Fifth Grade Spelling Lesson: I Before E

Some Hamilton County Indiana Fifth Graders brought home a worksheet with a list of spelling words this week. They were not just any spelling words, but words that all contained the letters -ie or -ei. My favorite fifth grader, Annie, was showing me her list and asking to be tested on her spelling words: Receipt, relief, neighbor, leisure, thief, piece, weight, grief, receive, and ceiling.

Amazingly, the same rule we learned years ago is still being taught today, at least at this public school in Fishers, Indiana: "I before e, except after c, and when sounding like a, as in neighbor and weigh." This basic little ditty doesn't seem very important until you realize that it it brings some kind of order into the unruly world of -ei's and -ie's. Without it, Annie's spelling words would just be a mishmush of arbitrary inconsistency.

I was surprised and gratified to see that this old fashioned precept is still around because first of all, it isn't always true. And secondly I feared modern educators might have thrown it out as being rote or meaningless memorization, rather than conceptual understanding. But as far as I know, there is no concept or reason behind receive being -ei and relieve being -ie. They just are. So the only help is to have a memory trick, a mind sticker. The "i before e" chant will stay with Annie the rest of her life, as it has stayed with me. I before e, except after c, and when sounding like a, as in neighbor and weigh.

Of course, as with most rules, there are exceptions to the "i before e" guideline: There are words in which "the combination should be spelled -ie but is spelled -ei: caffeine, either, foreign, height, leisure, neither, protein, their, and weird. There are also words in which the combination follows -c and should be spelled -ei but instead is spelled -ie." It makes it a little easier to remember if you realize that in all these words, -c spells the sound of -sh. Examples are: ancient, conscience, deficient, efficient, proficient, and sufficient. Remember, if it sounds like -sh, follow it with an -ie rather than -ei.

I don't think I'll tell Annie about all those exceptions yet. First, she has to learn the rule.

What other rules about spelling and word construction come to mind? How about: "Don't try to fix a prefix, just add it to the word. Mis goes with spell to make misspell, leave in all the s's to do it well." These jingly sayings are safe harbors in which we anchor our boat of literacy.

Sources:

Fifth grade worksheet

Personal knowledge

Questa College Academic Support Spelling Rules