Spelling Rules: Write the Rule Letters Under Each Picture

One spelling rule per sheet is the idea of this 2nd grade spelling rules worksheet, and the sheet shown is Magic e. A dashed rule box across the top prints the rule as four chips — a_e, i_e, o_e, u_e — and two model words with pictures, cake and kite, with the rule letters in coral. Eight numbered cards follow in two columns of four, each with a picture and its word spelled in spaced letters, every letter printed except the rule letters, which are dashed boxes: g _ t _ for gate, l _ m _ for lime, w _ v _ for wave, and longer words such as cheesecake, bookcase, pinecone and wardrobe with the boxes deep inside. The child reads the rule, says the picture word, and writes the missing rule letters.

The rule letters are the task and everything else is printed — that is the boundary between this page and an ordinary missing-letter sheet. A child does not have to spell wardrobe; they have to decide that the sound in robe is written o_e, and the two model words are there to be checked against. Rules in the English set include magic e, c-k-ck, ee-ea, ai-ay, the doubled ff-ll-ss-zz ending and the plural changes y to ies and f to ves, each on its own sheet with words of three to twelve letters at this level.

Print it as the first page of a rule's week. The which-one page offers two spellings to choose from, rule detective has the child find the rule inside a whole printed word, and write-the-word gives only the rule letters and asks for the rest.