Visit most public schools today and you will be able to spot more than a few Johnnys. Unfortunately, the Matthew Effect (Stanovich) is alive and well in our schools today. The rich do, indeed, get richer and the Johnnys get poorer. Students who learn to read well in their primary school years tend to continue this success because they use their reading skills to learn content and vocabulary in their intermediate elementary and middle school years. Students who do not learn to read well in their primary school years fall even further behind in school and the gap between good and poor readers widens. While the statistics indicate that only one in six remedial readers ever close this gap, Johnny can be that one. With the right diagnostic tools and instructional materials, caring teachers can better the odds for their students with reading problems.

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The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted, sounds to print instruction and practice with the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities every grades 4-adult reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness and Morphology 2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling 3. Sounds and Spellings (including handwriting) 4. Heart Words Practice 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). Plus, digital and printable sound wall cards, speech articulation songs, sounds to print games, and morphology walls. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5 Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE  includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

Click the SCIENCE OF READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM RESOURCES for detailed program description, sample lessons, and video overviews. Click the links to get these ready-to-use resources, developed by a teacher (Mark Pennington, MA reading specialist) for teachers and their students.

Get the SCRIP Comprehension Cues FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic ELA and Reading Assessments FREE Resource:

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Reading decoding, intervention, Mark Pennington, phonics, Reading, reading problems, remedial reading, spelling, Teaching Reading Strategies, worksheets