Teaching the FLOSS Rule! - Make Take & Teach

Memory aids are often used to help students remember certain spelling rules. The FLoSS rule is one of the first spelling rules taught to our first and second grade students to help them understand when to double the final “f”, “l” and “s” consonants at the end of certain words. The word “floss” actually follows the FLoSS rule. When a /f/, /l/ /s/ (or /z/) is heard after a short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word, it is spelled with a double “ff”, “ll”, “ss” or “zz”. Okay, you’re probably thinking how did that “z” sneak in there. Well, there really aren’t too many words that end in “z” so this rule will work for the majority of words your students encounter. Feel free to download this free FLoSS rule poster for your classroom.

Click the following link to download this poster Floss Poster

It’s always helpful to have on hand word lists for specific phonics concepts. You can also download this handout by clicking the link below.

Click the following link to download the free FLOSS word list Floss Word List

To teach and practice this rule, it’s helpful to identify words that follow and then do not follow this rule. I created this file folder activity so that students can analyze words according to their features and then decide if the word is a FLoSS word. This file folder activity is great for independent centers as it offers a hands-on approach to learning. By laminating the file folder, you can use this activity over and over again!

The File Folder Phonics Activity for The FLOSS Rule is available in my Teachers Pay Teacher store or through the Make, Take & Teach website.

There are certainly many more rules that students need to learn to become proficient readers and writers. The Make, Take & Teach Even More! File Folder Phonics Activities contains 13 hands-on activities for teaching contractions, plurals, past tense and more!