Level 3 spelling rules

Floss: if a word has only 1 vowel, and ends with F, L, S, or Z, double it. (this is why it’s called
the floss rule, for the f, l and s. Also, a 1 vowel word has one syllable, so emphasize that
Floss is used in one syllable words)

Kiss the Cat: spell /k/ with a C whenever you can.

Milk Truck: the only time you use C-K is right after a short vowel.
(short vowels are a as in apple, e as in Elia, i as in itchy, o as in olive and u as in upper.
Long vowels (which are introduced in level 4) say their name for A, E, I, and O. U says “oo”
or “ee-oo.” I like to go over the short and long vowels at the same time.)

Catch Lunch: the only time you use T-C-H is right after a short vowel.

Units: 3 letters at the end that make an unusual sound.

The units are: all, oll as in toll, ind (kind), ild (child), old, olt, ost (host), ing, ink, ang, ank, ung,
unk.

Contractions:
• Change the second word
• Leave out the first vowel and anything in front of it
• Put in an apostrophe or “flying comma”
• Squish

Level 4 Spelling Rules Only

Reminders for Tutors
Cry Baby: American (or Canadian - just words that don’t come from another language)
words can’t end in an I. SO - words like “cry” aren’t spelled “cri” but are instead spelled with
a Y at the end. The “baby” part of this rule is that if you hear “ee” at the end of multi syllable
words it’s also spelled with a Y.

Music Trick: /ick/ at the end of a multi-syllable word is always I-C. (But at the end of a one
syllable word, it’s I-C-K.)

Picnic Chicken Basket: use this sequence; stop at the first one that works
1. C - spell /k/ with a C whenever you can
2. CK - the only time you use C-K is right after a short vowel
3. If these don’t work try K

Happy: short vowels must be closed

If you can’t hear anything closing it off,
double the next sound you can hear. (so happy isn’t spelled hapy, it’s spelled happy, and
divided as hap - py)

Syllable division - this is the barton system’s way of teaching reading two-syllable words.
1. Put each vowel in its own syllable
 2. Deal with consonants - if there’s only one consonant, move it to the right, if that
doesn’t work, move it to the left. Two consonants usually split up, one to each
syllable - unless the second consonant of two is R or L, then both consonants move
to the right.
So baby becomes ba - by
Happy becomes hap - py
And secret becomes se - cret (this is why it’s pronounced see-cret, not seck-ret)
3. After you’ve read each syllable, blend the two together into one word

Almost All: all only needs 2 L’s when it’s at the end of a word...or on its own as ‘all.’ In other
words where this isn’t true, it has 1 L like ‘almost’

Campus Confess: if the last syllable lasts the longest, double the S - this is about syllable
stress. So campus sounds like CAM-pus, but confess sounds like con-FESS. The
stronger/stressed syllable lasts the longest.

Elia hasn’t learned the other rules in level 4 yet...just stick to these ones.