Silent letters: gh, sw, wr, wh

General

Practice silent-letter words with your students to help them improve their spelling. This lesson is interactive and gives students plenty of opportunities to practice while getting them up on the board. Learn about different silent letter rules and practice identifying the often silent W.

Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3e

Learning objective

Students will be able to identify words with silent letters and pronounce/spell them correctly.

Introduction

Explain that some words have silent letters, which means that, although we cannot hear the letter, it is in the spelling. Learning about these silent letters and silent letter rules can help students spell and sound out words. Students practice by dragging an X over silent letters in words like “light,” “wring,” and “sword.”

Instruction

Students learn several rules for silent letters beginning with how “gh” is silent after vowels, like in the word “might.” Students also learn that the first “W” of a word is silent before the letter r, like in “wrap.” They practice sorting words into three categories, “Silent W before H,” “Silent W before R,” and “Silent gh after a vowel.” Images are also used to help students think of words with silent letters.

Quiz

Students respond to 10 multiple-choice and fill-in questions. In these questions, students will choose which words have a silent letter and sort words into groups. For example, the word “wrote” belongs with “wrench,” “wrath,” and “wriggle.”

Closing

At the end of the lesson, students try to beat a timer to drag/sort 10 words into two categories, “words with silent letters” and “words without silent letters.”

About Gynzy

Gynzy is an online teaching platform for interactive whiteboards and displays in schools.

With a focus on elementary education, Gynzy’s Whiteboard, digital tools, and activities make it easy for teachers to save time building lessons, increase student engagement, and make classroom management more efficient.