BOOK 1 • WHEELER'S SPELLER
PRIMARY PHONICS CURRICULUM • LESSON 57
STUDENT PRACTICE WORKSHEET
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LESSON 57 • LITERATURE & VOWEL DIGRAPH
āy
(/eɪ/) • BAILEY & FIELD POEMS
Original Page 34 • Wheeler's Speller
“The pussy willows in their play
Their little caps have flung away,
And hung their furs on every spray.”
“The brook, it ran its own sweet way,
As a child doth run in heedless play.”
1
Copy the lines from both poems carefully on the handwriting lines:
William Whitman Bailey Verses (3 Lines)
Eugene Field Verses (2 Lines)
2
Find and copy all four words from the verses in which
āy
spells long ā (/eɪ/):
pl
ā
y
Hear
aw
ā
y
Hear
spr
ā
y
Hear
w
ā
y
Hear
3
Orthographic Discovery & Composition: Answer each question, then write one sentence:
1. Which word begins with a 3-letter consonant cluster (spr-)?
2. What compound base word is found inside
away
?
Creative Sentence: Write one sentence about the brook or the willows using an
-ay
word:
📖 RULES TO REMEMBER • LESSON 57
Rule 1 • Terminal
āy
The digraph
ay
spells long
ā
(/eɪ/) at the end of syllables and words (
play, away, spray, way
).
Rule 2 • Rhyme in Poetry
Poets use the
-ay
family to create melodic rhyme schemes (
play, away, spray
in Bailey's poem;
way, play
in Field's poem).
Rule 3 • Careful Observation
Notice spelling variations:
their
has
eir
, while
pussy willows
has double
ss
and double
ll
.