Two Vowel Talkers – Phonics the Easy Way
January 21, 2013 Leave a Comment

Two Vowel Talkers – Phonics the Easy Way

The two vowels pattern is broken up into two parts.  They are the talkers and the whiners.  Today we are going to take a close look at the two vowel talkers and see exactly what is happening to help kids read words with these patterns.

 

The first thing to do is to collect words with the two vowel pattern.  These words can come from the books that you are already reading together, or you can choose some of the words for below.

-ai

Sail

Tail

Wail

Chain

Main

Pain

Paint

Saint

Fair

Hair

raise

-ea

Each

Peach

Read

Peak

Sneak

Deal

Meal

Seam

Team

Bean

heap

-ie

Lie

Pie

Tie

Vie

Fried

Tried

Cries

Dries

Fries

Skies

Tries

-oa

Coach

Roach

Load

Road

Coal

Goal

Foam

Roam

Moan

Coast

toast

-ue

Cue

Due

Hue

Sue

Blue

Clue

Flue

Glue

True

 

 

As you can see, the two vowel talkers are made up of the two vowel teams listed above.  They are –ai, -ea, -ie, -oa, and –ue.  After you place the words on the vowel pattern chart, have the child read the words.  Then ask the following questions.

 

  1. How many vowels are in this pattern?
  2. What other pattern had 2 vowels?
  3. Where are the vowels in this pattern compared with the silent e pattern?
  4. Which vowel name do you hear?  The first or the second.
  5. Is it always the first?

 

We ask these questions because we want the child to discover the pattern.  The more that the child notices on his or her own, the more apt she is of remembering the pattern.

 

After all of the questions have been answered it is time to introduce the chant that goes with the two vowel takers.

 

When two vowels go a walking, the first one does the talking and says it’s name.

 

Before you introduce the two vowel whiner pattern that we will talk about tomorrow practice all of the other patterns for the a few weeks.  The last two patterns are the most difficult to understand, so you don’t want to move too quickly into them without the child really understanding all of the other ones.

 

You can review all of the other patterns by giving the child a word and asking what pattern it makes and having the child add it to the chart.

 

In Phonics the Easy Way we talk about the vowel saying it’s name and it’s stuck sound vs. it’s long and short sound.  Children are often confused by long and short and can understand this new way better.  How were you taught about the vowel sounds?

 

Filed Under: 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, Phonics Tagged: , ,
Bossy R- Phonics the Easy Way
January 20, 2013 3 Comments

Bossy R- Phonics the Easy Way

Bossy R is another one of the most common vowel patterns.  This pattern causes a lot of confusion for children.  So let’s demystify this pattern and make it a little easier to understand.

First, each vowel comes before the r in this pattern.  When the vowel comes before the r, the r makes the vowel say a sound that is closer to the r sound.  To teach this you can collect words and place them on the vowel pattern chart like was done for the other patterns, or you can put a each of these words on a separate index card.  Then, have the child sort the words by their initial vowel.  An example is listed below.

-er

her

herd

term

jerk

fern

 -ir

Stir

Bird

Dirt

Shirt

skirt

 -ur

Fur

Burn

Curl

Purse

hurt

 -or

For

cork

born

short

sport

 -ar

Star

Car

Dark

Arm

Yarn

After the child has sorted the words by the initial vowel, ask these questions.

1.  What sound do -er words make?

2.  What sound do -ir words make?

3.  What sound do -ur words make?

If your child hasn’t noticed that -er, -ir, and -ur words all make the same sound, then you can say, “Wait a minute, do -er, -ir, and -ur words all make the same sound?”  Most likely your child will notice that -er, -ir, and -ur all make the same sound.  Always group these three r patterns together.  When the child is trying to figure out a word with one of these patterns in it, then you can ask, “Do you remember what sound er, ir, and ur make?  When the child says “er,” then you can say, “That is correct, try it.”

There is a little story that I made up about bossy r to help kids remember this pattern.  First ask the child if he/she happens to know anyone that is really bossy at times and really nice at times.  Usually each child knows at least one.  Then, tell the child that bossy r is just like them.  R is really nice to her vowel friends when she comes before the vowel, but when r comes after the vowel she becomes bossy and makes the vowel say a sound that sounds more like her.  So, er, ir, and ur all say /r/.  -or sounds just like the word and -ar sounds like a pirate.  Ask the child what a pirate says.  The child will have lots of fun with saying Arrr.

Check out the video below that shows how to teach the Bossy R pattern.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, Phonics, Uncategorized
Identifying the Vowel Patterns
January 20, 2013 2 Comments

Identifying the Vowel Patterns

Reviewing the vowel patterns often is critical in children being able to identify them.  Now that the child has discovered the closed, open and silent e pattern it is time to start showing her how parts of words can go under different patterns.  For example, the word “hotel” gets broken up as “ho-tel”.  The ho goes under the open pattern and tel can go under the closed pattern.  Another example is robot.  This word gets broken up as ro-bot.  Ro goes under the open pattern and bot goes under the closed pattern.

Here is a video that shows how to do this with some other words.

Here are some words that can be broken by syllable and added to different parts of the chart.file281239553087-002

robot

basket

chicken

sandwich

wagon

open

jacket

pencil

microwave

potato

octopus

volcano

At this point, only the adult is breaking the word by syllables.  Later on you are going to learn a method called spot and dot, which will be the child’s guide as to how to break up the word to figure out how to read it.

Here is a review of the chants for each of the vowel patterns.  Repeating these when you are going over them with child is helpful.

Closed

One little vowel squished in the middle, makes it’s stuck sound just a little.

Open

When the vowel on the end is free, it is going to pop way up and say it’s name to me.

Silent E

Silent e has a claim to fame, he makes the vowel before him say it’s real name.

 

 

Filed Under: 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, Phonics Tagged: , , , ,
Open pattern – Phonics the Easy Way
January 18, 2013 2 Comments

Open pattern – Phonics the Easy Way

The next pattern to learn is the open pattern.  This pattern usually occurs in multisyllable words, but there are few words that do stand alone that fit this pattern.  Those words are as follows;

go

he

she

we

me

I

be

no

so

Together you and your child can take a look at these words and notice what is happening with the vowel.  Here are some questions to ask file1851239553258-003your child.

1. How many vowels are in this pattern?

2. Where is the vowel in this pattern?

3. What sound is the vowel making in this pattern?

Once the child has made all of the proper observations, you can share the chant that goes with the phrase.

When the vowel on the end is free, it is going to pop way up and say it’s name to me.

Here is a quick video that shows teaching this in action.

Filed Under: 1st grade, kindergarten, Phonics Tagged: , , ,
The Common Core State Standards and Phonics
January 17, 2013 1 Comment

The Common Core State Standards and Phonics

Did you know that the common core state standards have been adopted by 45 states so far?  These standards have been created to give teachers a clear instructional map for each grade level and each subject.  In my opinion these standards are much more comprehensive than the old standards that our state had.  Our old standards didn’t start until 4th grade.  That meant that some teachers didn’t have a clear path of what to teach in the area of reading.  It was up to the school and the individual teacher to determine what would be taught.  This meant that if a child switched schools, then the standards could be different.

As a reading teacher and online reading tutor I was interested in finding out how phonics was included in the common core.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there were clear standards for children in Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade.  These had never existed before in our state.  Each of the grades have the same standard, but different developmental expectations.  The common core standard for phonics is

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

Listed below are each of the specific expectations that every child should be able to know and apply at each grade level from Kindergarten to first grade.

Kindergarten
a. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one
letter-sound correspondences by producing
the primary or many of the most frequent
sound for each consonant.
b. Associate the long and short sounds with
common spellings (graphemes) for the five
major vowels.
c. Read common high-frequency words by sight
(e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).
d. Distinguish between similarly spelled words by
identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

First Grade
a. Know the spelling-sound correspondences for
common consonant digraphs.
b. Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
c. Know final -e and common vowel team
conventions for representing long vowel
sounds.
d. Use knowledge that every syllable must have
a vowel sound to determine the number of
syllables in a printed word.
e. Decode two-syllable words following basic
patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
f. Read words with inflectional endings.
g. Recognize and read grade-appropriate
irregularly spelled words.

Second Grade
a. Distinguish long and short vowels when
reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.
b. Know spelling-sound correspondences for
additional common vowel teams.
c. Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words
with long vowels.
d. Decode words with common prefixes and
suffixes.
e. Identify words with inconsistent but common
spelling-sound correspondences.
f. Recognize and read grade-appropriate
irregularly spelled words.

Third Grade
a. Identify and know the meaning of the most
common prefixes and derivational suffixes.
b. Decode words with common Latin suffixes.
c. Decode multisyllable words.
d. Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled
words.

Phonics the Easy Way incorporates each of these standards in one simple to use chart.  The closed pattern and the open pattern can be taught in Kindergarten.  All of the other patterns can be taught in first grade and above.  Beginning in first grade students can begin breaking words apart by syllables.

The common core does not go through a list of suggestions on how to teach these patterns, but certainly the easiest way is through using the Vowel Patternsvowel pattern chart.  The Vowel pattern chart organizes the vowel patterns into six separate sections.  They are closed, open, silent e, bossy r, two vowels, and c + le.  It allows kids to decode 1 syllable words and multi-syllable words through the spot and dot process.  Each syllable has one vowel pattern.  Sometimes the vowel patterns are the same and sometimes they are different.  Knowing where the vowel pattern goes on the chart helps kids to read really big words easily and effortlessly.  No longer does phonics need to be ambiguous.  There are clear patterns that are easy to figure out.

What was reading instruction like when you were a kid?  Was learning to read easy or was it difficult?

Filed Under: 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, kindergarten, Phonics, Uncategorized Tagged: , , , , , ,
Silent E Pattern – Phonics the Easy Way
January 16, 2013 Leave a Comment

Silent E Pattern – Phonics the Easy Way

The easiest pattern to teach is the closed pattern.  The next pattern to teach is the silent e pattern.  The reason is because simply by adding the e at the end of a word you are able to change the sound of the vowel.  As with the closed pattern I like to have the child figure out what the pattern is.

First make sure that you have been collecting words on the vowel pattern chart from books that you have been reading together.  Once you have a good supply of silent e words that the child does not know, you can begin figuring out what is happening.  Here are some questions to ask the child.

1.  How many vowels are in words with the silent e pattern?

2.  Where is the e in every single one of these words?

3.  What sound does the other vowel make?  Does it make its long sound or say it’s name?

4.  Does the e make a sound?

Once the child has answered these questions about silent e, then I share the phrase that goes with the silent e pattern.

Silent e has a claim to fame, he makes the vowel before him say it’s real name.

I explain what is happening by showing the child with an arrow that the E is going to tap the vowel on the shoulder and say, “Say your name, say your name.”  Then the e goes back to the end of the word and is completely silent.  During the time that is spent with reading today with your child, try to find all of the words with the silent e pattern.  Sometimes there will be words that do not follow the pattern, but have an e at the end of the word.  For example, the word “have” does not follow the rule.  When this happens, I tell the child the word if she does not know it and simply say that this word does not follow the rule.

Here is a video tutorial.

 

Filed Under: 1st grade, Phonics Tagged: , , ,
Closed Pattern Activities
January 15, 2013 2 Comments

Closed Pattern Activities

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they teach the 6 patterns to kids is that they move too quickly through them.  If your child is in Kindergarten or earlier, then you will only be sticking with the closed pattern for the most part and sight words that the child needs to memorize.  Children in 1st grade and beyond are ready to learn about the other patterns as a general rule of thumb.  Here is a list of activities and games that can help reinforce the closed patterns.

1.  Get a set of magnetic letters, preferably with the vowels one color and the consonants another color.  Make 3 letter words and reinforce how the vowel is squished and makes it’s stuck sound.

2.  Cut words out of magazines that have the closed pattern and make a collage.

3.  Go on a picture walk.  When you are out and about with your child, let them take a picture of closed pattern words with your camera or cameraphone.

4.  Find closed pattern words in the books that you are reading together and have your child write them down.

5.  Focus on the most common rime patterns with the closed pattern.

6.  Write a closed pattern word on your child’s back and have her guess the word.

The following is a list of the first words to teach with the closed pattern.  This is based off of the most frequent words in the English language.

Closed

And, in, is, that, it, on, as, with,

his, at, this, had, but, not, when,

can, an, which, if, will, up, then,

them, him, has, than, am, its,

long, did, get

Open

Silent E

Bossy R

 

 

 

 

 

Two Vowels

C + le

 

The next pattern that I begin to teach is the silent e pattern because the e will change the vowel sound.  We will take a closer look at this pattern tomorrow.

Filed Under: 1st grade, kindergarten, Phonics Tagged: , , , ,
Closed Pattern – Phonics the Easy Way
January 13, 2013 4 Comments

Closed Pattern – Phonics the Easy Way

The easiest way to teach each of the patterns is one at a time.  So today we are going to take a close look at the closed pattern and some ways to teach this pattern to kids.

I always begin teaching this pattern as we come across it in real text.  When the child messes up on a word or word part that has the closed pattern, I add that word or word part to the chart.  I always teach the patterns using real reading situations because it is by reading that we learn about reading.

Here is a passage and I going to put all of the words that have the closed pattern in red to make them stand out.  With the the child I would highlight these words and then add them to the vowel pattern chart.

One hot day we went to the beach.  We were glad we went because it was a very, very, hot day.  My sister and I played in the cool water.  We ran in the cool wind.  We saw two fish.  We saw lots of birds.  We made things in the sand.  We even ate at the beach.  When we went home, we even had some of the beach with us.  There was sand in our shoes.  There was sand on us.  There was sand on everything!

As you can see there are a ton of one syllable words that have the closed pattern in this passage.  The next step is to take the words that the child did not know and put them on the vowel pattern chart.

Closed

Fish

Sand

Lots

Glad

went

Open

 

 

 

 

Silent E

Bossy R

Two Vowels

C + le

After the words are added to the chart, it is time to take a close look at where the vowel is in each of these words.  Ask the child if the vowel is in the beginning, the middle, or the end.  Each of the vowels for this pattern are in the middle.

Next it is time to think about what sound the vowel makes in the middle.  Does the vowel make it’s short sound, or say it’s name?  In each of these words the vowel makes the short sound.

Then I draw a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Peanut butter jelly sandwichI draw the bottom slice of bread, draw the peanut butter and jelly, and then draw the top slice of bread.  I explain that the vowel is just like the peanut butter and jelly in this sandwich.  It is squished in the middle.  The only sound it can make is it’s stuck sound.  The stuck sound is the same sound as the short sound.  I accentuate each of the vowel sounds to show the child how the vowel sounds sound like they are stuck.

Last I teach the child the chant that goes with this pattern.

One little vowel squished in the middle, makes it’s stuck sound just a little. 

I repeat this chant as often as needed when I am instructing kids to remind them about what is happening and help them to understand what sound the vowel is making when it is in the closed pattern.

Here is a video that describes this process from the beginning to the end.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Phonics Tagged: , , ,
Phonics the Easy Way with the Vowel Pattern Chart
January 11, 2013 2 Comments

Phonics the Easy Way with the Vowel Pattern Chart

Yesterday I began talking about how 34 of the most common rimes fit onto the vowel pattern chart.  I didn’t explain the vowel pattern chart, but did mention that it makes understanding phonics easy.  Our brains are pattern detectors.  Did you know that if you understand 6 of the vowel patterns, then you can read 75% of the words that you will come across?

Knowing the rime patterns helps one to read 500 words and knowing the vowel patterns helps one read 3/4 of the words that one will come across.  Wow, that is astounding.  Everyone always talks about how difficult the English language is, but really only 25% of the words cause difficulty and need to be memorized.  That is why we have sight words.  Those are words that cannot be sounded out and just need to be memorized because they do not follow the pattern.

The following chart is called the Vowel Pattern Chart because the sound of the vowel is determined by it’s placement in the word.  If one is able to see where the vowel is in relation to the consonants, and truly understand these patterns, then she will be able to be a reading machine.  Here is an example of what the chart looks like again.

Vowel Patterns

You can make this chart on poster board or simply on the inside of a notebook.  I use it in powerpoint format with my online reading students  and add it when we come to words that the child doesn’t know that are decodeable.

Another name for this chart is the syllable pattern chart because there are words that can have two syllables that go into different places on the chart.  Yesterday you saw words that were one syllable words, but if you have a word like bubble, then bub- would go into the closed pattern and -ble would go under c + le.  (C + le stands for consonant + le).  I refer to these as word parts with kids.  So I would say, “This word part goes under closed, and this word part goes under c + le.”

As a child comes across a word that is decodeable that she cannot read, then add it to the chart where it belongs.  After you have one of the sections filled with tons of word parts, start analyzing where the vowel is, what sound the vowel makes, and talk about any rules that the two of you notice.

Over the next week I am going to discuss each of the patterns in more detail, how I get kids to discover the patterns, and easy ways to remember each of them.  I will also include a video that will show this in action.

Which of these patterns are new to you?  List them in the comment sections along with any questions that you may have.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: 1st grade, 2nd grade, kindergarten, Phonics, Uncategorized Tagged: , ,
Rhymes vs. Rimes
January 10, 2013 4 Comments

Rhymes vs. Rimes

We’ve been listening to rhymes ever since we were little babies, but did you know that rhymes can actually turn us into better readers?  Being able to hear rhymes is a phonological task and pre-reading skill.  If your child is able to hear rhymes, then when she sees rimes, she will be able to read many new words.

You may be wondering what the difference between a rhyme and a rime is.  Well a rhyme is a word that sounds the same at the end.  A rime not only sounds the same, but it is spelled the same as well.  For example, “star” and “are” rhyme, but they are not rimes.  Star and far would be rhymes and rimes.

There are 37 most common rimes.  Just knowing these 37 rime patterns can result in a child being able to read over 500 words.  Here is a list of them.

-ack

-all

-ain

-ake

-ale

-ame

-an

-ank

-ap

-ash

-at

-ate

-aw

-ay

-ay

-eat

-ell

-est

-ice

-ick

-ide

-ight

-ill

-in

-ine

-ing

-ink

-ip

-ir

-ock

-oke

-op

-or

-uck

-ug

-ump

-unk

The most common way to use rimes, is when a child is struggling with reading a new word.  For example, if a child came across the word light and she knew the word night, then you could say, “If you know night, then you know ______.”  The child would chime in, “light”.  You can teach additional words by saying, “If I take away the l and add an s, what word do you have?”  The child would respond, “Sight.”  This is a fun game that can be played on a dry erase board or chalkboard.

Most of these patterns will fit on the vowel pattern chart as well.  Here is an example of the chart with a word from each of the patterns.

Closed

Back

Call

Pan

Tap

Mash

Rat

Bell

Pest

Lick

Will

Tin

Ring

Pink

Nip

Tock

Mop

Luck

Hug

Lump

sunk

 Open Silent E

Rake

Sale

Tame

Rate

Nice

Hide

Vine

Poke

 
Bossy R

Sir

for

tore

 

 Two Vowels

Pain

Say

meat

saw

 C + le

The patterns that are not on the chart need to be memorized.  These patterns are

  • -all
  • -ank
  • -ight

Tomorrow we will take a look at what this vowel pattern chart is and how it helps kids utilize phonics the easy way.

P.S. Did you know that kids that have dyslexia struggle with hearing rhymes?  This is one of the ways to determine if a child has dyslexia.

 

Filed Under: 1st grade, dyslexia, phonemic awareness, Phonics Tagged: , , , , ,
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