The Elementary Spelling Book, being an Improvement on the American Spelling Book · Key to the Pronunciation · Part 1: The key to the sounds and the alphabet
3. The key line at the top of every page
Goal: Your child can read the key words printed across the top of the pages and knows that they show how each marked vowel sounds.
You'll need
- The book, open to this table
- A slate, small whiteboard, or paper and pencil
What's in the book
The "Key to the Pronunciation" lists every marked sound with example words: the regular long and short vowels, the occasional sounds, the diphthongs oi, oy, ou, ow, and the consonants that can be read two ways (c, g, s, ch, th). The same key words run across the top of every page of the book, which is where children use them most.
The lesson, step by step
Look at the top of any page
Turn to any page of tables. Across the top is a line of short key words. One page carries a line like this:
bar, last, care, fall, what; her, prey, there; get; bird, marine; link
and the facing page a line like this:
move, son, wolf, foot, moon, or; rule, pull; exist; c=k; g=j; s=z; ch=sh
What the key is for
SayEach of these words has a marked letter in it. When you see that same mark in a table, it makes the same sound as in the key word.
Point to "bar" and "fall" and remind your child of last time: two dots over a in bar, two dots under a in fall.
Read the key line
Read the key words aloud together, slowly. For each one, point to the marked letter and say just that sound, then the whole word.
Consonants that change
The end of the key line shows letters that can borrow another letter's sound. In the book, a c marked this way sounds like k, a marked g like j, a marked s like z, and a marked ch like sh. Say a word for each: cat, gem, is, machine.
Practice finding a sound
Open to a later page. Find a word with a mark you have learned. Your child checks the key line at the top to see how it sounds, then reads the word.
Wrap up
Ask your child to "teach" you the key line: they point and read, you listen.
Tip
Come back to the key line whenever a mark is forgotten. Teaching your child to look up a sound in the key is more useful than telling them the answer.