CONSONANT SOUNDS

Digraph: a combination of two letters representing one sound

Common Consonant Digraphs ch (chin) sh (shut) th (voiced - thin) th (voiceless – this) wh (which) ph (phone) gh (rough)

Trigraph: a combination of three letters representing one sound

Common Consonant Trigraphs tch (watch) dge (grudge)

Consonant blend: when two or more consonants are blended together, but each sound may be heard in the blend

Initial Consonant Blends l Blends r Blends s Blends 3-letter Blends Other Blends bl (blend) br (bride) sc (scare) sch (school) dw (dwell) cl (clay) cr (crop) sk (skunk) scr (scrub) tw (twig) fl (fly) dr (drive) sm (smile) squ (squash) thr (threw) gl (glass) fr (free) sn (snack) str (strong) pl (plug) gr (grand) sp (spell) spr (sprout) sl (slow) pr (prize) st (sting) spl (splash) Tr (trust) sw (swing) shr (shrank)

Final Consonant Blends ct (act) lt (salt) nt (hunt) sp (lisp) ft (lift) mp (jump) pt (kept) st (lost) ld (old) nch (lunch) rd (word) lm (calm) nd (band) rt (art) lp (pulp) nk (think) sk (tusk)

VOWELS

Short Vowels a (cat e (hen) i (tin) o (mop) u (cut)

Common Long Vowel Spelling Patterns A Patterns e Patterns I Patterns o Patterns u Patterns a_e (lake) e_e (these) i_e (hike) o_e (hope) u_e (cube) ai (rain) ea (eat) igh (sight) oa (oat) ay (stay) ee(feet) i__ (child, find) ow (own) -y (baby) -y (fly)

Vowel plus R ar (car) er (her) ir (sir) or (for) ur (fur)

Other Common Vowel Spellings oi (oil) oy (boy) ou (out) ow (how) oo (soon) oo (good) al (also) aw (saw) au (auto)

Schwa: The vowel sound sometimes heard in an unstressed syllable and that most often sounds like /uh/ or the short /u/ sound as in cup. a (ago) e (happen) o (other)

SYLLABLES

Syllable Type Vowel Sound Definition Examples Comments (Synonyms)

The main prerequisite when children learn the closed Has only one splash, lend, in, syllable type is that they first Closed Short vowel and ends top, ask, thump, have to be able to classify in a consonant. frog, mess letters as either vowels or consonants.

Has a –VCE Words like noise, prince, pattern (one and dance are not silent e, vowel, followed even though they end in a by one plane, tide, use, silent e, because they do not Silent e Long consonant, chime, theme, have the -VCE (magic e) followed by a ape, stroke, hope pattern; noise has a –VVCE silent ethat pattern ends the and prince and dance have a - syllable) VCCE pattern.

This syllable type becomes especially useful as children Has only one progress to two-syllable words. vowel that is he, she, we, no, Open Long For example, the last letter go, flu, by, spy the ti in title, lo in lotion, of the syllable. and rain raven are all open syllables.

Vowel patterns do not always involve two vowels but can also consist of a vowel plus consonants, if this pattern has a consistent sound Varies depending (e.g, igh almost always says on the specific Has a vowel long /i/; all almost always says vowel pattern; Vowel pattern in it stay, plain, straw, /all/). Also, some vowel children must combination (e.g., ay, ai, fall, pie, piece, patterns can have more than memorize (vowel team) aw, all, ie, igh, night, grow, cow one sound. For sounds for these ow, ee, ea). example, ow can say long /o/ individual vowel as in grow or /ow/ as in cow. patterns. For these patterns, children learn both sounds and, when decoding an unfamiliar word, they try both sounds to see which one makes a real word.

Does not include words in which Varies depending the vowel r unit is followed by on the specific an e (e.g., stare, cure, here) or vowel runit; Has only one Vowel r ark, charm, her, in which the r follows a vowel children must vowel followed (bossy r, herd, stir, born, combination (e.g., cheer, fair, memorize immediately by r-controlled) fork, urn board). These words can sounds for these an r usually be taught as silent e (in units (e.g., ar, the first case) or vowel er, ir, or, ur). combination (in the second).

Has a –CLE -dle as in candle, Consonant-le syllables never pattern (one -fle as in ruffle, Consonant-le Schwa stand alone; they always are consonant, -ple as in maple, part of a longer word. Also, followed by -gle as in google, an l, followed -tle as in title, they are never the accented by a -ble as in Bible syllable of a longer word. silent ewhich ends the syllable)

Common syllable division patterns The chart below provides some useful generalizations for teaching students how to divide (syllabicate) two- syllable words with various common patterns, in order to decode them. These generalizations also are useful for decoding multisyllabic words, those with three or more syllables.

Pattern Generalization Examples Comments

back/pack, To be a true compound word, each of the In a compound word, divide lamp/shade, smaller words must carry meaning in the Compound between the two smaller bed/room, context of the word (e.g., carpet is not a words. bath/tub, compound word, because a carpet is not a work/book pet for your car or a car for your pet).

If a word has a VCCV There is an exception if the two consonants (vowel-consonant- or/bit, ig/loo, form a consonant digraph (a single sound), VCCV consonant-vowel) pattern, tun/nel, lan/tern, as in bishop, rather, gopher, or method. In divide between the two tar/get, vel/vet these cases, treat the word as a VCV word, consonants. not VCCV (see below).

If a word ends in a ma/ple, stum/ble, consonant-le syllable, always i/dle, nee/dle, -CLE divide immediately before gig/gle, mar/ble, the -CLE. tur/tle

To recognize the correct alternative, the If a word has a VCV (vowel- child needs to have the word in his/her oral consonant-vowel) pattern, hu/mid, ra/ven, vocabulary. If the student does not first try dividing before the mu/sic, go/pher; recognize the correct alternative, the consonant and sounding out teacher can have him or her try both -VCV the resulting syllables; if that plan/et, com/et, options (e.g., hu/mid with a long u does not produce a tim/id, bish/op, vs. hum/idwith a short u). Then, if recognizable word, try meth/od, rath/er necessary, just tell the child the correct dividing after the consonant. pronunciation of the word, with a brief explanation of its meaning.

pre/view, In word with a prefix, divide mis/trust, un/wise, Prefix See below. immediately after the prefix. re/mind, ex/port, un/veil

Depending on its origin, the base word in a glad/ly, wise/ly, word containing prefixes or suffixes will not sad/ness, always be a recognizable word. However, In a word with a suffix, care/less, the key point is that, when dividing a longer Suffix divide immediately before hope/ful, word, prefixes and suffixes are units that the suffix. frag/ment, always stay together as patterns; never state/ment, divide in the middle of a prefix or in the na/ture, frac/tion middle of a suffix.