Phonics

Vowel Digraph

two vowels that make a single vowel sound when together in a word, also known as "vowel teams"

Example.

the "ai" in paint; the "ee" in need; the "oa" in boat

Onset and Rime Production

the ability to hear and understand that the sound(s) before the vowel in a syllable is the onset, and the vowel and everything that comes after it in a syllable is the rime

Example.

In the word cat, the onset is /c/ and the rime is /at/

Word Awareness

knowing that individual words make up a sentence

Example.

“A brown cat jumped over the car.” has 7 words

Phoneme Segmentation

the ability to break down a word into separate sounds, as they say and count each sound

Example.

How many sounds are there in the word bug? /b/ /u/ /g/? There are three.

Word Families

a group of words with a shared ending letter group/sound

Example.

back, black, stack, shack, quack, lack, tack

Phoneme Manipulation

the ability to perform phoneme deletion, addition, and substitution.

Phoneme Blending

the ability to blend two sounds to make a word

Example.

Blend together these sounds to make a word: /b/ /a/ /t/ to form bat.

Decoding

in reading out loud, being able to sound out words by breaking them into simple forms; in reading for comprehension, the understanding of how to read each letter or letter pattern in a word to determine the word's meaning

Phoneme Isolation

the ability to hear and recognize the individual sounds in words

Example.

What is the first sound you hear in dog? /d/

Final Stable Syllable

consonant + -le syllable occurs at the end of a word.

• If the consonant + -le syllable is found next to an open syllable, then the vowel in the open syllable stays long.

• If the consonant + -le is next to a closed syllable, the vowel in the closed syllable stays short.

Example.

bugle, candle, bubble, circle, and trample

Consonant Digraph

two consonants that make a single consonant sound when together in a word

Example.

In the word "wish," the letters s and h form the consonant digraph, sh.

Affix

a letter or letters that change a root word's meaning

Example.

prefixes or suffixes

Vowel-Consonant-E Syllable

has a silent "e" and makes the vowel before it long; this syllable is usually found at the end of a word

Example.

name, mice, cake, compete

Closed Syllable

syllable that ends in a consonant; vowel has its short sound

Example.

hot, help, dog, mistake

Morphology

the study of forms of words, including affixes, roots, stems, and parts of speech

Example.

The word "bicycles" is made up of three individual morphemes. The prefix bi-, the stem cycle, and the suffix -s.

Phoneme Deletion

the ability to recognize and understand a word or sound(s) that remain when a phoneme is removed

Example.

"What is bat without the /b/?" "at"

Phoneme Substitution

the ability to substitute one phoneme for a different one

Example.

replace the first sound in 'bug' with 'r' . Rug

Morpheme

a combination of sounds that has meaning in speech or writing and cannot be divided into smaller grammatical parts; this includes prefixes and suffixes

Example.

write, cat, laugh, box

Phonemic Awareness / Sound Awareness

the ability to hear, identify, and re-create individual sounds in spoken words

Example.

A student can hear that /b/ makes first sound in the word blue.

Encoding

using individual sounds to spell a word

Example.

To encode, a student must represent the sounds of a word with letters. For example, the word cat would be encoded as /c/, /a/ and /t/.

Diphthong

one vowel sound made by the combination of two vowel sounds

Example.

the "ou" in south; the "au" in taught; the "oy" in oyster

Phonics / Graphophonemic Principle

using the relationship between symbols (letters and words) and sounds of a language to read and write

R-Controlled Syllable

syllable that contains a vowel followed by the letter r; the r controls the vowel and changes the way the vowel is pronounced

Example.

car, guitar, mother, and manor

Grapheme

a written letter or a combination of letters that represents a single sound

Example.

"ph" makes a "f" sound

Syllable Awareness / Syllabication / Syllable Segmentation

the ability to hear individual parts/syllables of words

Example.

“Education” has four syllables “ed-u-ca-tion”

Phoneme Addition

the ability to make a new word(s) by adding a phoneme to an existing word

Example.

What new word can you make by adding a sound to the beginning of at? Bat, cat, rat, and sat.

R-Controlled Vowel

a vowel followed by the letter r where the "r" that doesn't make its normal short or long sound

Example.

In the word, "tiger," the letter e is an r-controlled vowel, as its pronunciation changes because it is followed by an r.

Rhyme Awareness / Rhyming

the ability first to hear words that rhyme and then to be able to produce a rhyme(s)

Example.

“Blue” and “Flew” rhyme

Phoneme

the smallest individual sounds in a word

Example.

The word “bit” has three phonemes – b – i – t.

Open Syllable

ends in a vowel; the vowel has its long sound

Example.

vacant, brutal, agent

Consonant Blend

two or more consonants that blend together when decoded, but each retains its own sound

Example.

In the word "blue," the letters b and l form the consonant blend, bl.