Language Arts Grade Six

Unit One, Lesson One: Letter Patterns

  1. strap
  2. snap
  3. apply
  4. applesauce
  5. wrap
  6. petal
  7. sepal
  8. pollination
  9. stamen
  10. ovary
  1. attract
  2. insect
  3. potato
  4. border
  5. snake
  6. grand
  7. handle
  8. flower
  9. seed
  10. stem
Letter Patterns

This list contains several words with the ap letter pattern. Here are some more words with the ap letter pattern: 


	appliance		synapse			adapt

	grape			happen			mishap

	shape			trap			appetite
As you can see from this list, when the "ap" letter pattern is followed by an "e" (making the "ape" letter pattern), the "a" is pronounced as a long "a".

Another letter pattern which appears in the list a few times is the "ct" letter pattern as in attract and insect. Here are some more words with the "ct" letter pattern. 


	correct			neglect			inspect

	action			lecture			picture

	rectangle		bacteria		practical

As you can see the "ct" letter pattern often appears at the end of a word, but it can also appear in the middle of a word.

Alphabetizing A List of Words

You are expected at this point to be able to alphabetize a list of words and so before you actually have to do this in an activity we will quickly review how to alphabetize a list of words. Some people say that the list should be put into ABC order which means the same as alphabetizing the list.

Inspect this list of words: 


   pain
   brain
   drain
   train
   grain
   stain
In order to alphabetize these words (put them in ABC order) you must compare the first letter of each word. A quick inspection of the list tells you that the word "brain" comes first since no other word in this short list starts with an "a" or "b."

The next word in alphabetical order is "drain." The last word in alphabetical order is "train." So, our alphabetized list would look like this: 


  brain
  drain
  grain
  pain
  stain
  train
Sometimes you have to look past the first letter to figure out alphabetical order. Take a close look at this short list: 


  strain
  stain
  state
All three of these words have st as their first two letters. The first difference comes at the third letter. The words "stain" and "state" both have an "a" at the third spot and the word "strain" has an "r." Since "r" comes after "a" in the alphabet the word "strain" is the last in alphabetical order. The words "state" and "stain" have the same letters until the fourth letter. The "i" in "stain" comes earlier in the alphabet than the "t" in "state," and so "stain" comes before "state" in alphabetical order. Our list reordered alphabetically becomes: 

  stain
  state
  strain

Click here to go to next page