Teach your spellers about the FLOSS rule with this free game!
Have you heard of the FLOSS rule? It’s one that we often teach beginning spellers.
The floss rule says that we double the final consonant when three conditions are met:
- The word is one syllable.
- The word has a short vowel.
- The word ends in f, l, s, or z.
It’s called the FLOSS rule because most words that follow this pattern end in f, l, or s.
Examples of words that follow the FLOSS rule:
- gruff
- sniff
- fluff
- cuff
- hill
- doll
- grill
- pill
- bell
- shell
- well
- drill
- grass
- toss
- glass
- cross
- chess
- press
- dress
- fuzz
- fizz
- frizz
There are also a few words that should follow the FLOSS rule, but don’t:
- bus
- egg
- add
- gas
I used this game with my mid-year first grader.
As it turned out, he could spell most of the words in the game without needing to consult the FLOSS rule.
But it was still good thing for him to carefully analyze each word. Let me show you what I mean.
To play, we took turns moving around the board using a die.
When he landed on a picture, he said its name. Then he pulled out his recording sheet.
For each word, he asked himself three questions:
Is it one syllable?
Does it have a short vowel?
Does it end with the f, l, s, or z sound?
If he had three yes’s, the word followed the FLOSS rule and needed a double consonant at the end. If not, it needed only a single consonant.
There are two tricky words built into the game, and they are marked with a star. Bus and egg do not follow the FLOSS rule. If they did, BUS would be spelled buss, and EGG would be spelled eg.
When I landed on bus, this is what I recorded on my answer sheet.
So what do you think? Could this game help your spellers become confident with the FLOSS rule?
Teaching tips
- Teach the FLOSS rule to the whole class in one or more focused lessons before introducing the game.
- Practice using the recording sheet as a class before expecting students to use it on their own during the game. It takes a little practice to get the hang of it.
More free spelling activities
© 2019, Anna G. All rights reserved.
MARY RYAN says
Thank you for the great freebie! I teach English language learners, and they would definitely benefit from learning this rule and practicing with your fun and engaging materials. I love all your materials!
Anna G says
You’re welcome, Mary!
Rachel Margaillan says
great game ! Thank you . I’m french and I teach my kids english and I love your fun and very clear material .
Anna G says
You’re very welcome, Rachel!
Angela Black says
I printed your Go Fish game for learning Bossy R words.
Can you forward the directions for the game!
All of your work has helped me working as a tutor.
Thank you
AngelaB
Kate Dowling says
Hi Angela!
This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. Here is the link to that post, which includes the directions: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/r-controlled-vowels-go-fish/
Enjoy the game!
Karen W. says
This is a great resource for practicing the floss rule. Just a couple clarifications. I think the floss rule is called floss because it just refers to words that end in f, l, s, or z. Bus does not follow the rule because it used to be called an omnibus. Gas does not because it used to be gasoline. There are a few exceptions (like yes), but generally if a word has only one vowel and ends in f,l, s, or z, the last letter will be doubled.
Anna G says
Thanks for that clarification, Karen!
Susan says
You read my mind!!! It’s exactly what I need right now and honestly, I love to use use your materials over most other things on the internet and Teachers Pay Teachers.
Thanks so much!
Susan
Anna G says
You’re very welcome, Susan!
AVALON E HOSPEDALES -JULIEN says
Thank you for this freebie!
I will most definitely make use of it in my classroom. I just love all your resources!
Avalon
Anna G says
You’re welcome, Avalon!
Michelle Toth says
Actually, I think the FLS words do NOT need to be doubled. All the words you listed (drill, sniff, etc) already have the last letter doubled. I think the rule is, double letters other than words ending in FLS. For example sit, sitting, bed, bedding, hem. hemming.
Anna G says
We’re talking about something different. You’re talking about adding ends to words, whereas I’m talking about spelling single-syllable words.