AUDIO COMPANION: Lessons 103 & 104

Wheeler's Elementary Speller • Lessons 103 & 104

The Sound of ʘ in Monosyllables & Disyllables • Page 57
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LESSONS 103 & 104: THE SOUND OF ʘ (AS IN HER & EARN)
24 Target Words • Tilde Diacritic • Suffix -er
1 Lesson 103 — Stressed Monosyllables: Copy each word carefully, place the tilde (~) over e, and write neatly.
12 Words • Stressed /ɜːr/
fẽrn n.
vẽrb n.
clẽrk n.
vẽrse n.
nẽrve n.
sẽrve v.
wẽre v.
tẽrm n.
stẽrn adj.
ẽarn v.
ẽarth n.
lẽarn v.
2 Lesson 104 — Disyllables with -er: Sound the unstressed final syllable (/ər/), mark ê˜, and write.
12 Words • Unstressed /ər/
toil·ẽr n.
call·ẽr n.
work·ẽr n.
ev·ẽr adv.
nev·ẽr adv.
prop·ẽr adj.
hov·ẽr v.
cov·ẽr v./n.
spell·ẽr n.
oth·ẽr pron./adj.
moth·ẽr n.
broth·ẽr n.
3 Orthographic Detective: Explore the tilde diacritic, the “ear” phonogram, and agentive suffix -er.
Phonics • Morphology
The Tilde Diacritic (ê˜)
The wave mark (tilde) shows e modified by r (/ɜːr/).
Neither short ĕ (bed) nor long ē (be). The letter r curls the vowel into the sound heard in her.
Digraph Team: ea = ê˜
In earn, earth, and learn:
The team ea + r takes the exact same sound as er in her. Silent letter combinations require careful visual memory!
Agentive Suffix: -er
Turns an action verb into the person who performs it:
toil → toiler, call → caller, work → worker, spell → speller. Notice how the base word stays intact!
4 Sentence Synthesis & Dictation: Write sentences combining words from both lessons in your best penmanship.
Applied Writing • 26px Standard
Prompt: Combine at least one word from Lesson 103 (e.g. earth, learn, verse) and one from Lesson 104 (e.g. mother, worker, speller). 6 Penmanship Lines
Wheeler's Elementary Speller (1901) • Lessons 103 & 104 • The Sound of Ẽ in Stressed & Unstressed Syllables
Standard 26px Handwriting • Page 1 of 1 (Student Practice)