Silent Letters Loud and Clear

Mr. Wright's Class

by Robin Pulver, Lynn Rowe Reed (Illustrator)

Mr. Wright's class is through with silent letters. The students can't hear silent letters. They make spelling too tricky. Should silent letters be banned forever? From the creators of Punctuation Takes a Vacation and Nouns and Verbs Have a Field Day comes another dynamic grammar book with which both new and experienced spellers will identify.

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, School, Poetry, Writing, Humor, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

Ok, since when is the "h" in the diphthong "wh" silent? I suppose in some parts of the country the word "why" is pronounced "wy," but Pulver is from upstate NY, same as me, and I don't pronounce it that way. Neither letter in a diphthong is silent--they're blended to form a different sound. Aside from that, the story shows in an amusing way what happens if you don't have silent letters in your words. Children may be intrigued by the statement that one of the silent letters makes: "we used to be pronounced, once upon a time." I wish more of an explanation, in a note at the end of the book, had been provided, or reference to further reading for those interested. Recommended with reservations.

[Maggie Mattmiller]

This book is okay. It introduces the existence of silent letters, but doesn't do much for explaining why they are there. It just shows that words would look different if they weren't there. It also has "silent letters" that actually serve a purpose, but misses the opportunity to explain that. (For example, many words with a silent e on the end force the vowel to be a long vowel. There is a speech bubble reference to this when the word "fin" says it longs for the e, but this would not teach a child that the "silent" e would change the vowel sound of the i as it changes from fin to fine.)

I picked up this book hoping it would be more educational than it turned out to be. It missed the mark for me. It's not something I would use in my classroom.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin]

The busy, collage-style artwork completely distracts from the story’s useful message about spelling oddities in the English language, making it difficult to discern the concept of silent letters among the clutter of shapes.

[S]

Mr. Wright's class is sick of silent letters so they send a note to the newspaper suggesting they get rid of them. The note is published without silent letters and it doesn't make much sense. The whole text highlights all the silent letters and makes this book a good add for curriculum covering such English weirdness. Pictures remind me a touch of the No! David! pictures (aka they're slightly terrifying).

[Monica]

Keywords: grade 1-4, grammar, silent letters


Summary: Mr. Wright's class is having a difficult time with silent letters, so they decide that they are not necessary. However, when they have to write a letter to the editor, they realize something about their spell, correctly? You must read to find out how this story ends.


Prompt: The visual element utilized throughout this book would be shapes. There are lots of geometrical shapes used throughout the book. (Visual Elements)

[Radhika]

A book well written in a fun way to tell children the importance of silent words in spelling

The kids in Mr Wrights class are unhappy with the silent letters in their spelling. They wish to take the letters away from spellings. The silent letters are upset and come up with a perfect plan to make their importance known to the kids

A good read !

[Feralucce Savage]

Ok, I love this book. It's a little beyond the fourteen-month-old just now, but it is a nice introduction to silent letters and what they do. The illustrations are sort of like the old claymation cartoon inserts you used to get back in the 80s between commercials. Is it a good English lesson? No, but it's a great story!

[Hannah McIver]

Silent Letters Loud and Clear
Genre: Poetry
Awards: N/A
Audience: 6-8 years old
This book takes poetry and teaches children about silent letters in certain words.
This book contains free form poetry.
The author uses the poetic element of sensory imagery.

[Jody Kyburz]

Cute book that well illustrates and teaches the importance of silent letters even though they are a tough thing for children to conquer. I wanted to share this book aloud with students, but it would take a long time to go over each page of illustrations to get the full appreciation of this book.

[Anthony]

When the children in Mr. Wright's class complains about the use of silent letters during their spelling lesson, all the silent letters takes a day of absence to prove their worth, and importance. A clever and fun look at grammar, and spelling.

[Mary T]

Kind of reminded me of The Scrambled States of America and The Day the Crayons Quit.

Curriculum tie-ins - silent letters, small but mighty, letter to the editor, fighting to be heard

[Memory Toast]

As an educational tool this does an okay job. Makes the point very well. The story as a story, not a construct to convey a language lesson, and the illustrations were just not to my taste.

[KaitandMaddie]

A fun way to talk about tricky spelling.

[Busra]

I agree, silent letters should be banned.

[Megan Cureton]

Mr. Right's class thinks that silent letters should be banned because they make learning to spell hard. So Mr. Right told the class to write to the newspaper about silent letters and how they should be banned. So they did. Just before the class sent the letter, the silent letters jumped from the page and ran off and hid in the closet. Before the class realized what had happened, they had sent the letter. They received one back that wasn't very nice and Mr. Right was in jeopardy of his job. Before the letters would come out the closet, they wanted to be pronounced and wanted again. So the letters made peace with the students and they started to buckle down and really try to use them and study their spellings. I really enjoyed this book. I would read this book aloud to my future classroom of first through third graders. I think they would appreciate the humor and still find the concept of the book. I also think this would be a good book to read to them so they don't feel alone when they are having trouble spelling. They can have something to connect to and feel that they aren't the only one. I really like the play on words when the class was striking against the silent letters. For example, when they wrote 'rope' like 'rop' because the 'e' is silent on the end. I would have this book in my future classroom library for the students to have access to at all times. I would incorporate this into language arts/writing when I am teaching the students new vocabulary that aren't sight words and have very tricky spelling. The students would enjoy this read aloud and like that they have something to connect to and be excited to learn new words and their spellings.

[Shamika]

Silent Letters Loud and Clear tells the story of Mr. Wright's class, a class that is fed up with the difficulty they encounter when trying to spell words with silent letters. The silent letters, tired of being insulted, hide in order to teach the children a lesson. This is a great book to help children understand why silent letters are important, and how their absence would affect spelling and pronunciation. The book illuminates words with auxiliary, inert, and empty letters that make spelling tricky for young children. Common words such as "daughter", "knee", and "fine" are written largely and animatedly in the book, giving teachers the opportunity to point them out and discuss the silent letters with students. Using this book for a read-aloud lesson helps students understand the difference in pronunciation with and without silent letters, further exhibiting their importance. It also gives students practice in recognizing phonograms that represent one sound, such as "kn" in "knot" and "igh" in "Wright". This book, paired with a lesson on phonograms, can make spelling and reading easier for students once they begin to realize that certain sounds are represented with specific phonograms. Overall, Silent Letters Loud and Clear is a fun, vibrant book that helps children learn that although silent letters can be difficult to understand, they are essential for proper reading and spelling.

[katie]

This nonfiction book about language is appropriate for an Intermediate audience. The students in Mr. Wright's class complain how silent letters make spelling so difficult, so all the silent letters begin a revolt, slipping out of the children's sentences and thereby wreaking communication havoc. While this picture book looks like it might be intended for a younger audience, the reader does need to have some understanding of alphabet and spelling and grammar before they could really understand the gist of the story. The book wisely uses narrative form to teach about proper language usage. The font of the text unbolds the silent letters in every word and switches between narration and dialogue bubbles to tell the story. The illustrations are messy and kind of distracting; I like the concept of friendly pictures that look child-made from various materials, but it's too busy, what with the inconsistent images and the inconsistent text colors that keep changing. I love the concept of language come to life, the idea of silent letters coming out of their shells and standing up for their rightful place in words and their importance in creating meaning. I think, as a read aloud, this book would be appealing to students at just the right stage of language-learning. It could even be helpful for students learning a second language.

[Elizabeth]

This book, good for children in grades 2nd-5th, teaches children in a very clear and understandable way about silent letters and words with letters you don't necessarily pronounce. The book shows children the importance silent letters have on the pronunciation and spelling of the words they are in, as well as how these words wouldn't work without the silent letters. This book helps children grasp the idea of silent letters in a way that seems far easier than just teaching students about them.
I would read this book to younger students when they are really starting to learn how to read and write above a beginner's level, and I would try and leave it out and make it accessible for them so whenever they need it, it will be there to help them. Before reading, I would ask my students what a silent letter is, where would it usually be in a word, etc. I would make a large posted with all silent-letter words, and have each student circle a silent letter they have found, and I would also give groups of students notecards with words on them containing silent letters in different parts of the word, and have them group the words after seeing if it has a silent letter in the front, middle, or back of the word. I would also make sure students knew how to pronounce and spell words with silent letters with worksheets.

[Jennifer]

I like how it set off the silent letters to help the reader to pronounce the word as well as to show how different the text would sound without the silent letters. I also like how the students realized the importance of the silent letters when they saw their letter to the editor posted in the newspaper without the silent letters along with an angry note from the editor.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/bo...
Interest Level
Grades K - 3
Reading Level
Grade level Equivalent: 2.8
Lexile® Measure: AD410L
DRA: 30
Guided Reading: N
Genre
Comedy and Humor
Theme/Subject
Phonics
Spelling

[Amber]

I loved this book and the whole concept behind it. I think a lot of kids probably feel the same way the kids in the book felt about silent letters. They are a pain and they have trouble spelling them. However, if you read this book to them, I feel like it would make it perfectly clear how important silent letters are in the English language. Another aspect of the book that I thought was great, especially how it tied in the whole lesson of the book, was that when certain letters were talking, they would use a silent letter in the word they were saying. Overall, I think this is a great book to use in schools to reinforce spelling and to teach a lesson on silent letters.

[Jennie Park]

I would love to use this book for a language arts lesson for elementary students. The illustrations are very creative and so is the print of the book. It highlights each time a word has a silent letter. This is cool in a sense that the students can physically see how important it is that we know the silent letters because they are everywhere, but it does seem distracting when I am reading the story. I feel that the illustrations and text may be overwhelming for some students (maybe for kindergarten) and they might be distracted by it and not get the message of the story.

[Carol Royce Owen]

Add this to your list for spelling lessons about silent letters. The children in Mr. Wright's class are so fed up with all of the silent letters in words, they write a letter to the editor of a local paper requesting that people stop using them. The silent letters sneak off into a closet, disappointed about the poor rap they are getting, and write letters to protest their treatment. When the children's letter is printed without the silent letters, however, they discover that maybe they were wrong.

[Katie Nanney]

This book teaches an important lesson about silent letters and how we need them to make words. Just because they are silent, doesn't mean they aren't important. It also alludes to doing your job even when no one appreciates you. I think this book could be useful in two ways: teaching phonics and teaching the value of doing your best no matter what. I can see this book being used in any classroom first grade and up as a read-aloud and to introduce a phonics lesson on silent letters. I really enjoyed this book and I would love to have it in my classroom.

[Nancy Kotkin]

Story: 3 stars
Art: 2 stars

Picture book with a story that discusses the use of silent letters in spelling words. The contrast of the letter to the editor with and without the silent letters effectively shows the importance of silent letters. The quote, "Mr. Wright says good spellers are made, not born," helps to emphasize that spelling is a skill and must be practiced like any skill.

The collage-style illustrations are too busy and detract from the book's purpose. The asides in the speech bubbles are fun but add to the chaotic feel of the book.

[Kristy Schwertfeger]

Silent Letters Loud and Clear, was a very good book for explaining the use of silent letters in words. I liked how the book used so many examples of silent letter words. This book shows how sentences and words need their silent letters or it makes the sentence or word look silly and can make it stand for a whole different meaning. This book would be very useful in the classroom for students who are struggling with silent letters.

[Asha Smith]

This book is a cute way of writing. The children are so upset because they are writing and learning how to read but there are so many confusing ways of writing. There are silent e's and k's and gh's. So the students decide to hide the silent letters and not use them. But they soon realize they cant write or read or understand anything without those silent letters. the students learn how valuable the silent letters are and how they are needed in our language.

[Sherry Thornberry]

What a wonderful way to teach emergent readers and writers all about silent letters. I like the way the author made them animate and gave the silent letters personality. The book also demonstrated the over all effect of silent letter usage on our system of reading and writing simply by having the silent letters protest and refuse to be in an email. I liked this book. This book provides and easy way to intorduce a literacy concept and open the way for delving further into "silent letters."

[Kelly Powell]

This would be a great book for a lesson plan over silent letters when discussing phonemic awareness. Also, the topic of letter sounds that aren’t silent that are used throughout the book would be a great way to use this book for another lesson. The illustrations for this book show the faces of the people as a little scary because of the big eyes, but some may like the abstract look. However I do like the pictures of the letters when they are talking about how they feel being silent.

[Sarah Ashburn]

I really enjoyed this book! I think that teaching new readers about silent letters through reading is a great idea. This book has many examples of how silent letters work in words and make no sound. I think that this would help students understand that sometimes you don't hear letters but they are still in the words spelling.This book also has very creative illustrations. Great teaching tool for students!

[Sarah Kasper]

"Silent Letters Loud and Clear" is a great book to use for teaching Kindergarteners and 1st graders their sounds. Many children do not understand the concept behind silent letters. This book teaches this concept in a fun way. Also, all of the silent letters written in the book are color-coded, so that students can easily recognize when they have come across a silent letter.