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It-ss & Tooze, Apostrophes, and the I Before E Rule Made Easy

by Don McCabe

Catalog # W720

$14.95           8 1/2 x 11
3 Ring Binder

ISBN:1-56400-013-3

For complete descriptions of the 3 books (all under the same cover) click on the titles:

1. The It-ss and the Tooze Made Easy.

2. Apostrophes Made Easy.

3. Mastering The I Before E Rule Made Easy.

 

All three books contain a series of exercises in which the students get to correct their answers immediately, but also must give reasons for their answers.  Being right is not enough.  They need to know why they are right.  After all, it's a 50/50 shot on its or it's, girl's or girls, weird or wierd.  And one out of three with the their, there, and they're is a good batting average in baseball--but not in spelling.

A short description of Apostrophes Made Easy.  The lessons begin with a lesson on how we speed up our speech by running words together. 

For example we could say very slowly:

It is very cold in Alaska in the winter.

Or we could say it faster like this:

 

It is very cold in Alaska in the winter.

Or we could say it even faster like this:

It is very cold in Alaska in the winter.

Or faster yet like this:

It's very cold in Alaska in the winter.

Once the concept of running words together can be shown by using apostrophes, we give the students practice in showing what the words are that are run together as in the abbreviated exercise below.

Dictated Sentence Contraction of
   
Didn't you know that? Did not
Jimmy's my very best friend Jimmy is
They weren't there. were not

Once the concept of running words together  by using apostrophes, we then give the students practice in using the apostrophe to show possession.   Then we give them practice with both.   Notice that in the exercises the student not only must get the correct spelling but must place it in the correct column.

Dictated Sentence Contraction of Shows Possession Simple Plural
No Apostrophe
       
The car's getting fixed.

car is

   
The car's radio is on the blink.  

car's

 
They own two cars.    

cars

 

All donations are greatly appreciated.  If you would like to support our mission which is to raise the level of literacy to the point where the words, illiteracy, phonemic awareness, learning disabilities, dysgraphia, family literacy, adult literacy, and illegible handwriting will no longer have relevance, please mail your tax-deductible check (in U.S. dollars) to The AVKO Foundation, 3084 Willard Road, Suite W, Birch Run, MI 48415-7801.  The AVKO Foundation is recognized by the IRS as a 501(C)3 publicly supported organization working with teachers, parents, tutors, and home schooling parents, publishing materials developed by its research, and providing free daily tutoring at its local reading clinic.

If you have comments about this website or questions concerning reading, spelling, phonics, learning disabilities, homeschooling, etc., you may always e-mail DonMcCabe@aol.com.  We appreciate any comments that will help us make this website even more useful. 

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AVKO Educational Research Foundation
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Birch Run, MI 48415-7801