Word Work Feb. 01 - 05

This week's word sort involves the /ow/ sound (as in plow and couch). We are trying to determine if there are any predictable spelling patterns to help us determine when to use "ow" and when to use "ou." We also have several oddball words that do not fit the sound and spelling patterns.

ou

sound, cloud, found, ground, pound, shout, count, mouth, south, couch, scout

ow

brown, clown, growl, howl, owl, crown, drown, frown, gown, plow, town

oddball

tough, rough

grown

Several "noticings" from 2/02/10:

~All of the words that use the "ow" spelling pattern seem to end in a single consonant.

In our list of words, these single consonants are: N and L.

~Most of the words that use the "ou" spelling end in double consonants, like "nd" and "th."

What do you notice?