Lesson 108 Student Worksheet - Wheeler's Elementary Speller

1 Memory Study: Read the stanza carefully. Place the tilde (~) over each i with the sound of sir (/ɜːr/).

Textbook Page 60 • Autumn Lyric

Autumn Song Textbook Page 60

“Oh, where are you going, my dear little bĩrd?
And why do you hurry away?
Not a leaf on the pretty red maple has stĩrred,
In the sweet golden sunshine to-day.”

— MARGARET E. SANGSTER.

1. Acoustic Rhyme Pair:

• bĩrd ↔ stĩrred
Both end in the r-colored phonogram sound /-ɜːrd/ (rhymes with third).

2. Vowel Team Rhyme Pair:

• away ↔ to-day
Both share the long a digraph phonogram -ay (/eɪ/).

3. Short “i” Contrast:

• little (/ˈlɪtəl/) and In (/ɪn/) have short ĭ, NOT the r-colored ĩ sound!

2 Orthographic Clinic: Master the spelling rules hidden within Sangster's verse.

Spelling Rules in Context

stir → stirred 1-1-1 Doubling Rule

Rule: The base verb stir has 1 syllable, 1 short vowel (i), and ends in 1 consonant (r). Double the r before vowel suffix -ed: stir → stirred.

sunshine • to-day Compound & Hyphen

Structure: sun-shine is a compound noun (sun + shine). In 1901 Victorian spellers, to-day was written with a hyphen to show the prepositional prefix to- + day.

3 Write from Memory: Recite Sangster's stanza aloud, then write each line from memory in your best handwriting.

26px Standard Lines • 13px Midline

Line 1: “Oh, where are you going, my dear little bird?” Place tilde over bĩrd

Line 2: “And why do you hurry away?” Notice question mark (?)

Line 3: “Not a leaf on the pretty red maple has stirred,” Place tilde over stĩrred (double r)

Line 4: “In the sweet golden sunshine to-day.” Hyphenated to-day

Lines 5–6: Socratic Reflection: Why is the little bird hurrying away if the sunshine is still golden? Autumn Migration

Wheeler's Elementary Speller • Lesson 108