More W rules
'a' changing to 'o'

We have already looked at some simple words in this family. Now we will study some more examples.

Remind your pupil of the rule:

Say: ''Naughty 'w' turns 'a' to 'o'.'' Whenever you see the letter 'w' next to the letter 'a', make the 'a' say 'o' instead.

If you need longer than a week to study these, then take as long as you need.

These words have war in them. So they are pronounced 'wor' rather than war to rhyme with car.
Listen:
war  warm  warn/warning  swarm  reward   backward  forward towards

These words have qua. Because 'qu' makes a 'w' sound, it changes the 'a' to 'o' as well!
Listen:
squash
quarrel
quality
squabble

In addition quar  says 'quor'.

quarter

Dictation

The weather was very warm. A swarm of bees was heading towards the farm. At a quarter to ten, Tom gave the warning and led the cows in the yard towards the barn. It was a squash in the barn and the cows got bad tempered and started to quarrel. The swarm soon past, and Tom gladly led the cows forward, out from the barn back to their grass.

Reading Plus

ward

quad
qualify
quantity
quarantine

quartz
quart

wor (wer)

This one is like the 'W' rules, only it changes 'or' to 'er'.

Listen to the 'er' sound n these words:

Basic words:

word   world   worm   work   working  worth   worse   worst   worship

Odd words for spelling:

woman  Here the 'o' is making an 'i' sound.
women

Sam was out working early one warm morning, digging the soil. Tom loves the smell of warm soil. Some worms came up to the top. A Robin was watching Sam.  The Robin wanted a worm for tea. Sam went towards the Robin, but it flew away. When Sam went back into the house, the Robin hopped down and found a worm to eat.

Read the Bible!

Soft c

We have already learnt one word in this family when we studied i-e: ice.

Due to the fact most of our letters date back to  the Romans, we have inherited their rule of making 'c' sound hard in front of the vowels a, o and u, but soft (like 's') before the vowels e, i and y.

Soft 'c' sounds like the letter name 'See'.

It is quite normal for pupils to try and turn every 'c' into a soft c, after this lessons has been taught. As before, gently remind of the rules and that everything learned so far uses hard c.

Basic words:

ice   nice  icy   slice    place   face  city   pencil  December fence

Odd words for spelling (covered for reading already):
police
once

Dictation:

One cold December there was a lot of ice on the road. Tom had to go to the city for a meeting. He rose early and packed his bag with a pencil and pad. He looked at a map to find the place where he had to get to. He went by train instead of taking his car, as it was too icy. On the way to the station he saw the police seeing to a crash.

Teaching notes:
Discuss 'too' icy. give other examples: too big, too small etc...
Can your pupil remember how to spell find and cold? they both have vowels saying their name. you have to speak posh!

Reading Plus:

dance ('a' saying 'ar')
advance (as above)

circle
circus

accident (the first 'c' is hard, the second soft - use the rule above)
excited
fancy
Nancy
December
bicycle

Soft g

This follows the same rule: soft g (j) before e, i or y.

Soft 'g' sounds like 'j' for jelly.

again is quite normal for pupils to try and turn every 'g' into a soft c, after this lessons has been taught. As before, gently remind of the rules and that everything learned so far uses hard g.

Basic words:

age 
rage  
page 
huge 
danger  ('a' saying name)
damage (we don't normally say 'age' at the end, rather 'ige'. Have a laugh about it!)
garage (as above)
energy

Odd word for spelling:
said

Dictation:

Two cars had crashed at a junction. One man was in a rage at the policeman.
"I did not see the other car," he shouted. "It just slipped into my car from nowhere."
The policeman wrote down what he said on a new page in his notebook.
Both cars were damaged and had to be taken to a garage.

Reading Plus:

hedge

strange
giant
digest
digital
ginger (two of them!)
hinge
imagine

cottage
bandage
courage (ou saying 'u')
village

gym
gymnastics

Silent letters wr/kn 

Here we start to introduce silent letters. We have already met 'know' when we did the 'ow' saying 'o-e' family.

Study these as before.

Basic words:

write   wrap   wrist  wrong   wreck  

knee    knit    know   knot   knock   knife

Dictation:

June was teaching Pam to knit. Pam had the wool on her knees and was trying to use the needles. The wool got in a knot and she had to unpick her work. she kept doing it wrong. So June showed her what to do. Soon she was knitting well. She hoped to knit a jumper for herself.

Reading Plus:

knot
knuckle
kneel
knob
knight

wren
wriggle

Wren