🧩
Grade 3 Reading & Writing · World 2: Word Parts Workshop · Level 13
Adding Suffixes: Spelling Changes
Drop the e (hoping), double the last letter (hopping), change y to i (happier).
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 13
- Sometimes the root word's spelling changes when you add a suffix. Three rules tell you when.
- Rule one: drop the silent e before a suffix that starts with a vowel. Hope plus i n g is hoping. But keep it before a consonant: hopeful.
- Rule two: when a short word ends with one vowel and one consonant, double the consonant before a vowel suffix. Hop plus i n g is hopping, and run plus e r is runner.
- Rule three: when a word ends with a consonant and y, change the y to i: happy, happier, happiness. But keep the y before i n g: crying.
- Watch out! Hoping and hopping are different words: hoping means wishing, and hopping means jumping. The spelling rule tells them apart.
- Your turn! Sort these words by the rule they used.
Georgia's K-12 English Language Arts Standards:
- 3.F.P.4.c — Decode and encode words with common prefixes and suffixes.