Lessons 70 & 71 - Teacher Master Key

PRIMARY SPELLING & PHONICS • CURRICULUM ARCHITECTURE TEACHER MASTER KEY INSTRUCTOR REFERENCE • PAGE 2 OF 2

Curriculum Domain	Linguistic Concept	Target Words & Excerpts	Instructional Focus
Contractions in Context	Elision of unstressed auxiliary vowels & consonants	There's, He's, world's, Don't, I'm	Apostrophe marks omitted phonemes
The 1-1-1 Doubling Rule	Morphological suffixation: short vowel protection before -ing	sitting, running vs. singing	CVC doubling vs. CC base preservation
Homophone Pairs	Phonological identity with distinct orthography & semantics	I / eye (/aɪ/), right / write (/raɪt/)	Syntactic role determines orthography

Complete Answer Key & Orthographic Solutions WHEELER'S PAGE 40 EXERCISES

Ex. 1: Contractions from Lucy Larcom's Poem

1. There’s → There is
2. He’s → He is
3. world’s → world is (“the world [is] running over with joy”)
4. Don’t → Do not
5. I’m → I am

Ex. 2: The Doubling Rule Explanation

• sitting: Root sit has 1 syllable, 1 short vowel /ɪ/, and 1 consonant t. The consonant doubles to preserve the short vowel (otherwise *siting would have long /aɪ/).
• running: Root run has 1 short vowel /ʌ/ and 1 consonant n → double n to keep /ʌ/.
• singing: Root sing already ends in two consonants (-ng). The vowel is already protected, so no doubling is needed.

Ex. 3: Homophone Gap-Fill Solutions (Lesson 71)

1. “I am old, so old I can write a letter.”
  – I: 1st person singular nominative pronoun.
  – write: verb meaning to compose with pen/pencil.

2. “Each day and every day, / Do what is right.”
  – right: adjective/noun meaning just, moral, or correct.

3. “The sun wakes up, and his round eye / Stares and stares at the big round sky.”
  – eye: organ of sight (poetic personification of the sun).

Socratic Guiding Prompts & Teaching Techniques CLASSROOM DIALOGUE

Unlocking the Doubling Secret: Ask the child: "Tap out the sounds in 'sit'. How many vowels? (One!). How many consonants at the end? (One!). If we didn't add a second 't', what would it look like? (siting). What word would that be? (sighting / siting). So the second consonant is like a bodyguard protecting our short vowel sound!"
The 'Two Consonant' Test: Ask: "Look at 'sing'. Does it end in one consonant or two? (Two: n and g). Does a castle with two guards need another guard? (No!). So we just add -ing: singing!"
Contextualizing Homophones: Say aloud: "Close your eyes and point to your eye. Now spell the letter of yourself (I) and the eye on your face (e-y-e)." Repeat with right and write.

Dictation & Oral Application Sentences (Read slowly at normal speaking pace):

1. “There’s a little robin sitting upon the garden gate.”

2. “I’m sure he’s singing a sweet song because the sun is shining.”

3. “The boys were running across the grass to see what was right.”

4. “Keep your eye on the paper when you write your name.”