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Correct Trick Words:
you, your, they, was, one, said
Fundations Unit 1
Wilson Unit 1 is a two week unit. The children will learn about beginning and ending consonant blends, the five digraphs (wh, sh, th, ch, and ck), and digraph blends. They will learn that when tapping out words with digraphs the digraph is tapped out with one finger touch because they make one sound. Students will learn that when marking up digraphs we underline the two letters together and when marking up a blend, we underline the letters in the blend with seperate underlines. It is important to remember that there can be three letters in a blend like in "street". Students will learn the importance of identifying all the possible ways to may the /k/ sound: c, k, and ck and the /w/ sound; w and wh. The rules for unit one state that the digraph ck is used at the end of a one syllable word following one vowel that says its sound (a short vowel). The consonant k is almost always followed by a "e", "i", or "y" and the consonant c is followed by a "a", "o", "u", and other consonants (like l, r, and t).
Correct Trick Words:
shall, pull, full, both, talk, walk
Fundations Unit 2
Fundations Unit 2 reviews closed, one-syllabel words. It also reinforces the "glued" sounds. These are the green tiles that your child will add to his/her magnetic boards. These sounds are:
am, an, all, ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, and unk
We will review the concept of bonus letters. The letters f, l, s, and sometimes z get a bonus letter after a short vowel sound in a one syllable word. Examples of this are miss, cliff, tell, and buzz.
The class will also be introduced to five new vowel team sounds. At this point, we are just learning the keywords and the sounds of the vowel teams. We will study them for the purpose of reading them and spelling them later in the year. These are the long vowel sounds /a/ and /e/ made by the vowel teams:
ai, ay, ee, ea, and ey
Correct Trick Words:
done, goes, pretty
Fundations Unit 3
This unit will take one week to complete. This unit works on closed syllable exceptions. These are one syllable words that are considered closed syllables even though the vowel makes the long vowel sound. The exceptions are:
/ild/ as in child
/old/as in cold
/ost/ as in post
/ind/ as in kind
/olt/ as in colt
We mark these words up by underlining them, putting a "c" that is crossed out under the line, and a straight line over the vowel.
We will also begin our work with trick words. Trick words are called this because in most cases they can't be sounded out. We will be practicing these words by sky writing them, using the gel boards in our kits, and reading them on cards.
We will also learn two more vowel teams: "oi" as in coin and "oy" as in boy
You will only need one page of the dictation lines; feel free to keep the additional page for additional practice. The children boxed glued sounds in unit 2. They will be asked to box the closed syllable exception sounds on page 4 of the packet. If you need index cards for the trick words, please send me a note and I will send your child home with them.
Correct Trick Words:
again, please, animal, sure, use, used
Fundations Unit 4
Unit 4 in Wilson Fundations is taught over a two week period. The unit introduces a number of suffix endings. Your child will be learning that -s and -es are added to basewords to make them plural (meaning more than one) and -ed is often added to basewords to make an action word past tense. They will learn that the -ed ending can have three different sounds: -ed as /t/, -ed as /d/, and -ed as /id/ or /ed/. They will also learn the comparative and superlative suffix endings -er and -est. To mark up words with suffix endings, we will be underlining the basewords and circling the suffix ending. It will be important for your child to recognize that not all words that have these letter combinations are always baseword/suffix; such as in the words " bleed", "steer", and "best".
The class will also be introduced to three more rows on the vowel team poster. They will be learning the letters/keyword/sound drills for long /o/ sound you hear in boat, snow, and toe spelled with "oa", "ow", and "oe", the /ou/ sound you hear in plow and trout, the /u/ sound you hear in soup, school, chew, and blue, and the long /u/ sound you hear in rescue.
Correct Trick Words:
against, once, often, knew, know, always
Fundations Unit 5
Unit 5 is an exciting two week unit! The unit is introducing combining syllables to form multisyllabic words. The class will be working with multisyllabic words that are made up of two closed syllables. Some of the words we will be working with in this unit are compound words; such as "upset". The children will be learning the rules for scooping the syllables. Words with two short vowels separated by one or more consonants are multisyllabic. If there is only one consonant separating the short vowels, the consonant goes with the first syllable in the scooping to keep it closed. As long as the two consonants aren't a digraph, you separate between them. If there are three consonants, the blend usually goes with the second syllable. The children will learn about multisyllabic words ending with the /ic/ sound are spelled with "ic" and not "ck". The digraph "ck" only comes at the end of a monosyllabic word right next to the short vowel.
The students will add suffix endings in this unit. They have been working with -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est. They will now understand how to apply the suffixes -ful, -ment, -ish, -less, -ness, -able, and -en.
Unit 6 introduces a new syllable type; the vowel-consonant-e syllable. The children will be learning that the silent e at the end of a word usually makes the inside vowel say it's name. They will be working to show the relationship between the closed syllable words and how they change with the magic e: cap/cape, rid/ride, slim/slime, tub/tube, etc. When they mark up these words they will scope the syllable, write a v-e under the scoop, put a straight dash (macron) over the long vowel, and slash the silent letter e. They will learn about multisyllabic words that combine a closed syllable with a v-e syllable.
They will learn that the letter s in the middle of two vowels can either say the /s/ or /z/ sounds. The students will learn that there are exceptions to the v-e rule making the inside vowel long. This is demonstrated in words with a v between the vowels like have and give. They will also add the the many suffix endings they have been working with by adding -ive to the list.
Correct Trick Words:
eight, large, change, city, something, night, carry, every, family
Fundations Unit 7
Unit number 7 is a two week unit. The children will be introduced to a third syllable type - the open syllable. Open syllabes are those where the vowel says it's name and no consonants come after it in the same syllable to close it off. The children will use the Wilson flashcards "a/acorn/A", "e/me/E", "i/hi/I", "o/no/O", "u/pupil/U" and "u/flu/U".
To mark up this syllable type, we scoop or underline it, put a macron over the vowel that says its name (a straight line), and write an "o" under the scoop. Open syllables can be combined with other syllable types. This can be seen in the words "behind" and "donate".
Students will also learn that the letter "y" can be a vowel. "Y" says "i" in one syllable words as in "cry", and "e" in multisyllabic words as in "baby".
Finally, the students will also learn that "y" can be a suffix ending (hilly) or part of a suffix ending (safely and safety).The students will know that when "y" is a suffix, it says the long "e" sound.
In the two week long unit 8, the children will be learning a new syllable type. They have learned the closed syllable (one syllable with one vowel that says its short sound followed by one or more consonants), a closed syllable exception (one syllable with one vowel that says its long vowel name followed by one or more consonants ind, olt, ost, old, and ild), vowel-consonant-e syllables, vowel-consonant-e exception syllables (when the first vowel says its short sound even though there is a silent e at the end), and open syllables (one syllable when one vowel says its long name with no consonants after it in the syllable). The next syllable type is called the r-controlled syllable. When a vowel is directly followed by the letter r, the r changes the sound of the vowel. For example in the word "car", the a has neither the short nor long vowel sound. Your child will be introduced to two new large keyword cards:
ar-bark-/ar/ and or-horn-/or/
Your child will be marking this syllable type up by circling the vowel with the r, scooping the syllable, and putting a "r" under the scoop. These syllables can be combined with other syllable types in multicyllablic words. Examples of this are the words report, garlic, and acorn. In report "re" is an open syllable and "port" is a r-controlled syllable, "gar" is the r-controlled syllable and "lic" is a closed syllable, and "a" is an open syllable and "corn" is the r-controlled syllable. The trick words for week one are world, answer, and eye and the trick words for the second week of the unit are carry, something, and different.
Please remember that you will need to use a regular piece of loose-leaf to complete the second week's dictation activity.
In this unit the class will learn three additional r-controlled syllables. They have worked with "ar" and "or" and now they will learn about the combinations of "er", "ir", and "ur". The keywords that go along with these r-controlled spellings are "her", "bird", and "burn". Words with these spellings can be difficult because there aren't any rules that help you decide which r-controlled spelling to use. The children will learn that the "er" sound at the end of a word is almost always spelled with the letters "er". These syllables are marked up by scooping the syllable, circling the er, ir, or ur, and writing a lowercase "r" under the scoop.
Unit 10 is another two-week unit! the students will be introduced to a new syllable type in this unit. They have had exposure to the vowel teams poster in class, as well as practice reading their sounds off of the large sound cards in class. Now we will begin applying that knowledge to words in our written work. This new syllable type is called a "D" syllable because it contains a double vowel combination. The first two that we are going to work with are "ai" and "ay" which make the long "a" sound. The children know their cue words as, "ai-bait-a" and "ay-play-a". We will be marking up these syllables by scooping the syllable, circling the vowel team, and writing a "d" under the scoop. Reading this syllable will be easier than writing it, as they will now have three options to pick from when deciding how to spell the long a sound in the words. They will have to determine if it is a v-e syllable, like in the word rake, an open syllable as in the word acorn, or a d-syllable as in the word stray. We will be relying heavily on the spelling options section of our student notebooks as a resource to help with these decisions. We spent a lot of time in unit 9 talking about how our eyes work with our brains in helping to determine which spelling option looks correct in the words with the /er/, /ur/, and /ir/ sounds. That same strategy will need to be applied to the next two weeks as well.
Your child has been learning about the "d-syllable". We have used the vowel teams ai and ay. In Unit 11 we will be working with the vowel teams ee, ea, and ey. The students will learn that the vowel teams ea and ee are typically found at the beginning or in the middle of a syllable; while the team ey is typically found at the end of the syllable. The children will learn that the marking up of these vowel teams in the d-syllable is the same marking of ai and ay. We circle the ee, ea, or ey and write a "d" under the scoop. They will be learning new trick words. For the first week these words are too, school, and son and in the second week the words are breakfast, head, and ready. We will continue to review all of the long vowel sounds, r-controlled sounds, and various other glued sounds.
Your child has been learning all about the "d-syllable". We have used the vowel teams, ai, ay, ee, ea, and ey. For the next two weeks, we will be working with the vowel teams oi and oy. The students will learn that the vowel team oi is typically found at the beginning or in the middle of a syllable; while the team oy is typically found at the end of the syllable. The children will learn that the marking up of these vowel teams in the d-syllable is the same marking of ai, ay, ee, ea, and ey. We circle the oi or oy and write a "d" under the scoop. They will be learning new trick words. For the first week these words are mother, father, and brother. We will continue to review all of the long vowel sounds, r-controlled sounds, and various other glued sounds.
Unit 13 is a two week unit. The students will be learning three more ways to spell the long o sound; for a total of five spelling options for the long o. The three new vowel teams in this unit are:
oa-boat-o
ow-snow-o
oe-toe-o
When these vowel teams are in a word or syllable, they should be circled and the "d" should be placed under the scoop. The children will also take time in this unit to review vowel and consonant suffix endings.
The trick words for Unit 13 are: Monday, Tuesday, cousin, lose, dance, and beautiful