Grade 3 Spelling
Level 1 · Your child spells long vowel and bossy r sounds inside longer words, like mistake, sunshine, carpet and squirrel.
- Long a in Bigger Words
Practises long a spelled a_e, ai and ay inside two-syllable words, like mistake, raindrop and crayon.
a_e, ai, ay: mistake, crayon
- Long e in Bigger Words
Practises long e spelled ee, ea and e_e in two-syllable words, like sixteen, teacher and complete.
ee, ea, e_e: sixteen, teacher
- Long i and Long o
Practises long i (inside, highway) and long o (alone, oatmeal, below) spelled different ways in longer words.
i_e, igh, o_e, oa, ow: sunshine, below
- Long u and oo Sounds
Practises the long u and oo sound spelled oo, ew and u_e in longer words, like balloon, newborn and costume.
oo, ew, u_e: balloon, newborn
- Bossy R: ar and or
Practises the ar sound (carpet, artist) and the or sound (popcorn, forgot) in two-syllable words.
ar, or: carpet, popcorn
- Bossy R: er, ir, ur
Practises the er sound spelled er, ir, ur and ear, which all sound alike, as in herself, circle, curtain and curly.
er, ir, ur: thirteen, curtain
Level 2 · Your child learns spellings that depend on where a sound falls in a word: -ck or -k, -dge or -ge, -tch or -ch, -le, soft c and g, and c or k.
- Ck or K
Practises the k sound at the end of a syllable: ck right after a short vowel (jacket), k after a consonant or vowel team (trunk, cheek).
-ck after a short vowel: jacket; -k: trunk, cheek
- Dge or Ge
Practises the j sound at the end of a word: -dge right after a short vowel (fridge), -ge after a long vowel or a consonant (change, sponge).
-dge after a short vowel: fridge; -ge: change, sponge
- Tch or Ch
Practises the ch sound at the end of a syllable: -tch right after a short vowel (catch), -ch after a consonant or vowel team (branch, coach).
-tch after a short vowel: catch; -ch: branch, coach
- Words Ending in -le
Practises two-syllable words that end in -le, like table, giggle and puddle, including the double letters before it.
-le: table, giggle
- Soft c and Soft g
Practises c that says s and g that says j when they come before e, i or y, as in pencil, fancy, giant and magic.
soft c and g before e, i, y: pencil, giant
- C or K at the Start
Practises choosing c or k for the k sound at the start of a word: k before e and i (kettle, kiwi), c before a, o and u (cactus, cozy).
k before e and i: kettle; c before a, o, u: cactus
Level 3 · Your child adds endings that change the base word: doubling (sitting), dropping the e (smiled) and changing y to i (cries, happier).
- Double, Then Add -ing
Practises doubling the last consonant of a short-vowel word before adding -ing, as in digging and winning.
dig + ing = digging
- Double, Then Add -ed, -er, -est
Practises doubling the last consonant before -ed, -er and -est, as in hopped, bigger and hottest.
hop + ed = hopped, big + er = bigger
- Drop the E
Practises dropping the silent e before adding -ing or -ed, as in hiking, giving and chased.
hike + ing = hiking, like + ed = liked
- Change Y to I: -es and -ed
Practises changing y to i before adding -es or -ed, as in cries, babies and dried.
cry + es = cries, try + ed = tried
- Change Y to I: -er, -est, -ly, -ness
Practises changing y to i before -er, -est, -ly and -ness, as in happier, tiniest, easily and silliness.
happy → happier, silly → silliness
- Adding -s and -es
Practises plurals with -es after s, x, sh and ch (foxes, dishes) and plain -s after a vowel and y (keys, toys).
-es after s, x, sh, ch: foxes; keys
Level 4 · Your child builds new words with the prefixes un-, dis-, re- and pre- and the suffixes -ful, -less, -ly, -ness, -ment, -er and -est.
- Prefixes un- and dis-
Practises adding un- and dis-, which mean not or the opposite, to whole base words, as in unhappy, unwrap and dislike.
un-, dis-: unhappy, dislike
- Prefixes re- and pre-
Practises words that start with re- (again) and pre- (before), like replay, rewrite and preschool.
re-, pre-: replay, preschool
- Suffixes -ful and -less
Practises -ful (full of) with one l and -less (without), as in helpful, colorful, careless and sleepless.
-ful, -less: helpful, careless
- Suffix -ly
Practises adding -ly to describe how something is done, as in quickly, quietly and bravely.
-ly: quickly, bravely
- Suffixes -ness and -ment
Practises -ness and -ment, which turn words into naming words, as in goodness, shyness, movement and enjoyment.
-ness, -ment: goodness, movement
- Suffixes -er and -est
Practises -er and -est for comparing (taller, coldest) and -er for a person who does something (farmer, singer).
-er, -est: taller, fastest; -er: farmer
Level 5 · Your child spells sound-alike words, compound words, contractions and plurals that don't just add -s, like children and geese.
- Sound-Alike Words 1
Practises words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like sea and see, blue and blew, and tow and toe.
homophones: sea/see, blue/blew
- Sound-Alike Words 2
Practises more homophones, like knew and new, wear and where, and beet and beat, using the sentence to choose.
homophones: knew/new, beet/beat
- Compound Words
Practises compound words made of two smaller words joined together, like backpack, homework and flashlight.
two words in one: backpack, snowman
- Contractions: will, is, have
Practises contractions made with will, is and have, like we'll, she's, what's and they've, with the apostrophe in the right place.
we'll, she's, they've
- Contractions with Not
Practises contractions made with not, like wasn't, doesn't and couldn't, where the apostrophe takes the place of the o.
n't: wasn't, couldn't
- Irregular Plurals
Practises plurals that don't just add -s, like children, snowmen, geese, dice and shrimp.
one child, two children; goose, geese
Level 6 · Your child masters tricky Grade 3 words like people, enough and heart, plus the vowel teams ea, au, aw, oi, oy, ou and ow.
- Tricky Words 1
Practises high-frequency Grade 3 words that don't follow the usual rules, like people, enough, heart and laugh.
sight words: people, enough
- Tricky Words 2
Practises more Grade 3 words that are often misspelled, like young, country, ocean, minute and special.
sight words: young, special
- Silent gh Words
Practises words with a silent gh (caught, flight) or a gh that says f (cough, tough).
gh: caught, flight
- Short e Spelled ea
Practises words where ea makes the short e sound, like bread, ready, spread and breakfast.
ea as short e: bread, spread
- Au and Aw Words
Practises the aw sound spelled au in the middle of a word (pause, sauce) and aw at the end or before n, l or k (straw, lawn, crawl).
au, aw: pause, straw
- Oi, Oy, Ou and Ow Review
Reviews the oi/oy and ou/ow sounds in longer words, like noisy, oyster, ground and towel.
oi/oy, ou/ow: noisy, oyster, ground, crown