The Elementary Spelling Book, being an Improvement on the American Spelling Book · No. 74 · Part 6: Where the accent falls

45. Two syllables, long first vowel: major, labor, quiet

Goal: Your child reads and spells two-syllable words whose first syllable ends in a long vowel.

⏱ 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

Headed "Words of two syllables, accented on the first": bracelet, driver, crisis, diet, major, labor, quiet, minor, focus, and on the next page trident, vacant, needy, hazy, prudent, fluent. Sentences: "A minor is a young person not twenty-one years old."

The lesson, step by step

  1. The pattern

    The first syllable ends with a vowel, so the vowel is long: MA-jor, LA-bor, MI-nor. Compare with No. 73, where a consonant closed the syllable and the vowel was short (lad-der).

  2. 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:

    bracelet, driver, crisis, diet

    major, labor, quiet, minor, focus

    vacant, needy, hazy, prudent

  3. 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.

    Saym, a, ma; j, o, r, jor; major.

    Sayv, a, va; c, a, n, t, cant; vacant.

    Do a column this way while looking, then cover it and spell a few from memory.

  4. Long or short?

    Mix five words from Nos. 73 and 74. Your child says whether the first vowel is long or short, and why (ends the syllable, or closed by a consonant).

  5. Read the sentences

    The sentences are on the next page. Some of them:

    A minor is a young person not twenty-one years old.

    Rabbits hide themselves in secret places.

    A bolster is put at the head of a bed.

  6. Dictation

    Say each word, use it in a short sentence of your own, and say it again. Your child writes it. Try these: driver, major, labor, quiet, minor, vacant, hazy.

    Check together against the book. Any word that came out wrong goes on a card for tomorrow.

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