1. Spelling for Older Students
SOS
Lesson 14 U u
Created for SPELD SA by Jan Polkinghorne

2. Sounds in a word A-c-r-oe-b-a-t 7 k-oe-ar-l-u 5 s-u-n-s-e-t 6
Say the names of these pictures. Use your fingers to count how many sounds in each word. NOTE that is sounds not letters.
Click for answers
A-c-r-oe-b-a-t k-oe-ar-l-u s-u-n-s-e-t 6

3. Find words to rhyme with these.
bell
fell
cell
smell
tell
hell
gel
quell
sell
well
yell
ball
fall
call
small
tall
crawl
hall
mall
wall
test
best
rest
zest
pest
messed
crest

4. What is the same about the pictures in each box. Say the words aloud
What is the same about the pictures in each box. Say the words aloud. Can you compare the sounds which are common for each box.?
Click the box for the answer.
Those in yellow box shave a long ue sound: ute, glue, flute, barbeque, tube.
Blue box have a short vowel u sound: underwater, up, udder, unhappy, umpire, umbrella.

5. Sort all of your bottle top letters into vowels and consonants.
U = is a vowel
The letter “U” has three different sounds.
“U” has two long-vowel sounds
1 is the same as the name of the letter “U”. Long-vowels usually have two parts, but long-u can have three parts (yuw) as in:- use / music / huge / cute / unite / cure / menu / fuel / human / argue.
2 Long-U sound with only two parts (uw). Some words with this sound are: true / flute / blue / June / spruce / tune / rule.
Short-u
Short-u is pronounced in the centre (not front, not back) middle (not high, not low) part of the mouth, with a relaxed tongue:- up / just / but / much / under / us / run / study / number.
Schwa
The schwa sound and short-u are made in the same place in the mouth, they end up sounding the same.
A small group of words with a “U” pronounce as Short-oo: sugar / put / push / puss / pull / full / bull / cushion.
There are two words with a very unusual pronunciation, “busy” and “business” where the “U” has a Short-i sound!
Mostly when you see the letter “U” in a word, it will almost always have tone of the long ue sounds or short-u (Schwa).
Sort all of your bottle top letters into vowels and consonants.
We need to know whether a letter is a vowel or consonant to help us apply spelling rules.

6. Doubling Rule- the most common rule in English.
Why do we often see double letters in the middle of words.? We have been learning about vowels and consonants . Now we find out why. Vowels interact with each other. If they are only separated by one consonant the second vowel makes the first say its long vowel name. tune rule tuning If we double the consonant it stops this from happening. How would we say these words slug, tuned, tuning?

7. How to write the letter ‘U u’
Linked script is far better to write than printing. It is faster, easier, more comfortable to write for long periods and your brain learns the words better if they are linked.
U u under 1 3 2
Many people find it faster to make a loop from the tail of the g to the next letter thus keeping the pen on the paper. The aim for older students is to have them writing, quickly and legibly in link script rather than accurate letter formation.

8. gun,ute, sunset, flute, under dust, music, hugging, rust, fund.
u is mostly found at the beginning and middle of words.
Put u in each space and say what the word is.
g-n
-te
s-nset
fl-te
-nder
d-st
m-sic
h- gging
r-st
f-nd
gun,ute, sunset, flute, under
dust, music, hugging, rust, fund.
Click the box for the answer.

9. Apply your knowledge using What makes u say its long sound?
U and I only separated by 1 consonant.
using What makes u say its long sound?
rusting What keeps the u short?
hugged Why is the g doubled?
number Why is u short?
U and I separated by 2 consonants.
To keep u a short vowel.
U and e separated by 2 consonants.
Click after discussing each to check your answers.

10. Use your ears and listen carefully.
Complete the requirements for the next screen before proceeding. See Instructions.
Use your ears and listen carefully.

11. BEWARE. Use your ears and listen carefully
BEWARE! Use your ears and listen carefully. We are only looking for short vowel u sounds.
Uncle Bud often comes to visit his niece and nephew, Anna and Ulric. Today, he has brought them each a big umbrella. Anna’s umbrella is spotty, and Ulric’s umbrella has red and white stripes. Later, the family goes out for a walk. Although it is a sunny day, Anna and Ulric insist on bringing their umbrellas. Everyone laughs, except Uncle Bud. “I’ll take my umbrella, too,” he says. They set off for their walk in the sunshine. After a while, they notice there are big black clouds on the horizon. A little while later, they feel the first raindrops starting to fall. Soon it is pouring with rain! Uncle Bud, Anna and Ulric put up their umbrellas, shouting, “u, u, up umbrellas!” They are the ones laughing now! They have a lovely time, splashing in the puddles and dancing under their umbrellas.
Schwa ‘u’ the grunt vowel is marked with green. There may also be other schwa sounds students notice such as on the end of later.

12. How many words can you make using these letters
How many words can you make using these letters? g, s, t, n, p, u, e, i, ck You may use a letter as many times as you like in a word. What is the longest word you can make?
You might be able to apply the doubling rule if you think of longer words.

13. Tricky Words – non phonetic
Click to reveal the word
Click to reveal the word
Click to reveal the word
you
one
like
Click to reveal the word
Click to reveal the word
are
some

14. Tricky Word Revision . Click and say the words as they appear.
Download revision lesson 13.
Click and say the words as they appear.

15. Instructions.
Slide 2 counting sounds in a word. The answer is frequently not the same as the number of letters in the word.
Slide 3 Finding rhyming words.
Slide 4 Hearing common sound u and ue. Differentiating between short vowel u and long vowel ue.
Slide 5– knowing vowels and consonants is vital for learning spelling rules. Multisensory learning (feeling the formation of a sound) is useful for many students. Long vowel ue is difficult because it has two sounds.
Slide 6 – Doubling rule. The most common rule applied in English. If two vowels are separated by only a single consonant, the second vowel usually makes the first say its long vowel name. This rule is important for both reading and writing. It tells us when to double when writing and how to pronounce when reading.
Slide 7–writing u and ue and linking. Handwriting I have used Sego Script because it is freely available on most computers . Research is now showing that linked script is more ergonomic and helps with retention of spelling. Many prospective employers are expecting job applications to be handwritten and many exams have to be handwritten. It is still a necessary skill.
Slide 8- writing u in the space and working out what the words are. Some words may be tricky words they have already learnt.
Slide 9- students need to be encouraged to apply their growing knowledge of how our language works. Ask the questions. Examine the answers. Can they think of other words applying the same rules?
Slide 10 ,11. Read the story for u aloud. Ask each student to keep a tally of how many ‘u’ sounds they hear in the story. Compare results. They need to use ears not eyes. Emphasise we are listening for short u not long ue. Discuss the fact that schwa sounds like short u.
Hand each student a copy of the story. Read it aloud again and have students mark each ‘u’ sound as they go. Remember not every letter u will sound like u.
Slide 12 Students are asked to build words ( use bottle top letters) – it is more fun and easier to correct if it is not a word. A letter sound can be repeated as many times as they like in a word. Encourage multi syllable words. Don’t worry if they do not double consonants we will learn this later. Encourage them to try to apply the doubling rule.
Slide 13 and 14 Tricky words. These words are high frequency, often non phonetic and have to be learnt by rote for both spelling and reading. Spell with alphabet names.