The Elementary Spelling Book, being an Improvement on the American Spelling Book · Numbers · Part 11: Rules for spelling, numbers and marks

133. Numbers: figures, Roman letters and names

Goal: Your child reads and spells the names of numbers and the ordinals (first, second...), and reads Roman numerals.

⏱ About 15 minutes · 6 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this table
  • A slate, small whiteboard, or paper and pencil

What's in the book

A table of numbers with columns for figures, letters (Roman numerals), names and numeral adjectives: one, I, first; two, II, second; up through eleven, XI, eleventh; twelve, XII, twelfth; the tens and hundreds (LX, XC, C, M); the year 1829 in Roman letters; and fractions such as one half, one third, one fourth.

The lesson, step by step

  1. The idea

    SayNumbers can be written as figures (3), as Roman letters (III), or as words (three, third). This table shows all of them side by side.

  2. Read across

    Read across the first rows together:

    one, I, first

    two, II, second

    three, III, third

    twelve, XII, twelfth

  3. Roman letters

    Explain: I is 1, V is 5, X is 10, L is 50, C is 100, M is 1000. A smaller letter before a bigger one means take away: IV is 4, IX is 9, XC is 90. The table numbers in this very book use Roman letters too (No. 12 is printed XII).

  4. Spell the hard ones

    Your child spells aloud: four, fourth; eight, eighth; nine, ninth; twelve, twelfth; forty; hundred.

  5. Dictation

    Dictate: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, eighth, twelfth, twentieth. Then write three numbers in Roman letters.

  6. Wrap up

    Find a Roman numeral somewhere in the book (any table heading) and let your child read it.

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