The Elementary Spelling Book, being an Improvement on the American Spelling Book · No. 96 · Part 7: Long words and common endings
66. Th, two ways: three, north, smith, sloth
Goal: Your child hears and spells the two sounds of th: the breathy one in "thin" and the voiced one in "this".
You'll need
- The book, open to this table
- A slate, small whiteboard, or paper and pencil
What's in the book
No. 96, "Monosyllables in th", begins: "In the following words, th has the aspirated sound, as in think, thin": theme, troth, three, throe, north, smith, throve, sloth, truths. Later lists give nouns with the aspirated th and verbs with the vocal sound of th.
The lesson, step by step
The pattern
Put a hand on the throat. Say "thin": no buzz. That is the aspirated (breathy) th. Say "this": a buzz. That is the vocal th. Same two letters, two sounds. The key line shows how the book marks them.
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:
theme, three, throe, north
smith, throve, sloth, truths
Spell aloud
Now the old way: your child looks at a word, then spells it aloud and says it.
Sayt, h, r, e, e, three.
Go down a column like this. Then cover the column, say a word, and have your child spell it aloud without looking.
Nouns and verbs
Read the book's note further down: in some pairs, the thing (a noun) has the breathy th and the action (a verb) has the buzzing th. Say "breath" and "breathe", "cloth" and "clothe", and feel the difference.
Dictation
Say each word, use it in a short sentence of your own, and say it again. Your child writes it. Try these: three, north, smith, sloth, theme.
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.