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. First Edition

I cannot say enough good things about this book. First of all, please know that it is a reference book...Although, I did sit down and read it like a novel :) To me, it was that fascinating. I use it in conjunction with a good phonics program. We can teach the phonemic awareness and the phonics, but I believe kids also need to know WHY. Knowing the why really helps the learning stick, and I believe this book does an amazing job telling us why the English language does what it does sometimes. It is broken down in ABC order, so it's very easy to look up a spelling. It truly does make you an expert in minutes. Also, I cannot imagine the work and effort it took in writing this book...WOW! Instead of just saying "the English language doesn't make sense," teachers can now be empowered to say "The reason for this is spelled this way is because..." That gives students more of an incentive to learn...They know that there is a rhyme and reason, instead of thinking it doesn't make sense anyway. Wonderful book, and I absolutely recommend it to any teacher, particularly reading teachers.

For intermediate to advanced phonics, Bishop's text is a great resource, but it's not for every reading teacher. It should be particularly valuable for reading specialists, speech therapists, and anyone looking to develop curriculum material.How have I used the text? It's helped me adapt and develop materials for a junior-high student who reads 3-4 grades below level because of dyslexia. He hates the skill-sheets that were so obviously developed for elementary students. Now I can adapt or create materials easily.What does the text offer? It generally gives 20-40 examples for every spelling-sound pattern, and explains the situations that lead to the exceptions. Entries are cross-referenced to examples that follow similar patterns. Bishop points out differences you probably haven't thought of noticing before (for example, when the featured spelling-sound pattern is stressed or unstressed, voiced or not voiced. Each of these distinctions comes with a separate set of supporting examples.) Bishop offers clues that help readers know which pattern to follow when sounding out a word that "sounds" equally like two different spellings.

My 1st amazon review even though I’ve bought hundreds of things. This resource is amazing. I got to today and I’m using it to make myself notecards to practice myself so I actually know the rules myself while I’m working with my son. If been trying to find a book that has all this info and accidentally happened upon this gem. It’s not fancy. No pics. No fancy typeset. It’s literally an encyclopedia of phonics rules, and that’s amazing. THank u Ms Bishop for putting together this invaluable resource.

I loved this book! I am a reading interventionist and the ability to have all this information in one place is great! A great book to add to your educational library.

"The ABC's and All Their Tricks" (1985) is aimed at teachers who are interested in phonics, but it is a favorite among home schooling parents and tutors. It's a reference book, not a phonics program, that has alphabetized word lists according to the 74 English phonograms or ways of spelling the 44 sounds of English. Curious about why CH is pronounced like / k / in mechanic but like / sh / or / ch / in others? Look up "CH as in Christmas." (Words with CH as in chorus come from Greek; words with CH as in chef come from French.) You'll find words that follow that rule, cross references, exceptions, words grouped in 3 categories from basic, high school, and college levels, and a blurb about the spelling and maybe some history of it. There is chapter after chapter about spelling rules, pronunciation rules, stressed syllables, silent letters, discussion of studies on phonetic reading, Latin words, Latin accent and spelling rules, and notes to remedial teachers. This would be a useful supplement to any good phonics program to help teachers / parents answer students' questions instead of saying "It's an exception. Just memorize it." Mott Media also publishes "Phonics Made Plain," a wall chart and 74 flash cards keyed to this book. Another good book that blends nicely with this one, yet is more concise, is "Uncovering the Logic of English."

This book is amazing! It’s the best book for teaching phonics.

Would recommend to anyone teaching children to read and parents. Excellent book easy to support children with some of the why to the english language, alphabetic cod and, morphology.

Supper reference book for the spelling rules which can be a little confusing as an adult. I do not remember being taught the rules as a child and this is a great starting point.

Planning a lesson on the three sounds of CH and stumped on words that make the /sh/ sound? Wondering why the A in words like 'wash' and 'water' sounds more like short /o/? Need more examples of when the suffix ED sounds like /t/? This book has it all in such an easy-to-use format! Flip to any sound-spelling and find a list of words that have that sound - with easy, intermediate, and advanced examples.This book does provide information on each phonic sound-spelling, a tad bit of history and reasoning for the rules of each but it's not comprehensive enough to explain the full etymology. It's enough though to realize that many of the "exceptions" we claim that English has often have an explanation! :)The reason why I give this book 5 stars is because of its ease of use and everyday benefits. I find myself reaching for this book multiple times a week, if not daily, as I plan phonics lessons for my intervention students. Arranged alphabetically, it is so fast to flip to a particular sound spelling and have a list of words to use for reading practice, dictation exercises, word sorts, or any other activity.I wish the word lists were even longer for each sound-spelling as there is often a lot of white space left on the page. But I use the space to write down my own examples of each sound and over time I'll have a comprehensive list for each! :)Occasionally, I do not agree with the sound that a certain word makes although I attribute this to regional accent differences between myself and the author. Consider all of the words that you will pick to make sure they're suitable for your students.I LOVE this book! A must-have reference book for teachers!

This book is fantastic for teachers and a must read if you teach reading or English. It supports the science of reading and clearly explains why kids with learning disabilities/dyslexia struggle with the whole language approach as well as other reasons why kids tend to make certain errors when decoding and encoding. It is a fantastic reference point and I refer back to it when I need to teach a specific phonics concept. Definitely recommend to teachers, especially if you teach the science of reading.

Attention : le livre est en anglais.Ce livre est une sorte de dictionnaire récapitulatif sur la prononciation des mots en anglais.Les premiers chapitres reviennent sur les règles de base de prononciation des consonnes et des voyelles, ainsi que sur les règles d'accentuation. Un chapitre donne des conseils pour les professeurs.Ensuite, le livre se présente sous forme de listes de mots regroupés en fonction de leur prononciation (il existe beaucoup d'irrégularités dans la prononciation en anglais).A la fin du livre, vous avez des appendices revenant sur la division des syllabes, leur accentuation, la structure des mots (doublement des consonnes, mots à origine latine, mots composés, ....)d'après moi, ce livre est vraiment très complet et est une référence en la matière.Je pense que ce livre peut vraiment être intéressant pour ceux qui apprennent l'anglais et qui ne connaissent pas forcément l'alphabet phonétique.