Teacher Master Key • Lesson 121
Sound of ou in out (= ow /aʊ/) • Homophone Clinic: our / hour • Page 66
INSTRUCTOR REFERENCE KEY
1 Complete Orthoepic & Morphological Matrix (Lesson 121 Vocabulary)
14 Target Words • Diphthong /aʊ/
Word IPA Phonics Pattern Grammar Phonetic & Etymological Notes
out / shout / stout /aʊt/, /ʃaʊt/, /staʊt/ -out family Adv. / Verb / Adj. OE ūt, ME schouten, OF estout. Voiceless dental stop /t/ coda.
sound / round / found /saʊnd/, /raʊnd/, /faʊnd/ -ound family Noun / Adj. / Verb OF son (excrescent -d), OF roond, OE fundon. Nasal + stop cluster.
loud / cloud / proud /laʊd/, /klaʊd/, /praʊd/ -oud family Adj. / Noun / Adj. OE hlūd, clūd (rock/hill mass), prūd. Voiced alveolar stop /d/ coda.
our / sour / flour /aʊər/, /saʊər/, /flaʊər/ -our family Pronoun / Adj. / Noun OE ūre, sūr, OF fleur (finest part of meal). Triphthongal glide /aʊ.ər/.
hour /aʊər/ silent h + -our Noun OF heure, Latin hora. Initial h is entirely silent in English!
1. Digraph OU vs. OW Distribution
• The General Rule: Both ou and ow spell the diphthong /aʊ/. Digraph ou is the primary internal spelling before consonants (sound, cloud, out).
• When OW is Used Instead: English avoids terminal u; therefore, final positions require ow (how, brow, plow), as do combinations before final -n, -l, -d (town, down, brown, crowd, howl).
2. The our / hour Homophone Clinic
• Identical Sound: Both our and hour are pronounced /aʊər/.
• Semantic Discrimination: Our is possessive (“our home”); hour measures 60 minutes of time.
• Proverb Analysis: “The darkest hour is the hour before the dawning”—an inspiring idiom reminding children that hope returns after trial.
3 Oral Dictation Sentences (Administer in Class)
Contextual Application • Exact Decodability
1. The shepherd boy gave a loud shout across the green hill.
2. We found a sweet round apple upon our garden path.
3. A dark cloud covered the sky for nearly an hour.
4. The baker took fine white flour to make bread for the proud king.
5. We hear the joyful sound of sweet music all around us.
4 Homophone Discrimination: our vs. hour and flour vs. flower
Etymological Precision
our vs. hour (/aʊər/):
• our: Possessive pronoun (our teacher, our country).
• hour: 60 minutes of time (silent h from OF heure).
flour vs. flower (/flaʊər/):
• flour: Milled grain for baking bread.
• flower: The blossom of a plant.
Historically identical word ('flower of the wheat').
Rhyme Families (/aʊnd/ & /aʊd/):
• sound, round, found, ground, bound
• loud, proud, cloud
• out, shout, stout, trout
5 Morphological Word Building: Base Words with -ly, -ness, and -ful
Vocabulary Expansion
loud → loudly / loudness:
• Adverb: loudly (with great volume)
• Abstract Noun: loudness (intensity of sound)
proud → proudly / pride:
• Adverb: proudly (in a proud manner)
• Root Cognate: pride (feeling of honor)
round → roundly / surround:
• Adverb: roundly (thoroughly, plainly)
• Verb: surround (enclose on all sides)
Evaluative Scoring Rubric (20 Points Total) Mastery Assessment
• 1. Digraph OU Spelling Accuracy (6 pts): Correctly spells target words containing ou (/aʊ/) across all 4 rhyming families.
• 2. Homophone Discrimination (5 pts): Correctly distinguishes between our and hour in the proverbial sentence completion.
• 3. Sherman Couplet Precision (5 pts): Transcribes the 2-line lyric with 100% orthographic precision and proper punctuation.
• 4. 26px Penmanship Standard (4 pts): Letters aligned to 26px baseline, ascenders and descenders properly formed, midline touches at 13px.
Socratic Discussion Prompts Classroom Administration
1. Homophone Inquiry: “Say 'our' and 'hour'. Do they sound the same? How do their spellings tell us what each word means?”
2. Silent Letter Study: “Why do we write the letter 'h' in 'hour' if we do not pronounce it?”
3. Poetic Listening: “In Frank Dempster Sherman's lines, what two words rhyme? What is the music that floats all around?”
4. Proverb Meaning: “What does it mean that 'the darkest hour is before the dawning'? How does that give us courage?”