Recognize and read irregularly spelled words

General

Students learn to recognize and read irregularly spelled words.

Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.3g
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3f

Learning objective

Students will be able to recognize and read irregularly spelled words.

Introduction

Remind students of the strategy of sounding out each letter in a word like in 'b-e-d'. With these words, you hear each letter's sound. Then tell students that some words cannot be sounded out but must be memorized.

Instruction

Discuss with students that irregularly spelled words must be memorized because you cannot sound out each letter in a word. Introduce different sight words with irregular spelling. Go through three ways of learning irregularly spelled words with students. The first is to read them aloud, the second is to spell the word while looking at it, and then to practice spelling the word that you hear. Remind students that by memorizing these irregularly spelled words you become a better reader. In the next set of slides, a selection of irregularly spelled words are given. Students are asked to identify the words by circling them in the box and then to place them correctly in a given sentence. This is repeated with three sets of words. Review the words given and remind students that the reason they are memorizing these words is that they cannot sound out the word by saying each of the letter's sounds.

Quiz

Students are asked to listen to a word and then select which word was said. They are then given a sentence and are asked to fill in the blank with one of the given words.

Closing

Remind students that by memorizing these irregularly spelled words, they become better readers, since they cannot sound out these words. Close by playing a game. Spin the dial and have students write a sentence on a sheet of paper. They can then share their sentences with their neighbor/group or the class. You can challenge the class to write on a given topic (hobbies, food) or in answer to a specific prompt (Who can write the silliest sentence using the word _?).

Teaching tips

Students who have difficulty memorizing the words can be encouraged to make flashcards of the irregularly spelled words or to write sentences with the words to help enter the words into their lexicon.