The Caves at Eagle Ridge

Part Four

It is important for you to keep working toward strengthening your child’s syllabication skills that will make the decoding of longer and unfamiliar words easier for your child to read. Here is an example of how to help your child to take an unfamiliar word in order to decode it into small segments of already learned parts.

Take the word ‘responsibilities’ for example: (re/spon/si/bil/i/ties) If you recall, when we first began to decode, I provided your child with initial and final consonant blends, digraphs, most prefixes (re), suffixes, consonant word endings and a combination of vowel sounds. When your child has learned all of the above, your child will have sufficient skills necessary to decode many more difficult and unfamiliar words.

In the story, I have used the term ‘of supreme significance’, I ask that you teach your child how to use their dictionary. I encourage the use of a dictionary when looking up words from vocabulary exercises. I need you to help your child learn the value of a dictionary. Your intervention should enable your child to follow the reading-outline of almost anything they choose to read.

Let’s get started. The first part of responsibilities, the re, doesn’t follow the rule. There are news broadcasters who fail to pronounce many such words correctly. A child has to be taught this in order to read and spell correctly. The ĕ in de, pe and re may sometimes be pronounced as a short ĭ vowel sound. Spon follows the rules and is decoded as a short o. Si is an opened vowel but in this case has a short ĭ vowel sound. Bil follows the rule but the next vowel, the i is not long and must be remembered as having a short ĭ vowel sound. The ties at the end of the word responsibilities is a correlative suffix and must be learned and pronounced as a long TVT vowel sound.

I never said that learning vowel sounds would be easy.

I’ve spent a career helping struggling readers to decode new words and I have found that syllabication plus hand-writing all new words to be the most effective method to help children to remember words.

Continuing my story from where I last left off:

Story Word List

The Caves at Eagle Ridge

Part Four

That afternoon, I began practicing my over-the-head twirling with the climbing rope to the point where I was confident that my swinging of the weighted end of the rope would carry over the rapids and into the waiting arms of my friends. Practice does make perfect. My aim was pinpoint perfect and the climbing rope was now in the hands of the group. They had already chosen and prepared several anchoring spots with which to tie the top of my fallen tree. The landing spot that I’d been aiming for was to an elevated target over four feet high with a huge rock for back-up support. If my aim was to meet its purpose, the tree must fall on this specific landing spot. This would allow me to cross over the rapids with the trunk tip barely touching the river’s cresting flow.

Whatever daylight was left allowed me the time to complete the unearthing of what still lay at the bottom of the cache. It was getting too dark to see into the excavation as I lay on the spoil from the soil that I removed from my digging. I had to be vigilant as I dug further into the excavation, as I couldn’t risk any injury to my hands. I probed with a stick to examine how deeply I had dug and how much more digging would be needed to reach the bottom. I was soon rewarded by uncovering a jar of delicious preserved peaches, two tins of canned salmon and some baking flour dough. I began to laugh out loud because of these discoveries. Since I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, I had a piece of salmon and almost ate the entire jar of the preserved peaches.

As I continued my digging, I found a few small tools, a wedge, crow bar and blanket. Further exploration resulted in the most unbelievable and extraordinary discovery. It would be a source of fascination and of supreme significance not only for myself but for the group’s plans for when we arrived at the Caves at Eagle Ridge. What I found in a canvas bag was a small booklet with maps and written information pertaining to a secret passage in one of the caves at Eagle Ridge. I was filled with excitement.

I woke up early the next morning. The weather was perfect. Sunny and not a cloud in the sky in this beautiful country. This was a perfect day for tree felling. I began reviewing a course of action necessary if the tree was to fall on the opposite shore and not be carried over the falls. It was essential that the first cut be made directly in line to where I expected the tree to fall. I plumb-bobbed to get the exact spot the tree was to land and used Claude’s trigonometry calculations to make the first diagonal cut. If I miscalculated, the river’s current could sweep the tree and the rope over the falls. I kept thinking that whomever buried the handsaw, shovel and the wedge, had my heartfelt gratitude. Without the handsaw I couldn’t cut down the tree. The wedge was essential for guiding the tree’s fall. It was now up to me to execute the final cut that should result in what may be my last chance to join my friends.

I had determined that if my execution for the felling of the tree was dead on perfect, I could begin cutting branches from the topside of the bough that I would traverse, leaving several stronger branches for balance and support. The first part of my trek would be risk-free since the tree’s trunk was wider from the start before narrowing to where the current would be at its most precarious for anyone trying to cross. My footing was an issue as I made my way to where the river would begin its assault from beneath.

The first cut was successful. If it weren’t for the wedge, having the tree land on the exact spot as planned would have depended upon chance. I didn’t need luck, I had put a great deal of thought and planning into making a precision cut so exact that success would be an almost certainty. I had to weigh whether my next cut would end up with the tree falling on the target I had in mind. The time had come for me to fix the wedge into the back of the tree’s rough barked trunk. All I needed was to be sure that when I swung the crowbar, it would strike true and drive the wedge toward the center of the trunk, providing me with a wooden walkway to the other side of the river.

The blow to the wedge was true and the tree began its thundering, loud crashing of breaking branches as it plummeted to its designated destination. It would take only a matter of minutes for the group to anchor the tree top. When the tree top was fully secured, I could begin my treacherous trek over the swirling whirlpools and the heave of the tree from the frictional force of the river as it cascaded to the rocks below. I carried the canvas bag inside my shirt with the leather drawstrings tied tightly around my belt.

I was barefoot since diving into the river for what seems like days ago. I only wish that I had my serrated boots for the slippery footpath that I was about to encounter. It was essential that I not look down at the fast flowing current. I needed to concentrate with all my might to defend myself from what might be a matter of life or death. I gave out a slight cough, caught my breath and turned to face the challenge of the river’s rage. As I advanced, I felt the effects of the river’s rush shaking and heaving in an effort to cause me to lose my footing and plunge into its suffocating watery arms.

Exercise # 1: Synonyms

Words with the same word meaning

Place the letter of the synonym on the left in the brackets to the right:

Exercise # 2: Vowel Sounds in the First Syllable

(Every word to be hand-written)

Exercise # 3: Homonyms

Words that sound the same but are spelled differently

Place the letter of the synonym on the left in the brackets to the right:

Exercise # 4: Consonant Sounds of C and G

Exercise # 5: Antonyms

Words that mean the opposite.

Find the matching antonym, then place the letter in the bracket beside its description. Write the matching antonym in the space provided.

Exercise # 6: True or False?

What did Frank tell us in his story? Answer True or False.

Exercise # 7: Questions and Answers

In your best handwriting, write every answer in complete sentences.

1. Who is about to attempt to cross the river?
   
   

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2. What was the weather like just before the attempted crossing?
   
   

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3. What was the most important tool needed to make the felling of the tree successful?
   
   

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4. What was the first tool to be unearthed from the cache?
   
   

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5. What part of the day did Frank discover the canvas bag?
   
   

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6. What do you think Frank found in the canvas bag?
   
   

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7. What was Frank’s only wish?
   
   

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8. What did Frank do to make the crossing more safe before he attempted to cross the raging river?
   
   

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9. What would happen if Frank’s calculation for felling the tree was to come up short?
   
   

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10. What foods did Frank find as he unearthed the soil from the cache?
    
    

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ANSWERS: For parents for the above exercises

Exercise # 1: Synonyms

Words with the same word meaning

Place the letter of the synonym on the left in the brackets to the right:

Exercise # 2: Vowel Sounds in the First Syllable

(Every word to be hand-written)

Exercise # 3: Homonyms

Words that sound the same but are spelled differently

Place the letter of the synonym on the left in the brackets to the right:

Exercise # 4: Consonant Sounds of C and G

Exercise # 5: Antonyms

Words that mean the opposite.

Find the matching antonym, then place the letter in the bracket beside its description. Write the matching antonym in the space provided.

Exercise # 6: True or False?

What did Frank tell us in his story? Answer True or False.

Exercise # 7: Questions and Answers

In your best handwriting, write every answer in complete sentences.

1. Who is about to attempt to cross the river?

   Frank is about to attempt to cross the river.

2. What was the weather like just before the attempted crossing?

   The weather was clear and sunny.

3. What was the most important tool needed to make the felling of the tree successful?

   The wedge was the most important tool needed to make the felling of the tree successful.

4. What was the first tool to be unearthed from the cache?

   The saw was the first tool to be unearthed from the cache.

5. What part of the day did Frank discover the canvas bag?

   Frank discovered the canvas bag in the late evening.

6. What do you think Frank found in the canvas bag?

   (The answer is whatever the child thinks Frank found in the canvas bag.)

7. What was Frank’s only wish?

   Frank wished he had his serrated climbing boots.

8. What did Frank do to make the crossing more safe before he attempted to cross the raging river?

   He cleared the branches from the trunk, leaving longer branches for support.

9. What would happen if Frank’s calculation for felling the tree was to come up short?

   If Frank’s calculation for felling the tree were to come up short, the rope and tree would be swept over the falls.

10. What foods did Frank find as he unearthed the soil from the cache?

    Frank found preserved peaches, two tins of canned salmon and some baking dough in the cache.

Next:

The Caves at Eagle Ridge

Part Five