This week's Tuesday Tidbit dives into the world of phonics terminology! While younger learners might struggle with these concepts, older readers striving for fluency can benefit greatly from understanding them. Equipping them with terms like welded sounds, digraphs, and blends empowers them to tackle new words with confidence.
- CVC Words: These are simple, closed-syllable words with a consonant-vowel-consonant structure (think short vowel sounds). Examples: cat, dog, gum, bath, hot
- Digraphs: Digraphs are two letters that make one sound, often appearing in CVC words. Examples: shin (sh), thick (th), kick (ck), chin (ch), when (wh)
- Bonus Letters: This is sometimes called the "Floss Rule". When l, f, s, and z appear at the end of closed syllables, they get doubled! Examples: chill, buff, miss, fizz
- Welded Sounds: Welded (or sometimes called glued) sounds are made up of individual letters that sound like one unit. Examples: am (bam, wham), an (fan, tan), ang (fang), ing (sing), etc.
- Blends: Two or more consonants working together in a single syllable, like a smooth blend! Examples: blend, blink, sling, shred
- Closed Syllable: a syllable in a word that ends with a consonant sound. In a closed syllable word, the vowel makes a short sound.
- Open Syllable: This is the opposite of a closed syllable. It ends in a vowel sound, and the vowel typically makes a long sound (like "me” or “no”).
- Silent E: a silent "e" at the end of a syllable makes the preceding vowel sound long (like "cake," "like," "ride"). This is sometimes called Vowel-Consonant-E or “magic E”.
Stay tuned! Next week we’ll dive into “schwa”, one of the most fundamental (and common) sounds in the English language.
Wondering how these phonics terms align to our decodable chapter book series? Learn more here.