The Elementary Spelling Book, being an Improvement on the American Spelling Book · No. 149 · Part 10: Words alike and irregular spellings
125. Silent letters: talk, walk; rough, cough; rhyme, rhubarb
Goal: Your child reads and spells words with silent l, gh said as f, and silent h after r.
You'll need
- The book, open to this table
- A slate, small whiteboard, or paper and pencil
- A few index cards or slips of paper (optional)
What's in the book
No. 149 continues: neighbor, mortgage, soldier, victuals, lieutenant; then "In the following, l is silent": balk, chalk, talk, stalk, walk; "The following end with the sound of f": rough, cough, trough; and words where h is silent after r: rheum, rhubarb, rheumatic, rhetoric.
The lesson, step by step
Review
Spell aloud: ghost, half, business.
The pattern
Three groups of odd spellings. In talk and walk the l is silent. In rough and cough, gh says f. In rhubarb and rhetoric, the h after r is silent.
Read the table aloud
Read the table aloud together, a column at a time. You say a word, your child says it back while pointing to it. Then your child reads a column alone. Some of the words:
balk, chalk, talk, stalk, walk
rough, cough, trough
rheum, rhubarb, rhetoric
Spell aloud
Now the old way: your child looks at a word, then spells it aloud and says it.
Sayc, h, a, l, k, chalk.
Go down a column like this. Then cover the column, say a word, and have your child spell it aloud without looking.
Name the silent letter
Your child reads ten words from these lists and tells you which letter is silent or strange in each.
Dictation
Say each word, use it in a short sentence of your own, and say it again. Your child writes it. Try these: talk, walk, chalk, rough, cough, rhubarb, neighbor, soldier.
Check together against the book. Any word that came out wrong goes on a card for tomorrow.