Helpful Hints for Reading A Guide for Those Helping Beginning or Struggling Readers Summer 2017 Dear Reading Advocate: Learning to read unlocks the door to a world of adventure, knowledge and wisdom. Yet, for some, learning to read proves to be incredibly difficult. The 26 letters of our alphabet represent over 40 speech sounds, and are used to spell more than one million English words – too many to memorize! Memorization may help at first, but it encourages guessing, not thinking. Many students struggle through the complex process of learning to read because they cannot figure out how the ‘alphabet code’ works. Beginning and struggling readers often need direct, explicit, structured, sequential, systematic, multisensory instruction in both the alphabet code and phonics (the sound that each letter makes) to become fluent readers. Th is manual is meant to provide you with a guide to the foundational reading skills that make up our written language. Learning the sounds, syllables and spelling rules of English encourages reasoning, and is essential for confident reading, spelling, and comprehension. We hope Helpful Hints for Reading will provide a useful ‘roadmap’ for family members, volunteers, librarians, teachers, and tutors helping students on their journey toward reading mastery, and a lifetime love of learning. This edition has undergone substantial revisions in hopes of giving you a resource that is easy to maneuver and understand. Please visit our Facebook page or email us at [email protected] to share your feedback! Sincerely, Tracey A. Ely, Director Tutor Eau Claire Reading & Dyslexia Resource Center 628 Muller Ave., Columbia, SC 29203 www.tutorec.org Acknowledgements Tutor Eau Claire (TEC) is thankful for the many organizations and individuals who believe in our mission to encourage struggling readers. We are particularly indebted to the Academy of Columbia Foundation of the Central Carolina Community Foundation for commissioning the development of Helpful Hints for Reading. We also thank Heather Frierson, Georgia Brennecke, Associate/AOGPE, Janet Jones, Fellow/AOGPE, and numerous parents and TEC tutors for their helpful suggestions in creating this manual. Special thanks go to Michelle Keiffer, TEC Communications Coordinator, for proofreading and editing of this third edition. We hope this manual will become a handy reference for reading helpers throughout the Midlands community and beyond. Copyright Tutor Eau Claire 2013, 2016, 2017. To obtain a copy of this manual contact Tutor Eau Claire at [email protected] Table of Contents I. Speech Sounds ___ 1 II. Consonants ______ 2 Noisy or Quiet? Consonant Pairs 3 Combination qu 4 Consonant Digraphs 5 Consonant Blends 6 Sounds of s 7 Soft c and g ___________________ 8 III. Vowels ________ 9 Short Vowel Sounds 10 Long Vowel Sounds 11 Vowel – Y 12 IV. Family Units: -ng, -nk, -all, -igh 13 -ild, -ind, -old, -olt, -ost ___ 14 V. The Syllable: A Definition 15 VI. Six Types of Syllables 16 Closed 17 Open 18 Silent-e 19 Bossy-r 20 Vowel Team 21 Vowel Teams with More than One Sound 22 Advanced Vowel Teams 23 Consonant-le 24 VII. Syllable Division Patterns 25 Rabbit Words vc.cv ____ 26 Ostrich Words vc.ccv, vcc.cv ____ 27 Tiger Words v.cv 28 Camel Words vc.v ____ 29 Turtle Words v[cle, vc[cle 30 Lion Words v.v 31 Schwa 32 VIII. Spelling Rules: C or K -Which do I use before a vowel? 33 How do I spell /k/ at the end of a short word? 34 Floss Rule: -ff, -ll, -ss, -zz 35 Three Great Spelling Rules 36 Vowel Team Spellings: au/aw, oi/oy, ou/ow 37 Red Words (Irregular Words) 38 More Helpful Hints: Three Sounds of Suffix -ed 39 Plurals (Suffix -s and Suffix -es) 40 Articles: A, An, The 41 Did you know? 42 What Parents and Teachers Should Know About Dyslexia ___ 43 Recommendations for Helping Your Struggling Reader____44-45 About Tutor Eau Claire ___ 46 Resources 47 Word Lists 48-50 Speech Sounds There are two types of sounds: Vowels (v) (Air flows freely = always voiced) a, e, i, o, u (and sometimes y) Consonants (c) (Air flow is shaped with lips, tongue, or teeth; sometimes voiced/sometimes not voiced) b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z Note: Throughout this manual, we will use these symbols: V = vowel, and C = consonant. The Alphabet Principle Letters represent speech sounds. Upper case letters: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Lower case letters: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 1 Consonant Sounds Alphabet letters represent the sounds in words. To show the sound a letter makes, we put bars to either side of the letter (ex. /b/, /c/). The key word contains the letter’s sound, either at the beginning or end. Memorizing these basic letter/key word/sounds simplifies reading and spelling. Three consonants (c, g, s) have two sounds. Letter Sound Key Word b /b/ boy c /k/ or /s/* cat, city *See p. 3 for c =/s/ d /d/ dog f /f/ fish g /g/ or /j/* goat, cage *See p. 3 for g =/j/ h /h/ hat j /j/ jam k /k/ kite l /l/ lamp m /m/ man n /n/ nut p /p/ pan qu /kw/ queen r /r/ rat s /s/ or /z/* snake, nose *See p. 4 for s =/z/ t /t/ top v /v/ van w /w/ wind x /ks/ box y /y/ yoyo z /z/ zebra ch /ch/ chin ck /k/ clock sh /sh/ ship th /th/ this/thin wh /wh/ whistle 2 Noisy or Quiet? Eight pairs of consonants can be hard to tell apart. One consonant in each pair is “voiced,” or “noisy,” while the other is “unvoiced,” or “quiet.” Unless the sounds are spoken clearly, these pairs can be confused, because the sounds in each pair are produced in the same part of the mouth. Pair # Quiet Sound Noisy Sound 1. /p/ = lap /b/ = lab 2. /t/ = mat /d/ = mad 3. /k/ = duck /g/ - dug 4. /f/ = off /v/ = have 5. /th/ = thin /th/ - this 6. /s/ - hiss, cats /z/ = his, dogs, nose 7. /sh/ - wish /zh/ = garage 8. /ch/ - rich /j/ = ridge Try this: • Hold your hand over your throat as you say the sound of the bolded letter(s) in each pair above. Can you feel the difference? • Use a mirror to see what your mouth is doing as you produce the quiet and noisy sounds. Your mouth should be in the same position for each noisy/quiet pair. Feel your throat vibrate when you say a noisy sound. 3 qu • qu says /kw/, a combination of /k/ and /w/ • In English words, the letters q and u always go together. • With qu, the u does not make a vowel sound. • A vowel typically follows the u in qu words. quiz quail quake squirt quit squeak square squirm quick queen quote quart quilt quite quest quack 4 Consonant Digraphs Sometimes, two letters come together to make one sound. These are called “Digraphs”. Sometimes they are called the “h-brothers.” Common Digraphs: sh ch wh th ph = /f/ ship chat whip thin phone shed chop whiz thumb graph shop chin whale thud phonics shell chill when math elephant cash church why Beth dish pinch white moth rush lunch whiskers with Advanced: Trigraphs are three letters that make one sound. They are used only after a short vowel sound. -tch = /ch/ -dge = /j/ fetch fudge crutch bridge Catch the pitch. Judge the fudge. Exceptions to -tch: much, such, rich, which, sandwich 5 Consonant Blends Two or more consonants come together to form a consonant blend. The sound of each letter is heard, but they are “blended” together. Examples of blends at the beginning of words: bl (bled) br (brat) sc (scat) dw (dwell) cl (clip) cr (cram) sk (skim) tw (twin) fl (flat) dr (drop) sm (smell) gl (glad) gr (grip) sn (snap) pl (plot) pr (prop) sp (spot) sl (slit) tr (trot) st (step) sw (swim) Examples of blends at the end of words: -ld (held) -mp (bump) -nd (bend) -sk (mask) -lf (self) -nt (mint) -sp (wisp) -lk (milk) -st (list) -lm (film) -ln (kiln) -lt (belt) -lp (scalp) 6 Two SOUNDS of S 1) S says /s/ most of the time: Sam acts so silly! Pass us the salt. Cats are good pets. Sit close to Jess. Stop slurping! 2) S can also say /z/: A. when s comes between two vowels, as in: rise nose please close (as in, “Close the door.”) B. when s is at the end of short words, as in: as has is his was C. when a word ends in suffix -s, as in: cars dogs rivers padlocks radios D. when a word ends in the suffix -es, as in: bushes catches foxes fries potatoes (Also see Noisy or Quiet? on page 3) 7 Soft C and G c and g make their “soft” sound when followed by e, i, or y: c will say /s/ and g will say /j/. Watch-Out Vowels e i y Examples of Soft C and G: Soft c = /s/ Soft g = /j/ cell ginger face magic city gym fancy George Soft g Exceptions: get, give, eager, girl 8 Powerful Vowels Every word must have a vowel to be a real word. Even our smallest words, “a” and “I”, have vowels.