Making Sense of English Spelling: 23 Mini-Lessons

Understand the “why” behind English spelling, so you can teach it with confidence.

Most of us were never taught how English spelling actually works. This resource fills that gap: 23 practical mini-lessons that uncover the logic underneath English spelling, written by a teacher, for teachers.

Is this for you?

• Your students ask “why is it spelled like that?” and you’re not always sure how to answer.
• Your spelling program tells you what to teach, but not why English spelling works the way it does.
• The curriculum expects you to teach morphology, but your teaching degree never covered it.
• You have capable students whose spelling doesn’t reflect how clever they are.

If any of those sound familiar, this resource was written for you. No linguistics background needed.

What’s inside

• 23 mini-lessons (300+ pages) that build understanding step by step
• A Check for Understanding task after every mini-lesson, with answers included
• A Terminology Glossary and a Conventions Quick Reference
• A print-ready PDF for handouts, plus a fully editable PowerPoint so you can adjust colours, text or layout and project lessons on screen

The 23 mini-lessons

1. Words: How They’re Built
2. Orthography: How English Spelling Works
3. Combining Morphemes: When Spelling Stays the Same
4. The English Alphabet: Vowels and Consonants
5. Knowing and Noticing: Before Adding a Suffix
6. Word Sums: A Closer Look at How Words Combine
7. Word Matrices: The Bigger Family Picture
8. Word Building: Understanding the Stem
9. Syllables, Part One: Spoken Language vs. Written Language
10. Syllables, Part Two: What We Need to Know
11. Schwa: The Unstressed Vowel
12. Combining Morphemes: What Happens to the Spelling?
13. Suffixing Convention 1(a): Doubling for Monosyllables
14. Suffixing Convention 1(b): Doubling for Polysyllables
15. Suffixing Convention 2: Replace Silent Final <e>
16. Suffixing Convention 3: Change <y> to <i>
17. Jobs of Silent Final <e>: Why It Appears in Words
18. Alternate Bases: Same Origin, Same Denotation, Different Spellings
19. Assimilated Prefixes: When Prefix Spellings Change
20. Connecting Vowel Letters: Linking Morphemes in Word Building
21. Content vs. Function Words: Understanding Their Different Roles
22. Orthographic Conventions and Patterns: The Conventions That Guide Spelling
23. When Spelling Doesn’t Look the Way We Expect: Finding the Explanation

Try before you buy

Not sure if it’s right for you? Download a free 37-page sample with selected pages from the full resource, including complete mini-lessons and Check for Understanding tasks with answers.

Works with what you already teach

You don’t need to change your program. Making Sense of English Spelling sits alongside UFLI, Sounds-Write, InitiaLit or your own scope and sequence, filling in the “why” behind whatever you’re already teaching. Pull out mini-lesson 15 the moment a student writes hopeing, or mini-lesson 19 when someone asks why illegal has a double <l>. Follow the sequence, or jump to whatever answers the question in front of you.

Curriculum connections

These mini-lessons build the morphological and orthographic knowledge referenced throughout the Australian Curriculum and the NSW English K–10 Syllabus. Teaching somewhere else? It’s the same English spelling system, wherever you are.

Who it’s for

Classroom teachers, tutors, homeschooling parents, speech pathologists and anyone curious about how English spelling works.

Licences

This purchase is for one teacher. Your download includes the PDF and the editable PowerPoint, yours to keep.

Buying for your school? Choose a School Licence (up to 10 teachers, $295) or a Whole School Licence (unlimited teachers, $495).

For the love of words,