tion tian cian cean cion sion sian

There is a superstition that if a
black cat walks in front of you, bad luck
is on the way. I do not believe that, do you?

Tion, tian, cian, cean, cion, sion, sian all say the shun sound you hear in fashion. See if you hear the shun sound at the end of these words:

action         Dalmatian       musician       ocean

mention      Martian           electrician     crustacean

And:
suspicion       mission            Asian

coercion        permission       Persian

Count how many ways there are to spell shun:________

I hope you counted seven. Now, add shion, as in fashion and cushion. Eight ways to write the shun sound.

These shun letter blocks are like plastic Lego blocks; they do not come apart. You cannot break these letter blocks apart to sound them out; you have see them / know them. They all say shun.

Four of the words on the list start with a capital letter: Dalmatian, Martian, Asian, Persian.   Why do those words have a capital letter and the others do not? 

Remember the rule that people and places (proper nouns) must have a capital letter; boy is a category noun not a proper noun. Adam is a proper noun, so Adam must start with capital A.

The word region is a category noun; the word Dalmatia is a proper noun for the region of Dalmatia on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Therefore, Dalmatia and the puppies from Dalmatia, called Dalmatians, need a capital letter.  (say Dal ma sha)

The word Asian refers to someone or something from the region of Asia. 

Persian refers to the region of the world called Persia. Persia is a vast area on the world map where you now see Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. 

A Martian does not come from a region or place on any world map. Where to you think a Martian comes from?    the middle of a marshmallow    or   the planet, Mars

Answer: the planet, Mars. Would you like to meet a Martian?  yes   no

Even good readers cannot get enough practice at school to really learn these tricky letter blocks.

I now use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help 4th gr 5th gr 6th grade.  

 Also Instant Reading Help tion, tious, tient, ciate - covers all complex vowel blocks: tion, tian, cion, etc tious, cious, tient, cient, tiency, ciency, ciate, tiate, cial, tial, ous, uous, ious, eous.      Have a great day, Mary Maisner