Sequencing Phonics Instruction

Reading experts have not come to a consensus about the most advantageous order to teach phonetic elements.  Generally, short vowels are taught first in combination with the most frequently used continuous sound consonants (such as f, l, n, m, and s) to facilitate blending of cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words for beginning readers. Many programs also incorporate digraph instruction interspersed with the short vowel lessons.  It would stand to reason that teaching the most frequently used phonetic elements first would be advantageous.  That way the number of words that could be decoded phonetically would be greater early in the instruction.

Consonant letters are assumed to have been addressed prior to any of these lessons. The lessons were first written  for a group of teachers who used a particular reading series. They followed the order of phonics presented in that series. The goal at the time was to only use words in the connected text part of the lessons that could be decoded up to that point in the instruction (plus a few high frequency words.)  The order was:

1.     Short a
2.      Sh
3.     Short i
4.    -ck
5.    Short o
6.     all, alk
7.    Short e
8.    Th
9.    Short u
10.     -ng
11.      or
12.      ch, -tch
13.      ar
14.      qu, wh
15.     er, ir, ur
16.     Final stable syllable: consonant  -le
17.    ow/ou
18.    Vowel, consonant, silent e

In these lessons more advanced review lessons were posted for most of the short vowels. As a result, the text with those lessons will have elements that may be unfamiliar to the students.

Again, the phonetic elements that produce the most words that can be decoded should be taught first.

My suggestion in general is:

1.   Short vowels a, i, o, e, and u in that order (i & e shouldn't be taught back to back)
2.   Digraphs (A suggested order would be sh, th, -ck, ch, wh, and -ng. Ph would come much later after most other vowel elements.)
3.    all, -alk
4.   r-controlled vowels
5.   ou/ow
6.    oi/oy
7.   Vowel, consonant, silent e
8.    ee/ea (long e)
9.    Long oo, ue
10.     oa, ow      
11.   ai, ay (long a)
12.     –y, -igh (long i)
13.   au/ aw

Beyond that, take the other lessons in the order you feel is most advantageous for your students.

Lessons for consonant blends are not included. If students are able to blend sounds smoothly to decode, they should have little trouble with consonant blends. The only value in spending time specifically studying consonant blends is recognizing the letter patterns more quickly. 

F Changes to V

-f Changes to -ves

Morphology note: from Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words

   The -f or -fe represents a voiceless sound on the end of the words in this list. When the word is made plural, f us changed to v so that  a voiced sound before the s = /z/ sound which follows it. The /z/ sound is voiced as well making it easier to pronounce the two voiced sounds in a row. 
   You might also wonder why an e is added before the s. No words in English end with v. It is always followed by an e. (love, live, involve, etc.)

Word list:

                wife                  half                  grief

                knife                 strife               thief

                leaf                  scarf                relief

                loaf                  elf                    belief

                life                   calf                  hoof

                wolf                  shelf                

                                                       

Phrases:

        life of a wife                     lives of the wives

        loaf of bread                    loaves of bread

        life of ease                       lives of ease

        a young calf                      the young calves

        cut it in half                     cut them in halves

        a withered leaf                  the withered leaves

        a single wolf                      a pack of wolves

        a sharp knife                     the sharpened knives

        a colorful scarf                 many colorful scarves

        the tiny elf                       three tiny elves

        a cracked hoof                  the cracked hooves

        quick relief                       relieves the pain

        one sneaky thief               gang of thieves

        gives me grief                   that grieves me

        anger and strife                strives to be free

        on the shelf                      the metal shelves

Sentences:

1.    His wife cuts the loaf of bread with a knife.

2.   The wives keep the knives sharp.

3.   Place the loaves of bread on the lower shelves.

4.   The spring calves are now grazing on the clover.

5.   The wolves pose a danger to the young calf.

6.   Brown withered leaves crunched beneath their hooves.

7.   Several scarves tied to the trees waved in the breeze.

8.   The gang of thieves met in secret in the dark of night.

9.   She laughed at his story disbelieving its truth.

10. The lives of our forefathers were not as easy as ours.      

Long u_e

 

 

Long u_e Spellings (CVe)

Day 1

PA: Oral

          “Listen to these words and tell me if each word has the long ū sound or not. Give me thumbs up if the word has the long ū sound and thumbs down if the word doesn’t have the long ū sound. For example, if the word is cup, you would show me thumbs down. If the word is use, you would show me thumbs up.” Pronounce these words to have the students indicate if the word has the long /ū/ sound:

mule             fuss             tune             cute             juice            hut

rule              blue             mutt            jump            June            rude

Review and :

          “What is the short sound of u?” /ŭ/ “What is the hand signal for short u?” Finger pointing up and moving upward. “U  has another sound that we will be studying this week. That sound is the same as the name of the letter u or it can use just /oo/. The short ŭ sound has only one basic spelling. That spelling is a single u followed by a consonant.” (CVC)

“What happens to I when a magic e is added to the end of Sid? the i becomes long; the word becomes side “ Just like with i, when an e is added after the consonant in a short u word, the magic e makes the u use its long sound or its name, /ū/.”  “Sound this word with me.” Write cut on the board and sound out the word together. “When the magic e is put on the end of cut it makes the u long. The new word is cute.  Let’s look at another word.” Follow the same procedure with: tub/tube, plum/plume, cub/cube.

Decoding:

          “The long /ū/ sound that we are studying this week is spelled with the u-e spelling.”  (Refer to the pink, long o spelling card.) Use two colors of markers to write /ū/ words one spelling at a time on the board as the class sounds out and then blends the words as a group. When using the –u_e spelling write both vowels leaving a blank between them, say sound, then write the consonant that goes in the blank. Also when pointing to the letters to sound out the words, use 2 fingers and touch each vowel at the same time for the vowel teams.

                   fuse             rude             tune             rule

                   cube            flute            mule             tube

                   fume            June            prune           pure

          After the words are decoded, briefly discuss meanings of words that may be unfamiliar to the students. Reread the lines of words with the class. Then give clues and have the students tell their buddy which word is the answer. Call on one set of buddies to give and spell the answer. Circle the words on the board as they are given as answers. Clues could be:

1.     A musical instrument                                        flute

2.    A shape with 6 equal sides and 8 corners         cube

3.    A dried plum                                                     prune

4.    To join together                                               fuse

5.    A gas you smell in the air                                  fume

6.    A law or guideline                                             rule

7.    The name of a month                                        June

8.    Not using your manners                                    rude

9.    A horse-like animal                                           mule

10. The shape of a pipe                                          tube

11.  A song or melody                                              tune

The last word (pure) is read by the students and used in a sentence that is told to their buddy. This exercise will give practice in reading words with the /ū/ sound and will help expose them to oral vocabulary at the same time.

Reading Decodable Text:

          Use the decoding practice page to read long ū words in text. Read the passage to the students, have the class read it chorally, and then have buddy A read to buddy B. Then B will read to A.

      

Day 2

Review:

          Review the u_e spelling of long ū. Practice adding the magic e to CVC, short u words such as: tub/tube, cut/cute, us/use

PA: (oral)

“I am going to give you a word with the long /ū/ sound in it. I want you to segment the words into individual sounds. So if I say, ”mule” you would tell me /m/, /ū/, /l/.”

          Pronounce these words to have the students segment the words into phonemes.

fuse             rude            cute             tune               blue             rule

June            cube            mule             tube              mute            flute

Decoding:

          Write the following words on the board as the students sound and blend into words (Use buddy strategy for more student engagement. See Day 1.)

          us                use              cut              cute

          prune           uke              dude            crude

          cube            dune            Luke            plume

Use these clues or make up your own (Be sure to push the vocabulary factor):

1.     A antonym for ugly                                  cute

2.    A sandy hillside                                       dune

3.    A dried plum                                            prune

4.    A boy or man’s name                                Luke

5.    Short name for a ukulele                          uke

6.    A group of people including you                us

7.    What you do with scissors                       cut

8.    A rough object or ill mannered act           crude

9.    Another name for a sharp looking man      dude

10.  Synonym for a long feather                     plume

11.   To put to work                                       use

Have the students read the last word (cube) and use it in a sentence, telling their partner. Call on a few Buddies to share their sentences.

Reading Decodable Text:

          Have student Buddies practice reading the long u_e phrases. (You will need at least one copy for each pair of students.)

Day 3

Review:

         Review the u_e spelling of long ū. Have words with these spellings on flashcards (such as: tune, mule, cute, fuse, cube, rule, Luke) to quickly practice decoding.

Word Building:

          Using a pocket chart and letter cards or magnetic letter tiles work through the word chain: ( * indicates make believe words)

          tub                        dud                        cub

          tube                      dude                      cube

          tune                      rude                      tube

          tun                        rud*                      tub

          fun                        rul*                       rub

          fune*                    rule                       rube*

          fume                     mule                      rule

          fuse                      yule                       mule

          fuss                                                  

Encoding:

          Use the dictation procedure.

          1.   /ū/ u_e   /ŭ/ u         /ŏ/  o       /ā/  a_e     / ch/ ch

2.   tube      cube         cub

          3.   mule       rule          use

          4.   misuse             refuse        

5.   My rule is so not misuse the mule.

         

Reading Decodable Text:

          Have student Buddies practice rereading the long u_e phrases. (You will need at least one copy for each pair of students.)

Day 4

Review:

          Review quickly the long u_e spelling. List 4 or 5 long u_e words on the board to practice decoding them.

“Chunking” Words:

          Have these words written on the board. Remind the students that a syllable can only have one spoken vowel sound. Circle syllables and have the students read that syllable. Once all syllables are circled, blend the syllables into words. (Always discuss word meanings when deemed necessary.)

          “When a vowel is on the end of a syllable, the syllable is open and the vowel says its long sound. Look for an open syllable in 2 words that we are going to work on.”

excuse         refuse         consume       include         secure        

amuse          nature         unsure         costume       insure

Reading Decodable Text:

                    Provide students with copies of long o sentences. Have them locate and circle words with the long u spellings. Then practice reading the sentences with buddy strategy.

Day 5

Review:

          Review quickly the u_e spelling . Using about six word cards with u_e words, have Buddy A read the first word and tell a sentence using the word to Buddy B. Call on one Buddy A to share their sentence. Then for the next card, Buddy B reads and tells a sentence using the word to Buddy A. Continue until all the word cards have been used.

Encoding:

          Use the dictation procedure:

          1.       /sh/ sh        /ŭ/ u        /ū/ u_e  /ī/ i_e      / y/ y      

          2.       tune             rude            cure

          3.       dude            dune            sure

          4.       insure          amuse

          5.       He played a turn on the flute to amuse us.

         

Reading Decodable Text:

          Reread long u_e sentences and phrases using the buddy strategy.

 

Decoding Practice

tube    cube   tune     rule    dude       dune    cute    mute   Luke   rude

  

                  tune on the flute                           

                  Luke, the dude

                  ride the mule            

                  in the sand dune

1.           Use your flute to play me a tune.

2.         A cube has 6 square, flat sides.

3.         Luke was not rude at school.

4.         A plume of smoke rose from the sand dune.

5.         That was a cute tune he played for me.

6.         What he said was rude and crude!

7.         Grandma will be here in June for sure.

8.         It is pure joy when you all go by the rules.

Long u_e Phrases

1.           a dry prune

2.         lutes and flutes

3.         rude and crude

4.         in the tube

5.         that cute dude

6.         rule to go by

7.         a fluffy plume

8.         hot sand dunes

9.         smell the fumes

10.      that fishing lure

11.       use a ruler

12.      pure and clean

13.      the shape of a cube

14.      down the tube

15.      Duke and Luke

16.      all in June

17.      replace a fuse

18.      include that rule

19.      a blind mute

20.    flute tune

21.      cure the mule

22.    put on a costume

23.    fine tune

24.    loony tunes

Long u_e Sentences

1.           There is hope the vet can cure the mule.

    

2.         Duke can be rude and crude.

3.         Luke can play a tune on his flute.

4.         The mole’s home was a small hole.

5.         We climbed up the hot sand dunes.

6.         That rule was made for us to use.

7.         A plume of smoke came out of the fuse box.

8.         Be sure to include Duke and Luke.

9.         Eating a prune is good for you.

10.      Please tune your uke before you play it.

11.       The odd bird had only one plume on his head.

12.       We rode the old mule home.

13.      A block and a dice are cubes.

14.      Make sure you have pure water to drink.

15.      That joke was crude, not funny.

16.      Glue will fuse the cap on the tube.