Spelling You See F: Ancient Achievements

In Ancient Achievements, students will read about fascinating topics from long ago, such as cave paintings, Viking ships, and Marco Polo. This is the last level in the skill development stage of spelling. It provides continued word practice using the three core activities of chunking, copywork, and dictation while gradually increasing the reading level. At the same time, a new Spotlight feature introduces students to interesting facts about words. The Instructor's Handbook offers optional activities to help prepare students for the next two stages of spelling.

Is Your Child Ready for Ancient Achievements?

This level is for a child who is nearing the end of the Skill Development stage. The student should be able to write complete paragraphs comfortably.

Skills assessment:

The following passage is taken from the previous level of Spelling You See and is written at the minimum reading level for Ancient Achievements. Can your student read it without difficulty?

Philo was very interested in electronics. When he was a teenager, he found a stash of science magazines. He studied them carefully. He learned that scientists were trying to make a new machine. It would use electricity to send and show pictures. He thought about it. He talked with his science teachers. One day he drew a picture on the chalkboard. It showed how a television could work. Philo Farnsworth's plan was the first idea that worked.

Now dictate the passage to your student. Then answer the following questions:

• Was my student able to complete the dictation with relative ease?
• Did my student complete the dictation in 10 minutes or less?
• When writing the passage from dictation, did my student correctly spell at least ten of the words from this list?
  • interested, science, magazines, studied, electricity, pictures, thought, talked, teachers, chalkboard, television, idea

If you answered "Yes" to all these questions, your child may be ready to begin Ancient Achievements.

Ancient Achievements provides continued practice in the Skill Development stage of spelling with passages of gradually increasing difficulty. At the same time, it introduces students to interesting facts about word roots and more advanced word patterns. It is designed as a bridge to the Word Extension stage of spelling.