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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 5 of 13

Spelling Patterns

Vowel teams and word endings

What your child practices

Spelling long vowel sounds with vowel teams (ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow, igh, ie) and adding -ed and -ing by doubling a letter, dropping a silent e or just adding the ending.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 3.2.1.2 · spelling patterns and rules for multi-syllable words

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Two vowels together often make one long sound: ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow, igh.
  2. If a word ends in silent e, drop the e before -ing or -ed: bake → baking.
  3. Short vowel plus one consonant? Double it: hop → hopping.

Example: Add “-ing” to “run”. Which spelling is correct? “Run” has a short u and ends in one consonant. Double the n, then add -ing. Answer: running

Spelling Patterns in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 5 of 13 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Punctuation Power and before Prefixes & Suffixes.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Add “-ed” to “drop”. Which spelling is correct?

    drop + ed

    • dropped
    • droped
    • dropt

  2. Question 2

    Which word has the same vowel team as “wait”?

    • light
    • snail
    • stay

  3. Question 3

    Add “-ing” to “skate”. Which spelling is correct?

    skate + ing

    • skatting
    • skateing
    • skating

  4. Question 4

    Which letters finish the word for the picture?

    ❄️sn__
    • oe
    • oa
    • ow

  5. Question 5

    Add “-ed” to “paint”. Which spelling is correct?

    paint + ed

    • painted
    • painteed
    • paintted

  6. Question 6

    Which letters finish the word for the picture?

    🌧️r__n
    • ay
    • ai
    • ee

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