This week we focused on the /sh/ sound. It's another digraph, meaning 2 consonants that each have their own sounds "work together" to make one new sound. The students did really well with this spelling pattern!
Enjoy a few goofy videos to reinforce this digraph:
UFLI Home Practice
Grab a whiteboard and pen, or pencil and paper, to practice what we have been learning using this video. Alternatively, the Home Practice summary is posted below, too.
sh: Games to Practice
Practice building /sh/ words with this spelling game. (Click on sh in the lower left corner, then once the game begins, click on the snail to hear the word and sentence): Forest Phonics Spelling Game
Unscramble the sounds into the correct order to spell these sh words: sh Unscramble
Decodable Text
"Frank the Fish Gets His Wish" has plenty of sh words to practice! Click here to read!
We learned at the end of a short vowel word, the /k/ sound is represented by -ck. A way to think of this and help remember, is that a lonely short vowel needs a pair of "bodyguards" to protect it (otherwise it could, for example, have its sound changed by another powerful letter like Magic E!). This goofy video explains a similar memory tactic:
Another cute, short video to practice quickly reading short vowel -ck words:
Games to Practice - CK
Click on the "CK" button in Set 4 (on the right hand side of the page when you follow the below link) to play this cute game reading -CK words -- you have to decide whether it's a real word or made up!
This Flyleaf Publishing book includes LOTS of -ck words to practice. Some students worked with this book in our small group reading this week. Keep in mind, a few of these -ck words have an inflectional ending, -ed, attached to them to show they happened in the past:
Our next digraph exploration is the -all, -ull, -oll spelling pattern. This one is a bit tricky, as the typical short vowel sounds of a, o, and u, often (but not always!) change when followed by a double ll. Here are a few little memory tips for this challenging pattern.
At the beginning or middle of a word, o usually makes a short (ŏ) sound, like in "hot." Remember, double ll can make the o want to "roll," a long o sound, in -oll words. U usually makes a short (ŭ) sound, like in "run." Remember, double ll can make "u" work hard to "pull" your lips into a different shape (more like the /oo/ sound in "look and book") in -ull words! A usually makes the short (ă) sound, like in "hat." Remember, double ll helps the crying baby acalm down and feel all better!
The below video takes you through a UFLI (the research-based phonics program we are using) Home Practice lesson. Feel free to use a whiteboard if available, or just grab a pencil and paper.
Practice with Games!
Try this Quiz Show style game -- choose the correct spelling to match the picture of the -all, -ull, or -oll word: Quiz Show Game for -all, -oll, -ull
This Sound Match game is great phonemic awareness practice distinguishing vowel sounds, as well as reinforcing this week's phonics pattern: Sound Match for -all, -oll, -ull
Decodable Books Online!
Flyleaf Publishing, which our school uses for small group reading instruction, has a wonderful database of virtual decodable books you can use to practice at home, if you wish. Find the full collection here.
Our "heart words" and many of the targeted words applying specific phonics patterns overlap with Alberta Education's list of 300 High Frequency Words we want students to know by the end of grade 3.
After spending the beginning of the year learning about phonemes on our Sound Wall, and reviewing and practicing skills with short vowel words, we have started studying digraphs -- a combination of two letters making one sound. The first pattern we learned is the "FLSZ Spelling Rule," sometimes referred to as the "Floss" rule. When you hear a /f/, /l/, /s/, or /z/ sound at the end of a one syllable word after a short vowel sound, you double that letter. A helpful way to remember these letters that are doubled is with the sentence, "Jeff will pass Buzz." Check out the silly animations below to help you remember!
Practice Opportunities
Please see the UFLI Foundations Home Practice slip sent home in your child's Home Literacy bag for a FLSZ practice word chain, as well as a short vowel review Home Practice slip. In class, we use magnetic letters to "play" with these, but a simple pencil and paper or white board and pen will work just as well!
This online game helps students practice reading FLSZ short vowel words by matching words that they hear and see: FLSZ Match Up
This online "quiz show style" game requires students to identify the correct spelling based on a given picture (good practice for distinguishing vowel sounds as well as FLSZ words!):FLSZ Quiz Show
If you would like more offline practice, feel free to print off a free Floss Rule Game by clicking the following link from the blog, "The Measured Mom": The Floss Rule Game
Heart Words
Heart words are high frequency words where some components do not follow predictable "sounding out" spelling patterns. We can use our knowledge of phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters) to decode some parts of heart words, but they have some parts we must learn "by heart." Please find the following list of heart words we have learned so far in your child's Home Literacy bag, as well as a page of possible suggestions for playful ways to study and practice them. I include a handful of heart words along with sample words that follow our current spelling pattern on the check-in spelling assessments.
