Spelling - Practical Workbook, More Patterns & Principles of English Spelling

Author: Elaine Kirn-Rubin

Suitable for:  6-8, Secondary, Young Adult, Adult    

What It Is: a 126-page student book that continues instruction in the American-English Phonics & Spelling system where the previous text (Basic Everyday Spelling Workbook) left off. 

Why You Need It: Although the greatest number of English words are pronounced and spelled in very common, predictable ways, there are also many, many  items that:                                                                                      


•   have alternative, unusual, and even exceptional spellings for their consonant or vowel sounds     •   "follow "regular patterns & rules" only in their strongest stressed syllables      •  are homophones (words with the same pronunciation but different spellings)       •  contain "silent" consonants       •  are components of compounds        •  warrant attention for other linguistic reasons                                                                                                               

For these and other reasons, the Basic Speller mentioned above necessitated a sequel.                                           

What It Does: in 126 attractively illustrated pages, Practical Everyday Spelling Workbook:


summarizes and reviews the contents of its predecessor (the most common, predictable patterns of consonants and vowels in one-syllable words); then presents and practices what's left to learn. The book is divided into lessons and sections with these titles:                                                                                                                        

•  Symbols for Sounds •   Review of Vowels & Consonants      •  More Vowel Spellings     •  Exceptional Vowel Spellings    • Homophones      •  Review of Vowels & Consonants     •  Compound Words     •  Multi-Syllable Words--Vowels    •    Multi-Syllable Words--Consonants       •   Review of Multi-Syllable Words     •   Vowels Before r •  Silent Consonants   •  Review of Vowels & Consonants      •   Progress Tests A, B, C, D     •   Final Test (for Lessons 1-12)
helps beyond-beginning new readers and language students progress with printed Review sections to fill in, very short boxed Presentations of Patterns & Principles, audio material to be read aloud and/or heard on CDs or downloads, "Listen & Write" exercises, and vocabulary activities based on phonics patterns and spelling rules; tests achievement with Progress Tests. 

entertains, motivates, and inspires learning with amusing visuals, funny sentences, "Review & Compare" sections that elicit "ah-hah" realizations;  exercises based on word rimes, enjoyable error correction, illustrated folk stories to complete, word puzzles, open-ended word play, and more.  Together, such features have elicited adjectives like "flexible," "humorous," "stimulating," "engaging," and "motivating," words rarely used to describe spellers but uniquely applicable to this pair of learning tools.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

•   individual Self-Study     •  directed Home-Schooling     •  Tutoring, one on one or in small groups     •  in Learning Labs    •  in informal, voluntary meetings     •  in "regular" academic courses.