94. Dictation: aught and ought, bail and bale

The lesson, step by step

1. Talk about the tricky words

   Sentences that use the sound-alike words from the last few lists.

   Find these words in the sentences and talk about what each one means.

2. Read the sentences together

   Read all the sentences aloud together. Some of them:

   The awl is used by all shoe-makers.

   He said that he would do aught that he ought to do.

   The man who stole the bale of goods gave bail.

   The Bey rode a bay horse around the bay.

   Ask your child to spell the tricky words in each sentence aloud before you go on.

3. Write from dictation

   Close the book. Read one sentence at a time, slowly, in short parts. Read the whole sentence once more at the end.

   Your child writes it with a capital letter at the start and the right mark at the end. Do four to six sentences.

4. Check and correct

   Open the book and compare letter by letter, including capitals, commas and periods. For each misspelled word, your child spells it aloud and writes it correctly three times.

5. Quick review

   Ask three or four words from the hard-words list, or from the last lesson if the list is empty. Words spelled right twice in a row can come off the list.