Grade levels show the expectations for each grade. Instruction is based upon a student’s ability, not their grade level.
| Grade/Stage | Spelling Components |
| Grade 1 | |
| Beginning Grade 1 Letter Name – Alphabetic Stage | Initial consonants |
| Final consonants | |
| Middle Grade 1 Letter Name – Alphabetic Stage | Short vowels |
| Initial and final consonant digraphs in short vowel words ( sh, ch, th, -ch, -sh) | |
| Late Grade 1 Letter Name – Alphabetic Stage | Initial consonant blends in short vowel words (sl, st, dr, bl, fr, cr, tr) |
| Grade 2 | |
| Beginning Grade 2 Letter Name – Alphabetic Stage
|
Final consonant blends in short vowel words (-st , -nt, -mp, -nd, -ng, -nk) |
| Regular short vowel patterns with double consonant endings (ss, ff, ll, ck) | |
| Beginning Grade 2 Within Word Stage | Common long vowel patterns – CVCe (make, hope, kite, cube) |
| Middle Grade 2 Within Word Stage | Common and less common long vowel patterns • Long a (pail, may)
• Long i (fly, child, tie, tight) • Long o (goal, mow, fold, so) • Long u (glue, fruit) • Long e (seat, feet, he) |
| End Grade 2 Within Word Stage | R- influenced vowels • -ar, -or, -ir (far, car, jar, star for, corn, fort
bird, girl, first) |
| R- influenced vowels • -are, -air, -ear, -eer, -ire, -ier, -ore, -oar, -ure (fire, more, hair, deer, sure) | |
| Grade 3 | |
| Beginning Grade 3 Within Word Stage | Diphthongs and other ambiguous vowels (oi, oy, ou, ow, aw, au, al) |
| Complex consonants( kn, wr, gn, sh, shr, th, thr, scr, str, spr, spl, squ, hard/soft c and g, dge, ge, ch, tch, ce, se, ve, ge) | |
| Single syllable homophones (Be/bee, mail/male, ant/aunt, week/weak) | |
| Middle Grade 3 Syllables and Affixes Stage | Compound words (pancake, sidewalk) |
| Two syllable words ending with y, ey, ie (happy, dizzy, monkey) | |
| Plural endings –s and –es (books, dishes) | |
| Unusual plurals (goose/geese, knife/knives) | |
| End Grade 3 Syllables and Affixes Stage | Two syllable words, VCCV (sudden, winter, number) |
| Inflectional endings: • Sort by sound of –ed suffix (walked, wagged)
• Doubling (stopping, shopped) • e drop (skating, skated) • No change (walking, nailed) • Change final y to i and add –ed or –s (cried, plays) |
|
| Grade 4 | |
| Beginning Grade 4 Syllables and Affixes Stage | Two syllable words with ambiguous vowels • oy, oi, ou, ow (annoy, poison, about)
• au, aw, al (author, awkward) |
| R- influenced vowels in accented syllables • R- influenced a (marble, parents)
• R- influenced o (forest, explore) |
|
| Middle Grade 4 Syllables and Affixes Stage | Final unaccented syllables • -le, -el, -il, -al (able, angel, civil)
• -er, -ar, -or (barber, beggar, actor) • -cher, -ture, -sure, -ure (teacher, culture) • -en, -on, -an, -ain (frighten, apron) • /j/ sound (badger, major) |
| Two syllable homophones (pedal, petal, peddle) | |
| Special consonants • Hard and soft g and c (gutter/giant, circle/camel)
• Silent consonants (written, knuckle, rhythm) • ph and gh (dolphin, laughter) • qu (question, antique) |
|
| Late Grade 4 Syllables and Affixes Stage | Prefixes • re-, pre-, dis-, mis-, un-, ex-, non-, fore-
• number prefixes – uni-, bi- (pretest, recopy, unkind, forehead unicycle, bisect) |
| Simple suffixes that influence the meanings of words • -y (adj.), -ly, -ily (adv.) (jumpy, gladly, easily)
• -er, -est (comparative) (faster, fastest) • -ful, -ness, -less (painful, illness, penniless) |
|
| Homographs (present, present) | |
| Grade 5/6 | |
| Grade 5/6 Derivational Relations Stage | Consonant alternations • Silent and sounded (limb/limber
sign/signal) |
| Vowel alternations • Long to short (mine/mineral)
• Long to schwa /ə/ (relate/relative) • Schwa /ə / to short (mental/mentality) |
|
| Adding –ion, -ian (with and without spelling changes) (elect/election, music/musician , create/creation) | |
| Greek and Latin word study • Number prefixes (di/bi, tetra/quad)
• Common roots (photo, tele, port, dict) • Common prefixes (post-, sub-, over-) |
|
| Advanced suffix study • Accented to unaccented (familiar/familiarity,
prefer/preferred (2nd syllable accented)) • Accent and doubling (edit/editing (1st syllable accented)) • -able and –ible (breakable, terrible) |
Reference : Douglas County School District
