I learned several things with this exercise. First, while this will be perfect for my other sixth grader when she gets to this point, it was too long and too hard for F. Second, Tracey and I need to keep reviewing (I share this child with another tutor); she easily found the r-controlled exception and trigraphs, but she couldn't find a word with blends or remember the fslz rule. And third, if a teacher hands her back a paper and tells her to proofread it, she will not be able to do that; it was very difficult for her to scan for words. Because she is on the honor roll, she did not qualify for either an IEP or a 504. Somehow we have to figure out how to get that accommodation as she advances. But I still think it was a great exercise and one I plan to use with other students in other books. One of the advantages of a one-on-one tutor is that one size doesn't have to fit all.
So, give it a try. Are you as smart as a dyslexic 6th grader? Are we collectively as smart as F.? Choose a question and answer it in the comment section. Good luck!
Once upon a time, there were three little pigs, with varying degrees of intelligence and work ethic. They slept until twelve and ate large quantities of groceries. They were not a bit unhappy with their situation. Their mother, who was, finally tired of supporting them and sent them out into the world to make their living.
They set off in different directions. Gerry, never one to exert himself, talked a farmer into giving him some corn stalks to make a simple shack. Then he set off to pick jonquils and snack on apples. Homer, also disliking excess perspiration, spent a bit more time on his home project and gathered sticks in the forest. After awhile he lost interest and went off to play jazz on his flute with a hedgehog and his fiddle. Cyrus, the compulsive one of Mrs. Pig’s offspring, read Consumer Reports and scanned the Internet until he could confidently select the best quality brick. He handpicked the Victorian gingerbread trim and planted phlox in the turned and composted garden. Then he went inside to make fudge and send evite invitations to the other piglets for a grand meal.
At this same time and place in the woods, there was a wolf who favored a bit of grilled pork and was on a mission to find some, organic and corn-fed if possible. First he went to Gerry’s. Not one to huff and puff when a simple kick would do the trick, he struck down the flimsy shanty. Its vacancy irritated him, so he went on to Homer’s. A match, he hoped, would serve two functions at once, but the aroma of crispy pork chops was absent here as well. Disgruntled, he went to Cyrus’s sturdy abode. He glanced in a window and was filled with excited anticipation when he saw all three porcine siblings at table, eating turnips, parsnips, and cherry cobbler.
But how could he get in? The wolf sat on a handy but uncomfortable stump to ponder the situation. After a short time, an evil grin crept across his ugly face. Off he went to City Hall, where he checked to see if Cyrus had gotten a construction permit. His grin was transformed into a cackle when the clerk told him there was nothing of the kind on record. The wolf scampered hungrily behind the bulldozers who arrived to knock down the illegal dwelling. After the first slam, the walls crumbled and the three pigs came storming out, face to face with the mangy wolf. Then . . .
In the story of “The Three Little Pigs”, find the following items:
1. Find a word to fit each different syllable patterns:
a. closed/ v-c-e
b. closed/ cle
c. open/ cle
d. open/ v-c-e
e. closed/ closed
f. closed/ r controlled
g. r controlled
h. v-c-e
i. r controlled/ v-c-e
j. open/ r controlled
2. Find 4 soft c words.
3. Find 4 soft g words.
4. Find a word for each of the 3 sounds of –ed.
5. Find a word with both a beginning and ending blend.
6. Find 2 of the 3 “oh u little devil” words.
7. Find one compound word.
8. Find 5 words containing different consonant digraphs.
9. Find 2 words each with a different trigraph.
10. Find a word with each of the short vowels.
11. Find a word with each of the long vowels.
12. Find 2 different prefixes meaning not and write the words they are in.
13. Find an r controlled exception.
14. Find 2 words with different spelling of /shun/.
15. Find 4 words that fit the FSLZ rule, one for each letter.
16. Find 4 words that are closed syllable exceptions (kind old words).
17. Find words with 5 different r controlled vowels.
18. Find words with 5 different suffixes.
19. Find a pair of homonyms.
20. Find 5 synonyms for house.
21. Find words containing the welded sounds an, am, ing, ong, all, alk.
22. Find 3 words where a makes the schwa sound in an unstressed syllable.
23. Finish the story.
Okay, I'll do the first one for you. There are six syllable types and knowing them tells the student how the vowel will sound. This student has had five and will learn the double vowel syllable in the next book. Here are some possible answers for #1: a) inside, b) little, c) table, d) evite, e) piglet, f) exert, g) short, h) flute, i) porcine, j) Homer.
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