Vowel Coding Rules:
VOWEL RULE 1: Short Vowels: (lesson 2) A vowel followed by a consonant is short. Code it with a breve (a tiny smile above the vowel).
VOWEL RULE 2: Long Vowels:(lesson 3) An open, accented vowel (not followed by a consonant) is long. Code it with a macron (a tiny line above the vowel) and an accent.
VOWEL RULE 3: (lesson 41) A vowel followed by a consonant and a silent e is long; code the vowel with a macron, and cross out the silent e.
Spelling Rules
C/K RULE: K before i, e, and y C before a, o, u and any consonant
Final /k/ Spelling Rules: (lesson 29) ck after a short vowel k after a consonant or a vowel digraph
Floss Rule: When a one-syllable root word has a short vowel sound followed by the sound /f/, /l/, /s/, it is usually spelled ff, ll,ss, zz.
Final /v/ Spelling Rule: When a word has the final sound /v/, it is spelled ve.
Final /s/ Spelling Rule: ss after a short vowel. ce after a long vowel. se after everything else.
How to divide and code a syllable
VC/CV - students are to first label the vowels and identify the two consonants in between the vowels. Once vowels and consonants are labelled, the word gets split in between the consonants with a line down. Vowels will then need to be coded with a breve or macron.
VC/CVC/CV- Three syllable words.
Other Coding Rules:
K-Back: Since the letter c has no sound of its own, it must “borrow” its sound from other letters. If the c has a /k/ sound, a line is place down the back of the c
Cedilla- If the sound of c is /s/- code with a cedilla (a small backwards c under the c)
Diagraphs
A digraph is two letters that make one sound. All digraphs get underlined.
Consonant Digraphs
Diagraph ck- Underline diagraph ck and then cross out the c because only the k makes a sound
Diagraph th- There are two sounds to diagraph th- one that is voiced and one that is unvoiced. The voiced diagraph th will make a vibration on your voice box, while the unvoiced doesn't. The unvoiced th is simply a breath of air that is pushed through your teeth, tongue and lips. The two keywords we use for those sounds are feather (this is voiced) and thimble (unvoiced). We are used to th making the unvoiced sound as we learn to read. We just underline unvoiced th. Voiced th will get underline and crossed out.
Diagraph sh- Underline the diagraph sh
Diagraph ch- There are 3 sounds for diagraph ch. The most common sound is the ch sound in "choo choo". Just underline the diagraph ch for that sound. Two lesson common ch sounds are the one that makes the k and the one that makes the sh. The ch sound that makes the k sound, in chorus, ch gets underlined, h gets crossed out and c receives a k back symbol because it makes the k sound. The ch sound that makes the sh sound like in the word chef, ch gets underlined and then under the c, there is a tiny backward c that is called a cidilla. The cidilla sort of makes the c look like an s. That is how I told the students to remember how to use that sound.
Digraph ng- Underline the digraph ng
Digraph ph- Underline the digraph ph
Vowel Digraphs
Digraph oo- makes two different sounds- like moon and book. Underline the digraph to code
Digraph ee- says "e". To code, underline the digraph, cross out of the second e because it doesn't make a noise, and but a macron over the top of the first e.
Digraph ea- There are 3 sounds to vowel digraph ea.
1/ Long e - like bead. This is the most common sound. To code this, underline ea and cross out the a and put a macron over the e.
2/ Short e- like head. This is the second most common sound for ea. To code this, underline ea and cross out the a. Place a breve over the e.
3/ Long a- like steak. This is the least common sound for the ea spelling. To code this, underline ea, cross out the e and put a macron on the a.
Diphthong-
two vowel sounds that come together so quickly that they are considered one syllable (oi, ou, ow, oy); code with an arc
Combinations-
Combinations are two letters together that make a weird sound. We have been focusing on our R controlled vowel combinations. The students were taught that r is the bossiest letter ever and whenever it stands next to a vowel, it makes it say a weird sound. Combinations are to be coded with an arc. An arc is the same symbol as a breve but it is underneath the two letters. You do not code vowels in combinations.
Combination er- /er/
Combination ir- /er/
Combination ur /er/
Combination qu /qu/
Combination ar - two sounds - /ar/ like in star (one syllable words) and /er/ like in dollar - CVVC words
Combination or- two sounds- /or/ like in pork (one syllable words) and /er/ like in doctor - CVVC words
Combination wh /hw/
Final Stable Syllable- three letters at the end of words that do not change and can not be broken up. They are coded with a bracket, are their own syllable, and will always cross out the silent e at the end.
ble
fle
tle
dle
gle
Contractions
Contractions are two words that are squished together and an apostrophe replaces one or two letters in the second word to make it one new word. There are about 70 contractions in the English language.
Students should be able to identify which two words a contraction is and also make contractions from two words.
Magic E: the e in the vowel rule v-e; it makes the vowel have a long sound (a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e); coded by drawing a diagonal slash through the silent e and a macron drawn above the long vowel
Wild Colt Words: words that only have one vowel and break the rule by sounding like a long vowel. We call them wild colt words because wild and colt are two examples of the rule.
Suffix: a letter or group of letters added to the end of a root word that changes the meaning or usage of the word (vowel suffix:ed, er, es, est, ing, y; consonant suffix:ful, less, ly, ness, s); suffixes are coded by boxing in the affix added to the root word
Compound Words- Two words that when put together make a brand new word. We separate the words in compound words with a line in between the words.
