Topic/Stage	Early	Middle	Late
Overview	Apply the alphabetic principle primarily to consonants \. Spellers in this stage attend to noise and use the alphabetic principle to find letter names in the alphabet to spell the most prominent features in words. Articulationplays a big role in how the “noise” is produced	Continue to use a phonemic spelling strategy in which they focus on letter-sound matches. Spellers have learned to segment and represent the middle vowel sound within words.	Continue to represent beginning, middle and ending sounds within words. Learn odd spellings of high-frequency words such as were and come. They learn to include more ambiguous sounds in their spelling i.e. preconsonantal nasals
Articulation	Students find matches between letters and the spoken word by how the sound is made or articulated in the mouth. A student’s experience will also influence his or her choice.	Rely on the feel of sounds as they are articulated in the mouth.	When preconsonantal nasals are being developed, a change in airflow changes the sounds. Air is moving through the nasal passage, which creates distint sounds, different from those articulated through the mouth.
Vowels	These spellers have difficulty separating vowels from consonants in order to analyze them and make letter matches.	These spellers spell short vowels with the letter name closest in articulation to that short vowel. They use their knowledge of letter names and the feel of the vowels as they are produced in the vocal tract to spell.	These spellers reread their own spelling of a word, a word that they know spells something else, they experience disequilibrium. This forces them to find other ways to spell a word..
Digraphs/Blends	Although digraphs and blends are not explicitly taught in the early stage they are introduced into family words sorts for early exposure and for those students who are leaving the early stage into the middle.	Spell the more difficult consonant blends and digraphs by using the names of the letters of the alphabet as their guide. Most commonly seen digraphs are those containing the letter “h” blends tend to be the more difficult because they are not easily segmented into individual phonemes: th, sh, ch, ph/qu, tw, fl, cl, sl, s blends, r blends and l blends.	By the end of this stage, spellers are able to represent most consonant digraphs and consonant blends correctly. This stage includes the pre-consonantal nasals. When students begin to spell words with the preconsonantal nasals. When students begin to spell words with the preconsonantal nasals correctly, they usually at the end of the letter name-alphabetic stage. Mp, nt, nd, nk
English Language Learners	Pictures sorts allow students compare pictures based on begging sounds. Word banks help them learn specific words. Site word they are known out of context. They need frequent exposure to these words.	Personal Readers. Selected passges from books that you have read to them with support from the teacher or peers. This is helpful together words from their word banks.