“Fizzle/Floss Rule”
Does Sammy really like fried zebras? The pattern of doubling <f>, <l>, <s>, and <z> in a one-syllable word after a short vowel, sometimes referred to as the “Floss” or “Fizzle” rule, has a few people still puzzled. For the...
Thoughts From My Notebook
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-ch or -tch, which witch?
Read now/ch/ -tch after a short vowel Don’t you love that we have a pattern that is so simple to follow? Yes, but people ask me, what about much and sandwich? Let’s take a look at the historical aspects of these...
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/k/ can be tricky!
Read nowLet’s talk about these three spellings of /k/. When do we use <c> and <k>, and what is the pattern followed for <ck>? Do you struggle with what to tell your students when they ask, “Should I use a...
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Why are there two ways to write /w/?
Read nowWhy are there two ways to write /w/? Is that a <w> or <wh>? How often have you heard that from your student? How do you explain the difference? Do they really sound different? Let’s take a deep dive into...
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Teaching r-controlled vowels
Read nowBossy r? I never let consonants boss me around, do you? So why would we call r bossy? R controlled vowels can be some of the trickiest concepts to teach, this is true, but is calling them bossy r to...
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Endings rules don't need to be hard.
Read nowI made it easy for you. As some of you know, I wrote a book on how to teach the endings rules. I knew there were a million workbooks on this topic, although few of the workbooks give an...
