PRIMARY SPELLING & PHONICS • GRADE 2–3 POETRY • ONOMATOPOEIA • CONTRACTIONS STUDENT WORKSHEET • PAGE 1 OF 2

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Classic Moral Poetry • The Conscience Clock Lyric

“‘Tick, tock! tick, tock!’ / Strikes the great hall clock: / ‘It's time to work! It's time to play! / Make good use of every day!’”

Wheeler's Linguistic Focus: 1. Onomatopoeia: Words that echo sounds in nature (tick, tock). 2. Contractions: It's (short for It is) and That's (short for That is).

Poetic Recitation Copywork • 26px Standard Track

Copy the clock stanza neatly, observing all punctuation and quotation marks:

“Tick, tock! tick, tock!” strikes the great hall clock:

“It's time to work! It's time to play! Make good use of every day!”

Contraction Studio • Full Words → Apostrophe Contractions

Form the contractions on the 26px line:

it is → it's that is → that's there is → there's

clock's face (possessive) vs. it's time (contraction = it is)

Onomatopoeia & Sound Word Exploration

Write two sound words matching each object:

Clock: tick, tock Duck: quack, quack Bell: ding, dong

Wheeler's Orthoepic Rules • Contractions & Sound Words

1. 1. The Contraction Apostrophe: An apostrophe in a contraction marks where letters were omitted: it's = it is (the letter i is dropped).

2. 2. Contrast It's vs. Its: It's with an apostrophe always means it is. The possessive pronoun its (as in the clock and its hands) never has an apostrophe!

3. 3. Onomatopoeic Reduplication: English frequently forms sound words by pairing a high-front vowel (/ɪ/) with a low-back vowel (/ɒ/): tick-tock, ding-dong, ping-pong.