Here are the Rocket Spelling word lists and level numbers that we think align well with third grade standards. For more background on this, check out this post.

Level 7.1 Colors: orange, green, blue, violet, yellow, purple, black, brown, white, pink

Level 7.2 Parts of the body: hand, elbow, finger, arm, ear, foot, head, back, stomach, toe

Here are the Rocket Spelling word lists and level numbers that we think align well with second grade standards. For more background on this, check out this post.

Level 5.1 -ar, -or sounds: for, part, form, large, car, far, farm, stars, born, chart

Level 5.2 -er, -ir, -ur sounds: other, her, first, water, over, turn, bird, girl, third, burn

Here are the Rocket Spelling word lists and level numbers that we think align well with first grade standards. For more background on this, check out this post.

Level 2.1 Initial ch, sh, or th: that, then, them, shut, chin, this, they, than, chat, shop

Level 2.2 Initial __ + L blends: plan, clap, flip, slam, slip, glad, flag, sled, plus, slap

Here are the Rocket Spelling word lists and level numbers that we think align well with kindergarten standards. For more background on this, check out yesterday's post.

Level 1.1 Short 'a' words: had, can, has, am, man, map, ran, sat, cat, dad

Level 1.2 Short 'e' words: net, get, beg, pen, let, red, yes, yet, bed, leg

Level 5-3 focuses on the /oi/ sound written as either oi or oy. The general rule of thumb for deciding whether to use oi or oy in a word to make the /oi/ sound is straightforward: in the middle of a syllable, use oi; to close a syllable or end a word, use oy. Simply telling students that oy is used only at the end of a word is not enough, because a suffix can then be added to a root word ending in oy, so words like toys, joyful, and annoying still use oy rather than oi.

The first two levels in Planet 5 focus on -ar, -er, -ir, -or, and -ur patterns. The -ar and -or patterns in level 5-1 are fairly friendly, as they make a predictable, easily distinguishable sound (car, part, for, born) that can be taught in a straightforward manner. The -er, -ir, and -ur patterns in level 5-2 are much more challenging, as they all make the same sound. Students must rely on visual cues to determine what "looks right" instead of using strictly phonetic strategies to help them here.

Now that we've worked with both long vowels (levels 4-1 through 4-9) and consonant blends (all of planet 2 and 3), we're ready to try to combine those two strategies in a fun review level (4-10). This is the most challenging level in the first 4 worlds, as students have to adjust between various vowel patterns, including long vowels with a silent 'e' and long 'e' sounds made from 'ea' or 'ee'.

Since not very many high-frequency words in the English language follow a long 'e' + consonant + silent -e pattern, we have included three other common spelling patterns for making the long 'e' sound in these three levels.

Level 4-7 focuses on words where an 'ee' combo makes a long 'e' sound, while level 4-8 focuses on words where an 'ea' combo makes a long 'e' sound. Level 4-9 demonstrates an interesting spelling pattern for your students to learn: that a -y ending that is preceded by a consonant often makes a long 'e' sound in multi-syllabic words (happy, funny, study, etc.).

The first six levels of planet #4 focus on words with long vowels and a silent -e at the end. Although students are now familiar with initial and final consonant clusters after completing the levels making up the previous two planets, 52 of the 60 words in these levels follow a simple CVC + silent e pattern.

The levels in planet #3 focus on final consonant pairs, blends, and digraphs. These levels assume that a student has already completed the levels on short vowels and initial consonant pairs and blends from the first two planets, so even though words with beginning and ending blends are explicitly the focus of level 3-12, those types of words (e.g. bring, thing, shark, plant) will be mixed in throughout the rest of the levels in planet #3 as well.