4th-5th Grade Level 12 Sort It “l” ending & Texts PDF

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PHONICS

Fourth to Fifth Grade
The /l/ Ending

The /l/ Ending

Cut out the words below, read them,
and sort them by their /l/ spelling.

“Look at these words: level
middle natural helpful
Have you ever noticed that /l/ can have so many different spellings at the end of words?
What are the main ones?”

✁

“le”

travel

“ul”
✁

people

“el”
✁

✁

level

“al”

helpful

example

model

possible

vessel

novel

single

label

simple

available

usual

trouble

tunnel

channel

uncle

several

animal

circle

final

settle

special

general

natural

handle

material

central

terrible

successful

useful

battle

careful

powerful

wonderful

✁

Split & Write It

The goal of this activity is not a spelling test. It’s a process-based
activity that can help your student tune in more carefully to the
inside parts of words.

DIRECTIONS: Dictate the following words to your student. She may write them below but the dry erase board is
preferred. Don’t let her look at these words! Also, ask her to say each chunk as she writes each and to leave a
space between chunks. After she writes each word, give her the clues she needs to be able to spell it correctly.
For instance, “Yes, this [“ee”] is a spelling of the /ee/ sound, but in “easily” we spell the /ee/ sound like this [write
“ea” on dry erase board].”

WORDS TO
DICTATE

miserable personal reliable fearful gravel musical startle jewel
uncomfortable painful practical towel virtual squirrel graceful

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Reviewing
Let’s finish our series about William Holtzclaw’s challenges in getting educated as a boy.

What do you remember about his autobiography
from last time?”

Going to School Under
Difficulties, Part Three
Abridged from the original by William Holtzclaw

But when I became too large to be
hidden behind our few small pots,
I had to take my place on the farm. When I was
nine years old I began work as a regular fieldhand.
My mother created another plan to keep me in school.
I took turns with my brother at the plow and in
school. One day I plowed and he went to school. The
next day he plowed and I went to school. What he
learned during his school day, he taught me at night.
Then I did the same for him. In this way we each
got a month of schooling during the year, and we
also learned the habit of studying at home.
© 2019 Reading Simplified

continued…

That we learned little enough may be seen from
the following event: I was ordered to get a United
States history book. So my father went to the
store to get one. But the
storekeeper did not have
one. He sold my father a
biography of Martin
Luther1 instead, without
telling him the difference.
So, I carried the book to
school and studied it for a
long time. I thought I was
learning something about
the United States. My teacher had never told me
the name of the land I lived in.
When I reached the age where my school days
were at an end, I was hired out to a man for
wages. I could help support my family in this way.
Seeing that there was no chance for further
1

continued…

schooling, I became very sad. I even pulled away
from all social life, except the monthly religious
meetings at the little cabin church. Nevertheless,
I gathered all the books I could find or borrow
and hid them in my boss’s barn. I spent every
bit of my spare time there trying to satisfy my
desire for knowledge of the world of books.

“

In this manner I spent all my
Sundays. It was during this
time that I came across the
“Life of Ignatius Sancho.” He
was an educated black West
Indian.2 It was the first book
in the way of a biography of
a colored3 man that I had found.
I was overjoyed to learn that a
colored man could really make history.
2
3

“

continued…

On the morning of Christmas Day, 1889, my father
seated himself on the roots of a large oak tree in the
yard just after breakfast, and, calling me to him, said:
“Son, you are nearing manhood, and you have
no education. Besides, if you remain with me till
you are twenty-one, I will not be able to help you.
For these reasons, your mother and I have decided
to set you free. But we want you to promise us
that you will educate yourself.”
By that time Mother showed up, and there we
all stood. My mother and I were crying. I am not
sure that my father was not. I took the offer and
hurried off across the forest, where about a mile
away I got work with a white man. He gave me
thirty cents a day and board4. Although we usually
took a week off for Christmas, that day my
Christmas ended early. I was very much excited.
4

continued…

It was difficult for me to control myself. I was
free. I got to enjoy being an adult finally.
At the end of six months I ran across quite
accidentally (I will say providentially5) the Tuskegee
Student, a little newspaper published by the
Tuskegee Institute, at Tuskegee, Alabama. In it
there was the following note:
There is an opportunity for a few able-bodied
young men to make their way through school,
provided they are willing to work. Applications
should be made to Booker T. Washington,
Principal.
I quickly wrote up some sort of application and
addressed it simply to “Booker T. Washington.6” I
didn’t even know what else to put on the envelope.

5
6

continued…

All the same, it reached him, and I was admitted.7
So began my real education that led me to dream
of starting a school for African Americans.

unded
ol that Holtzclaw Fo

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Faculty of Utica Inst