Grade 3 Spelling Lesson 3

Spelling Principle or Generalization

ADDING SUFFIXES TO BASE WORDS ­ Part I
1  Adding suffixes to base words changes the spelling of the base words in predictable ways.

2 Adding a consonant­letter suffix necessitates no change in the base word (hope + ful = hopeful).

3 Adding a vowel­letter suffix means “Be prepared for a change in the base word.” run + ing = 

Core List
LESSON OUTLINE
     Strategies I INTERACTIVE
PRETEST
√ 1 FAMILIAR PARTS
II WHAT DO YOU
1 shop, shopping
2 SOUND OUT
 NOTICE?
  3 SYLLABLES
2 types of suffixes
  4 SOUNDS LIKE CVC & CVCe words change w/ vowel
      (RHYME TIME)
 √ 5 SUFFIX CHANGES
2 scrub, scrubbing suffixes but not w/ consonant suffixes
Two vowel letters or two consonants
means No Change (clean/cleaning,

3 wrap, wrapped
   6 CLEVER CLUES help/helping)
   7 MEANING III STRATEGIES
   8 MEMORY - SUFFIX CHANGES

4 dance, dancing
– FAMILIAR PARTS
IV CHALLENGE / HARD
      WORDS

5 close, closing V NEXT STEPS

-
-
challenge Words- Check In
Tues. night

6  leave, leaving 
- Thur. night
- Friday

7 write, writing
8 care, careful
9  love, lovely
10 clean, cleaning

Strategies
Suffix Changes is the favored strategy.  Suffix rules help us understand the predictable way base 
words  expand. Familiar Parts helps us recognize base words and common endings.   

Additional Examples
get, getting take, taking love, lovely blink, blinked
bat, batter ride, riding like, likely shock, shocking
hug, hugged bake, baking hope, hopeful thick, thickest
strut, strutting ride, riding hope, hopeless pass, passed
shred, shredder shine, shining taste, tasteful pitch, pitched
sled, sledding joke, joker taste, tasteless twitch, twitching
dad, daddy cute, cutest sure, surely thrash, thrashing
hug, hugged hope, hoping time, timely ring, ringing
grab, grabbed come, coming shape, shapeless crash, crashed
rob, robber make, making home, homeless wish, wished
drop, dropping love, loved lone, lonely prevent, prevented
drum, drummer scrape, scraping hate, hateful coach, coaches
thin, thinnest slide, sliding name, nameless mean, meanest
beg, begging shake, shaking use, useless point, pointer
pin, pinned time, timer use, useful paint, painting
chop, chopped bake, baker nice, nicely teach, teacher
step, stepped use, using late, lately hunch, hunches
quit, quitter lunge, lunging move, movement sketch, sketching
plan, planned bulge, bulging strange, strangely swift, swiftly
trip, tripped plunge, plunging sense, senseless quick, quickly

Harder Examples 
Forget, forgetting compel, compelling remember, remembering
Explode, exploding permit, permitting upbringing
Regret, regretted regret, regretting indulge, indulging
Transcribe, transcribed measure, measurement excite, excitement
fame, famous peace, peaceful polite, politely
gentle, gentleness whole, wholesome value, valueless

Review / Introduce:

Terms for two types of suffixes:

1 vowel-letter suffix (those that begin with a vowel letter: er, ed, ing, able, ous, etc.)
2 consonant-letter suffix (those that begin with a consonant letter: ly, ful, less, ness, ment,
etc.)
Remember….
Consonant-letter suffix means No change in the base word*
Vowel-letter suffix means Be prepared for a change in the base word.

Base word Vowel-letter suffix Consonant-letter suffix comment

run Run + ing = running Vowel-letter suffix means
love love + able = lovable Be prepared for change in base word.
CVC word like run doubles final consonant. CVCe
love love + ing = loving
word like love drops the e (love + er = love – e + er
love love + er = lover yielding lover; love + ing = love – e + ing yielding
loving).
love love + ly = lovely Consonant-letter suffix means
hope hope + ful = hopeful No change in base word.

* The exception  to  this suffix rubric is words that end in y.  These words always bypass the basic rules for suffixes.
1 INTERACTIVE  Ask students to get out a piece of paper and a pencil for ‘interactive pretest.’
2 PRETEST
Give each example, 1­10, one at a time (including inflected form: Run, running)

3   A WHAT DO YOU   Put correct answer on board after each example– compile in list form on board.

NOTICE 
QUESTIONS Ask What do you notice questions whenever appropriate.  
For example, What do you notice about shop, shopping?

Should notice 
Consonant – letter suffixes mean no change in base word.
Vowel­letter suffix means Base word changes. 
    CVC words double final C   (shop, shopping)
      CVCe words drop final e
    Words with two vowel letters or two consonant letters do not change
     (clean, cleaning, help, helping)

   
B STRATEGIES Ask  Strategy questions:
     1 What strategies are most helpful in spelling and learning these words?
   SUFFIX CHANGES
       FAMILIAR PARTS (for recognizing base words)

4 Students copy or are handed complete list of examples 1­10.

5 CHALLENGE Students are directed to choose 5 additional challenge words (can be more or 
WORDS less) to learn from Additional Examples or Challenge Words or Personal Spelling 
List.

6 NEXT STEPS Select a Tuesday Night Activity for home study.
7
8 Direct students to do practice quiz Thur. night with parent.
9
Partner quiz on Friday.

Store final results with any misspellings in folder.