The ABC’s and All Their Tricks by Margaret M. Bishop - The Complete Reference Book of Phonics and Spelling. Learn All About Spelling Rules, Grammar, and Master The English Language.

by Margaret M. Bishop

The Last Book On Phonics You’ll Ever Need A valuable teaching tool every teacher and parent should own. Margaret M. Bishop has compiled the foundational teachings for mastering grammar, phonics, and spelling, all into an easy to use format. One of the only phonics books that truly teaches you everything you need to know. This is the complete encyclopedia of phonics that helps your child or student excel at speaking, reading, and writing. An excellent choice for preparing children for a spelling bee. Not only is this a complete reference book on spelling and pronunciation, but it also teaches you how to teach phonics. A book within a book! Master the art of teaching, while your students master the English language. Language essentials for teachers that help your students learn the proper pronunciation of words. Find the answers to any of your questions in no time thanks to the alphabetical arrangement of the main section. Get the answer to any phonics question. Why does the ch in Christ have a k sound? What should you teach about ough? Find all these answers and more within this easy to use encyclopedia of phonics. This book also contains mini-books filled with interesting information and stories about how the English language came into its present form, what you want to know about root words, syllables, vowels, consonants, and more. Expand your knowledge and the knowledge of your child or student by mastering the art of phonics.

Genres: Education, Reference, Teaching, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Language

352 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1986

Reviews

[Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must have for people that struggle with spelling and reading. It is all most like a dictionary. For phonics and spelling. I have used it as a go to book when I come across words that do not look like they sound. For example Qu will all ways have a vouel after it. I even looked in the dictionary and that is true. Yes I'm not the best reader or speller but this book is a good help.

[Nicole Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speaking as a homeschool mom of a child who is frustrated by all the various rules associated with phonics, this book is a lifesaver. Most phonics programs go over the basics and expect kids to just pick up on the nuance over time and with reading practice. However, my child was growing increasingly frustrated with reading because of all the phonics rules and he was hating it (which is something my book-loving heart could not abide!). Enter this book. The holy grail. The encyclopedia of phonics. It breaks down everything and has allowed me to create specialized lessons for him that he is finally able to understand and is, in turn, less frustrated. For example, the OU letter team typically makes the OW sound. However, as we adults all know, there are exceptions and these exceptions are VERY COMMON words (e.g. you, could, should, would) and because these exceptions are so common it seems like the “rule” doesn’t apply in a lot of instances. Again, enter this beautiful book to arm me with the information that the OU letter team occurs 279 times in the English language. Do you know how many exceptions there are? The answer is five. There are only five exceptions. I can then explain to my eight year old, “If you can memorize these five exceptions, then the rest of the time you can rely on the rule to help you decode the word and pronounce the team as ‘ow.’” Suddenly the rule seems far less daunting to him and he can confidently rely on the rule and simply memorize the exceptions. I know in the end, this is a roundabout way of describing sight words (which is something he also had trouble with), but the number of occurrences vs the exceptions really drove the concept home for him. There are so many other similar examples, but I will spare you the details. If you yourself are a frustrated reader or have a frustrated reader in your home, I would recommend giving this book a try. It has been a vitally helpful resource for us.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent teacher reference!!!

[Amy Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely helpful reference book if you are homeschooling. Also helpful for me personally to appreciate that the English language might not be quite as random and obnoxious as I have historically condemned it as being… still nowhere near as fun as math though, guys.

[Yinzadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book in the hopes that it would be a potential traditional phonics book for teaching children how to read. I don't think it would be suitable for that purpose. The first part of the book instructs on how to pronounce various sounds in a technical way that would not be comprehensible to young children, and then most of the book takes common syllables that exist in English, and provides sample words that use that syllable. That would be a fine approach, in my opinion, except for two issues.

The first issue is that many of the words used as examples are not words with which young children learning to read would be familiar. Just opening up the book at random and going through 5 syllable sounds, we have: obscene, rescind, scion, nascent, miscible, ascertain, ascetic, proscenium, scintillate, copse, perverse, concourse, horsepower, disbursement, braise, espouse, polonaise, gooseberry, shad, shank, foreshorten, lesion, adhesion, ambrosia. Learning to read is hard enough without reading words you don't even know. Also, I'd rather not have to explain to a young child what "obscene" or "perverse" means.

The second problem is that there is no natural progression in the words used as examples. The letters and their sounds are introduced in alphabetical order, and a child could not read these words unless they already knew all the letters and their sounds. For example, some of the vocabulary used for the letter A, the first taught, includes: volcano, blazon, matrix, vagrant, creative, convalescent, quacked, valve, vanquish, severance, schwa, larva, schizophrenia, vendetta, advantage, phrase, overrate, propaedeutic, villainy, clairvoyant, walnut, walrus, hallway, squall, psalmist, windfall, etc. etc.. Besides the obvious comprehension issues with some of these words, a child would not be able to read them unless they already knew all the letters and how to sound out words with phonics.

In short, you could not teach a child to read with this book. Perhaps it could be an useful vocabulary book for older children, to go through together and see if they know the meanings of the words and can pronounce them correctly. Since it could be useful for that purpose I'm giving it 5 stars, even though that was not the purpose for which I was hoping to use it.

The best book I have found so far for teaching children to read by means of phonics is The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. If anyone has any other suggestions, please leave a comment - I'd appreciate other ideas for well laid-out, complete instructional phonics books.

[Jacqui Eames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource book. Very clear in its explanations of each letter and usage.

[LG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I return to this book again and again for clarification, reminders, and lesson planning.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely didn't read it for fun, but it gets the job done. It's a useful resource and quick reference for anyone who teaches reading/writing or a parent looking to provide extra support.

[Keith White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thorough reference that every reading teacher should read and have access to.

[Tracey H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a book shelf reference keeper!

[Peg Calogero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource book for teaching decoding and encoding.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a word nerd like me, this book has a very interesting analysis of the English language.