The Elementary Spelling Book, being an Improvement on the American Spelling Book · No. 54 · Part 5: Vowel pairs and light syllables
32. Three syllables, and a marking exercise: botany, colony
Goal: Your child reads three-syllable words accented on the first syllable and tries marking the vowels as the book does.
You'll need
- The book, open to this table
- A slate, small whiteboard, or paper and pencil
What's in the book
Headed "Words of three syllables, accented on the first, and left unmarked as an exercise in notation": botany, felony, sorcery, elegy, prodigy, effigy, colony, harmony, and on the next page mystery, battery, flattery, lottery. Sentences follow, such as "History is an account of past events." (This page could not be fetched on its own when these guides were made. The words here come from the full text of the same scan, and the page shown is our best estimate; if it does not match, turn a page forward or back.)
The lesson, step by step
The pattern
Three syllables, with the accent on the first: "BOT-a-ny", "COL-o-ny". The book left the vowels in this table unmarked on purpose, "as an exercise in notation". That means your child gets to be the marker: put a long or short mark over the accented vowel.
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:
botany, felony, sorcery, elegy
prodigy, effigy, colony, harmony
mystery, battery, flattery, lottery
Spell aloud by syllables
Spell each word a syllable at a time, the way Webster's pupils did: spell the first syllable and say it, spell the next and say it, then say the whole word.
Sayc, o, l, col; o, o; n, y, ny; colony.
Sayh, a, r, har; m, o, mo; n, y, ny; harmony.
Do a column this way while looking, then cover it and spell a few from memory.
Mark them
Copy six words onto the slate. Your child puts a short mark (a little curve) over the vowel in the first syllable of each: bŏt, cŏl, ĕl. Ask: why short? Because a consonant closes that syllable.
Dictation
Say each word, use it in a short sentence of your own, and say it again. Your child writes it. Try these: colony, harmony, elegy, mystery, battery.
Check together against the book. Any word that came out wrong goes on a card for tomorrow.
Review
Finish with the cards from earlier days: your child reads and spells each one. Put a card away after three right days in a row.
Tip
If a long word is hard, cover all but the first syllable with a card, then slide the card along one syllable at a time.