8 More Days Until Spellers Arrive in D.C.

It has been a while since my last post! I have had a lot of testing, activities, choir performances, and student council elections.

Here are some study tips:

• Study word origins - roots, patterns, exceptions, and words from unknown and imitative origins
• Parts of Speech - patterns and exceptions
• Rules to Words
• Memorize rules, such as i before e, except after c, but there are exceptions to this rule, as well.
• Practice as if you were actually in a spelling bee (ask questions and think deeply)
• If this helps, do something while studying, such as video games, jump rope, Legos, basketball, and more!

Some Rules 

-Ent/-Ence and -Ant/-Ance

-ant and -ent: used to create nouns and adjectives, and -ance and -ence are used to create nouns. There are not many rules that will help with most of these words, so memorizing is the best way to go. 

• After a soft c (with an s sound) or g (with a j sound), use -ent/-ence (rubescent/acquiescence)
• After a hard c or g, use -ant/-ance. (mitigant/elegance)

-Ise, -Ize, and -Yze Ending

All of them have the eyes sound. 

-ise  is usually from French (abscise)

-ize (cause to form) is usually from Latin (systemize)

-yze is usually from Latin, which is found in the root -lyze meaning to produce or go under disintegration (acetolyze) and comes from the Latin root -lysis (decomposition; breaking down) 

If if an l is heard before the eyes sound, check to see if it is a variant of one of the verbs (-lyze), and if it is not, spell it -lize.

Good luck, and I will try to post more!