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

Target Word	Diacritic Marking	Rime & Rhyme Partner	Pedagogical Note
floss	flôss • /flɔːs/	-oss rime • moss, cross, loss	Double -ss follows short and broad vowels
moss	môss • /mɔːs/	-oss rime • Old English mos	Soft cushion plant used in nest building
song	sông • /sɔː cb;/	-ong rime • long, strong, belong	Velar nasal -ng conditioning broad ô
across	a-crôss • /ə-krɔːs/	-oss rime • Prefix a- + base cross	Unaccented initial prefix a- = schwa

Complete Answer Key & Solutions WHEELER'S EXERCISES

Exercise 1 (Transcription): 6 lines copied accurately with indentation for couplets.

Exercise 2 (Broad Ô Detective Words):
1. flôss (downy plant silk)
2. môss (green forest growth)
3. sông (bird melody)
4. acrôss (over the meadow)

Exercise 3 (Rhyme Studio):
• hay: day, lay, say, gray, play.
• told: cold, gold, hold, bold, sold.
• song: long, strong, wrong, prong.
• flax: tax, wax, ax, tracks.
• how: now, cow, bow, plow.
• me: see, tree, free, bee.

Socratic Guiding Prompts & Pedagogical Insights INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

What materials does Robin Redbreast use to build a warm and sturdy nest?
Look at 'floss' and 'moss'. What two letters at the end make the 's' sound so crisp?
Can you think of two words that rhyme with 'told' and share the exact same spelling pattern?

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

1. The robin lined her little nest with soft yellow hay and green velvet moss.

2. Robin Redbreast sang a cheerful song high up in the blossoming apple bough.

3. The gentle spring breeze blew bits of white milkweed floss across the garden.

4. Grandfather told us a wonderful story about how birds weave their summer nests.