Category Archives: systematic phonics instruction

How to teach words ending in the K sound

Posted on May 17, 2024 | Leave a comment

A reader asks how to teach her first grader words which end in a K sound.

That’s a tough question to answer because even though there are basically three ways of ending English words with a K sound (“c,” “ck,” and “ke”), there are many variations of short-ish vowel sounds before the K sound (-ac, -alk, -awk, -ek, -ic, -ilk, -ok, -ook, and -uk.) There are even more variations of long vowel sounds before the “K” sound (-ache, -ake, -eak, -eek, -eke, -iek, -ike, -ique, -oak, -oke, -olk, and -uke).

But luckily, first graders don’t need to know all the variations. So, let’s offer them a few basic rules.

For words which rhyme with book and look, the spelling is –ook. Make sure the child can distinguish between the -ook sound and the –uk sound. Say both kinds of words aloud and ask the child to tell you if you are saying an -ook or a -uk word. Words which end in –ook include

book	hook	shook
brook	look	took
cook	nook
crook	rook

Words which end in -uk include

buck	muck	suck
chuck	pluck	truck
cluck	puck	yuck
duck	struck
luck	stuck

Most short-vowel, one-syllable words end in -ck. In addition to the -uck words above, other common -ck words include

back	black	crack
flak	hack	jack
knack	lack	pack
quack	rack	sack
shack	slack	smack
snack	stack	tack
track	whack	check
deck	fleck	heck
neck	peck	speck
wreck	brick	chick
click	flick	kick
lick	nick	pick
prick	quick	sick
slick	stick	thick
tick	trick	block
clock	crock	dock
flock	frock	jock
knock	lock	mock
rock	shock	smock
sock	stock

A small number of words end in -lk where the L is silent: chalk, talk, and walk. Some people pronounce these words as rhyming with -ok (walk, lock) while other people pronounce them as rhyming with the -aw sound (talk, hawk). I would teach these -lk words as a small word family and not confuse the child with other letter variations.

Most long-vowel, one-syllable words ending in a “K” sound end in -ke. They include

bake	Blake	brake
cake	fake	flake
Jake	lake	make
quake	rake	sake
shake	snake	stake
take	wake	bike
hike	like	pike
spike	strike	broke
choke	Coke	joke
poke	smoke	spoke
stoke	stroke	woke
woke	fluke	Luke
nuke	puke

Many long-vowel, one-syllable words ending in a “K” sound end in two vowels before the K, such as beak and soak. In order not to confuse the child, I would skip over teaching these kinds of words until the previous kinds of “K” words are learned. The exception I would make is teaching –eek words. I often teach -ee words before I teach silent E words, and when I come to silent E words, I tell students that almost all long-vowel, E words are spelled with –ee. Instead of the E coming at the end of the word, it comes after the first E, I say. This does not seem to confuse students.

The only words ending in just a C that a first grader might need to know are doc, picnic and music. And the only short-vowel, one-syllable word ending in just a K that I can think of is trek. Teach these as exceptions to rules.

I suspect what the child is confused by is not how to read all these words, but how to spell them. If so, I would teach them as word families, and review them often.

The four, no five, no eight pillars of reading

Posted on August 13, 2023 | Leave a comment

Focusing on four skills leads to good reading achievement in children, we used to think. Then came a comprehensive US government report in 2000 saying five skills are necessary. In the ensuing 23 years, researchers tell us three more skills are necessary. Let’s look at those skills, starting with a chart showing four skills, followed by information on five skills, and ending with the latest three skills.

Previously, vocabulary was considered part of the fourth component of reading. Now it is considered a separate component, as are three previously unrecognized skills: oral language, writing, and background knowledge.

Phonemic awareness, the ability to hear and identify individual sounds in words—such as the sound of “b” in “bat”—and to move sounds around to hear them in various parts of words. This skill is taught in pre-K and kindergarten to most American school children.

Phonics, the ability to match the sounds of English to letters or to letter pairs in order to form words. This skill is usually taught in kindergarten and first grade.

Vocabulary, the ability to recognize and understand three kinds of words: everyday spoken words, more complex words (SAT-like words), and domain specific words (words used in specific contexts, such as the baseball-related words of pitcher, shortstop, foul ball and bunt).

Fluency, the ability to read text accurately at conversational speed, using expression.

Comprehension, the ability to understand what is read.

The three other skills that have been identified as crucial to learning to read are

Oral language, the ability to understand spoken language and to speak it. Proficiency in oral language precedes proficiency in reading.

Writing, the ability to use written symbols to represent words and to transmit meaning

Background knowledge, the ability to store and retrieve information and apply it to new knowledge gained from reading.

No wonder reading is such a complex skill for children to master.

Defining basic terms used to discuss reading

Posted on December 17, 2021 | Leave a comment

When you are learning how to teach your child to read, you need to familiarize yourself with a few words. If you read widely about reading, you will encounter these words all the time. But even if you don’t, understanding them will make reading instruction easier to follow.

phonemes

One such word is “phonemes.” The smallest sounds we utter are called phonemes. About 48 such small sounds exist in standard American English. These sounds are not letters; they are sounds to which we pair letters in order to read and pronounce sounds. Some words such as eye have one phonemes (a long ī), but most words have two or more phonemes. Snow, for example, has three (s, n, ō). Putting together phonemes to form words is an important reading skill.

phonics

Another important word is “phonics.” Phonics means combining phonemes to form words. For example, the phonemes b, ă, and t combine to form the word bat. 250 letter patterns represent the 42 to 44 phonemes in American English. Most children cannot figure out phonics on their own. They need instruction to match a phoneme to a letter or to a pair of letters.

systematic phonics instruction

Systematic means that concepts are taught in a particular order. For example, phonemes which are always represented by a single letter such as b are taught before phonemes which are represented by more than one letter such as th. Short vowel words such as cat are taught before long vowel words such as bike.

For more details on the sequencing of learning sounds, go to http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200901/BTJPhonologicalAwareness.pdf. While you are there, check out 1) the list of read-aloud books that emphasize sounds, and 2) activities you can do with a child who is learning sounds.

vowels

A vowel is the primary speech phoneme in every syllable (one vowel phoneme for one syllable). Vowel phonemes are made by the mouth without any blockage by the tongue or lips. Short vowel phonemes are the vowel sounds in Pat, Ben, Jill, Tom, and Bud. They are sometimes represented by a curve over the vowel. Long vowel phonemes are the vowel sounds in Kate, Eve, Mike, Joe, and Lou. They are sometimes represented by a straight horizontal line over the vowel. Other vowel sounds are also represented by a, e, i, o, and u, and by combinations of these letters. W and y can also be vowel phonemes in combination with other vowels or alone as in cow and by.

short and long vowels

Short and long are a traditional way to describe certain vowel sounds. Short vowel sounds can be said quicker while long vowel sounds take a fraction of a second longer to pronounce. In recent years, the terms closed and open are used the same way to mean, respectively, short and long.

consonants

A consonant is a speech sound made by partially blocking the air as you breathe out. Most phonemes are consonants, but they cannot be pronounced without connecting them to vowels. American English includes the consonant phonemes b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, qu, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, and z.

syllables

Syllables are units of sound containing one vowel phoneme and usually one or more consonant phonemes. Mitten has two syllables: mit and ten. Robotics has three syllables: ro, bo, and tics.

Knowing these terms gives you a basic vocabulary enabling you to follow instruction about reading.