Writing Unit

Silent Letters
Grade: 2nd
Subject: Writing, Literacy
Objectives/Learning Targets:
Students will read words with silent letters with correct pronunciation.
Students will use spelling, decoding, and word-study correspondence skills to
identify the silent letters in words.
Students will use their knowledge about silent letter words in their writing.
Materials:
Mentor text, Silent Letters Loud and Clear by Robin Pulver
Copies of board game
Dice, chips/spot markers for board game
Pencils/paper for writing
Procedure:
Day 1 - Introduction
1. Students will be learning more about silent letters today and playing a board
game. Explain to students that silent letters are letters in words that represent no
sound on their own when you say the word.
2. Ask for student volunteers to share words they know with silent letters. Have
students share the word and explain which letter is silent. Write these words on
the board:
- Knife
- Lamb
- Thumb
3. Whole group discussion about silent letters. Prompting questions for students:
- Where can silent letters be in a word?
- Do silent letters follow rules?
- Which letters can be silent letters?
Day 2 Explain Strategies
4. Explain to students that it is sometimes hard to know how to spell words with
silent letters, since after all they contain letters that you cannot hear. Due to this,
we should think back to how words are spelled in books and remember the
words we see that have silent words.
5. Introduce mentor text, Silent Letters Loud and Clear. This is a fictional story
about a class that cant hear silent letters so they just want to forget them. It is a
good mentor text because it is a fun story that shows that even though we cannot
hear silent letters, they are a necessary part of their word and cannot be left out.
It also features many words with silent letters.

Day 3 Board Game and Writing

6. Have students gather in groups of 3 and pass out the board game.
7. After students finish playing the board game, students will write a list of the words
with silent letters and circle or highlight the silent letter in each word.
8. Students will then write a sentence with the silent letter word.
Evaluation:
The teacher will consider the students participation in the board game activity and read
aloud during this unit, as well as their performance on the writing pieces for formative
assessment and progress monitoring.

COMB

WHEN

KNEE

Miss one
turn

WRONG

Move back
one space

DUMB

KNOT

TOMB

Move back
two spaces

RECEIPT

LAMB

CASTLE

SIGN
Take the
shortcut!

THUMB
KNOB

TWO
WRAP

Move back
one space

Move ahead
one space

CRUMB

Directions:
Take turns rolling
dice. You advance to
the next space by
identifying the silent
letter in each word.

Take the
shortcut!

Miss one
turn

FASTEN

KNIGHT