TEACHER MASTER KEY & PEDAGOGICAL GUIDE WHEELER'S SPELLER • LESSON 59 (PAGE 35) OFFICIAL INSTRUCTOR GUIDE
LESSON 59 CURRICULUM BLUEPRINT • DIGRAPH ēa (/iː/)
20 Target Words • Phonograms: -ear, -eat, -each, -eam, -eap, -east • Consonant Blends
20 Target Words
Complete Orthographic & Phonetic Matrix Wheeler's Speller p. 35
Category Target Words & IPA Phonological & Morphological Rule
-ear Family (/ɪ∂r/) ear /ɪər/ hear /hɪər/ dear /dɪər/
fear /fɪər/ year /jɪər/ clear /klɪər/ 		R-controlled long vowel where digraph ea blends with liquid /r/. Notice initial cluster /kl-/ in clear.
-each & -eam Families each /iːtʃ/ beach /biːtʃ/ peach /piːtʃ/
beam /biːm/ dream /driːm/ stream /striːm/ 		Tense high front vowel /iː/ closed by affricate /tʃ/ (digraph ch) or bilabial nasal /m/. Notice 3-letter cluster in stream.
-eat, -eap, -east, -eaf seat /siːt/ neat /niːt/ wheat /wiːt/
leap /liːp/ leaf /liːf/ clean /kliːn/
feast /fiːst/ east /iːst/ 		Single consonant stops (/t, p/) and fricatives (/f, st/) following long ē. Note consonant cluster in feast (/st/).
Socratic Phonics Dialogue
Q: "Look at the words hear and here. How do we know which one has the ea digraph?"
Child: "You hear with your ear! Both hear and ear have E-A-R!"
Teacher Principle: Teach mnemonic orthography: you hear with your ear, so hear contains ear!
Homophone Alert
Watch for high-frequency homophone confusion:
• hear (listen with ear) vs. here (in this place)
• dear (beloved / expensive) vs. deer (forest animal)
• beach (sandy shore) vs. beech (hardwood tree)
• peach (sweet fruit) vs. peep (tiny bird chirp)
Exercise Master Answer Keys
Exercise 1 (Word Copying):
All 20 words copied cleanly with proper baseline alignment and ascenders/descenders.
Exercise 2 (Rhyme Family Sorting):
• -ear: ear, hear, dear, fear, year, clear.
• -each / -eam: each, beach, peach, beam, dream, stream.
Exercise 3 (Sentence Writing Samples):
1. We walked along the sandy beach to hear the clear ocean stream.
2. A sweet ripe peach fell from the branch near my seat.
3. The children had a happy dream about a joyous summer feast.
Graded Dictation Sentences (Oral Administration)
1. The clear mountain stream flowed quietly toward the east.
2. We could hear the song of a dear little bird from our seat.
3. A ripe peach dropped from the green leaf upon the clean grass.
4. Children love to play on the warm sandy beach in summer.
Wheeler's Elementary Speller • Lesson 59 Instructor Master Guide Vowel Digraph ēa • 20 Target Words • Word Families (Page 35) Page 2 of 2 (Master Key)