ASCII Table and Description

Abbreviation
An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short) is a shortened form of a word
or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the
word or phrase. For example, the word abbreviation can itself be represented by the
abbreviation abbr., abbrv. or abbrev.
In strict analysis, abbreviations should not be confused
with contractions or acronyms (including initialisms), with which they share
some semantic andphonetic functions, though all three are connoted by the term
"abbreviation" in loose parlance.
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An abbreviation is a shortening by any method; a
contraction is a reduction of size by the drawing together of the parts. A contraction of a
word is made by omitting certain letters or syllables and bringing together the first and last
letters or elements; an abbreviation may be made by omitting certain portions from the
interior or by cutting off a part. A contraction is an abbreviation, but an abbreviation is not
necessarily a contraction. However, normally, acronyms are regarded as a subgroup of
abbreviations (e.g. by the Council of Science Editors). Abbreviations can also be used to
give a different context to the word itself, such as "PIN Number" (wherein if the
abbreviation were removed the context would be invalid).

ALPHABETIZING
At some point during the late reading process, perhaps during 3rd grade, begin teaching
your child how to arrange words in alphabetical order. This skill is important and used in
looking up anything that is listed alphabetically. The lessons refer to files that are on
the Sorting Cards web page.
Lesson One - Alphabetizing to the first letter
Choose several of the word cards of the first lesson. Pick short one-syllable words and only
one word from each letter of the alphabet. Suggested words from a-z: all, ban, cut, doll, ear,
far, gut, hot, jar, lot, map, nun. This is only 12 words. You can choose more or less
depending on your student. It may be a good idea to compile two sets of words.

Lay the sorting cards worksheet in front of your child. Show your child the alphabetic going
across the top of the sheet. You can tell you child that the letters are in alphabetical order.
Tell your child that he is going to put some words in alphabetical order. Take the first pile
of word cards and mix them up again. Show your child that he must first find the first card--
- which would normally be a card that has a word that starts with an a. In future lessons
you should occasionally give your child word card sets that have no cards with an a word.

Your child should place the first card in the first block of the worksheet, then the next one
in the next block and so on... How you use and whether you use the worksheet is up to you.
The main purpose of the worksheet is: Displaying the alphabet for your child as a reminder
and having a place for your child to lay his cards.
Repeat this lesson as many times as needed using different cards that start with a different
letter and without skipping letters.

Lesson Two - Alphabetizing to the first letter, skipping letters
When your child shows that he can place words that start with letters that are not skipped,
hand him a stack of cards that contain skipped letters. Such a group of cards could be these
words from the file a-z: cut, ear, far, hot, jar, lot, map, oats, pop, ran, son, top, up, won.
Repeat this lesson as much as needed.

Lesson Three- Alphabetizing to the second letter
The next level is alphabetizing to the second letter. You should explain how to alphabetize
to the second letter as many times as your student needs. Use words such as these words
from the file a-f: ant, are, bat, boy, dog, dig, fan, fit, get, go, hi, hut, it, in, joy, June
Repeat this lesson as often as needed. Use the files above or make your own with the blank
files.

Lesson Four- Alphabetizing to the third letter
After alphabetizing to the second letter for five or more lessons, then move into
alphabetizing to the third letter. Select words from the j-k file (or any of the others). These
words from the j-k file can be used for the first lesson: junk, just, jute, jury, join, jolt, job,
jump, jungle, judo, juice, king, kite, kilo, kick, knob, knife, knee.
Repeat this lesson as often as needed and repeat the instructions as often as needed.
Meanwhile, mix in lessons about Guide Words.

Lesson Five- Alphabetizing to the fourth letter
When you get to alphabetizing to the 4th letter, select words form the s words file and the j-
k file: sail, saint, salt, salve, sand, sane, save, scab, scald, scan, scar, seat, seal, seam, search,
second, secret, and from j-k: knob, knot, know, knife, knight, knit
Your child will have to order the words based on the fourth letter. After this lesson, you
could have him order words based on the 5th letter. This mastering of alphabetizing is
what you are after. Your child needs a firm understanding of how words are ordered in
reference books