**Spelling lists will not be coming home for the first few weeks of
school.  Friday spelling tests will be based on the sounds learned
that week and not memorized letters.  
  

Vowel Valley:
/ee/ as in cheese
/i/ as in igloo
/e/ as in egg
/a/ as in apple
/u/ sound as in umbrella
/o/ as in octupus
/au/ as in August and /aw/ as in paw 
/oe/ as in toe
/oo/ as in foot
/oo/ as in boot
/ie/ as in tie
/ue/ as in blue
/oi/ as in coin
/oy/ as in boy
/ou/ as in ouch
/ow/ as in cow


Consonant blends: 2 or more consonants with no vowel between them 
that keep 
their own sound.  Blends can come at the beginning and at the end of 
words.
i.e. st as in stop or fl as in flip


Borrowers: They are called borrowers because the letters y, x, c, 
and qu do 
not have their own sound, but have to borrow sounds from other 
letters.  For 
example, when you hear the /k/ sound, it is usually spelled with a c 
before 
the letters a, o, or u and with a k before the letters e or i.  


R controlled vowels growling r's:  The combination 'er', 'ur', 
and 'ir' all 
make the same sound.  The r controls the vowel, altering its 
sound.  'er' is 
the most common spelling (40%), 'ur' is the second most commom 
spelling 
(26%), and 'ir' is the least common spelling (13%).  This will help 
your 
child make an educated spelling guess.  We are also learning 
about 'or'as in 
stork and 'ar' as in armadillo.


REVLOC
Closed Syllables: Syllables containing one vowel and at least one 
consonant to the right of the vowel.  Examples: it, hat, fish, 
branch.  
Closed syllables are the most frequent syllable type.  Words like 
how, boy, 
and arm are not closed syllables because the 'w' and 'y' are a part 
of the 
vowel team and the 'r' is a part of an r controlled vowel.
Open Syllables: Syllables containing one vowel with nothing to the 
right of 
the vowel.  The vowel will say its name.  Open syllables are the 2nd 
most 
frequent syllable type.  Examples: we, try, no
Consonant 'le' Syllables: Syllables containing a consonant + le.  
Students 
count back 3 from the 'e' and divide the syllable.  Consonant le 
takes 
precedence over Closed and Open syllables so try it first when 
reading a 
word.  Examples: lit/tle, ta/ble
Vowel Team: A syllable containing 2 vowels that make 1 sound.  A 
vowel team 
takes precedence over consonant le, open, and closed syllables so 
try it 
first.  examples: re/main, poo/dle, cof/fee
Bridge 'e' Syllable: contains a single vowel followed by a consonant 
+ e and 
the e makes the vowel say its name.  
Examples: make, bike, handmade
Growling r Syllables: Syllables containing a vowel followed by an 
r.  The r 
controlls the vowel and does not let it say it's name or sound.


Hard and Soft 'c': When 'c' is before an 'i', 'y', 'e', it makes 
the /s/ 
sound, as in city.  When 'c' is before any other letter, it makes 
the /k/ 
sound as in cat.


Hard and Soft G: When 'g' is before 'i', 'y', or 'e', it makes 
the /j/ sound 
as in genie.  When 'g' is in front of any other letter, it makes 
the /g/ 
sound as in go.


Begin Clockface: 
1:00 c or k spelling rule: At the beginning or middle of a word, 
when you 
hear the /k/ sound, it is usually spelled with a 'c' and you use 'k' 
if it 
is followed by an 'i', 'e', or 'y'.

2:00 ge or dge Rule: To spell /j/ at the end of a one syllable word 
use 'dge' so the 'd' blocks the 'e' from making one vowel say its 
name.  
(example: fudge) se 'ge' everywhere else.  (example: huge, barge)

3:00 u, v, or j rule
Words in English do not end in u, v, or j.
At the end of the word, if you hear: 
/ue/ add an 'e' (Ex. venue, cue)
/u/ it is most likely spelled with an 'a' (Ex. panda, agenda)
/v/ add an 'e' (Ex. active, give)
/j/ apply the ge/dge rule 

4:00 Floss Rule
Double the final consonant if the word: 
1. is one syllable (Ex. fluff, miss)
2. has one vowel (Ex. less, fill)
3. ends in f, l, s (or z)

5:00 ck Rule
To spell /k/ at the end of a one syllable word use: 
1. 'ck' after one vowel (Ex. stack, sick)
2. 'k' everywhere else (Ex. sneak, hawk, stork, milk)
To spell /k/ at the end of a multisyllable word, use 'c' (Ex. 
fantastic, 
plastic)

Red words: a, I, the, do, to, of, was, you, be, he, me, 
she, we, as, has, his, is, been, have, said, were, what, come, from, 
some, 
word, your, one, two, all, into, who, and, find, could, should, 
would, give, 
water, their, there, go, no, so, are, many, they, my, by, want, 
work, four,
eight, pull, gone, thought, put, both, brought, done, friend, does, 
know,
world, new, please, few, once, where, buy, sure, clothes, wash, 
poor, wear,
door, early, pretty, ready, very, enough, something, because, cause, 
any,
anything, carry, half, warm, though, eyes, course, built, more, 
front, before
country, today, sometimes, people, mother, father, brother, 
together, 
another, head, learn, suit, woman, questions, national, condition, 
labor,
doctor,wonder, certain, company, love, move, office, service, above, 
across,
against, again, among

Extended SMART activities: Here are some suggestions for reinforcing 
the phonics skills we are 
learning in school each week.  Our phonics time is limited everyday 
but very important for the 
child to become a fluent reader.  These are fun ways to review 
phonics with your child outside 
of school.  

*Discuss the sound of the week.  Have your child tell you the story 
and the rule at the dinner 
table.  
*Brainstorm words that have the sound of the week in the beginning, 
middle, or end.  Dictate 
words to them and them tell you if it is in the beginning, middle, 
or end of the word.  
*Dictate real or nonsense words for your child to write in sand, 
shaving cream, paper/pencil, 
chalk/chalkboard, whiteboard/expo marker, etc.
*When your child is reading or you are reading with the, have them 
identify words with the 
sound of the week in the story as well as red words.
*Write the consonants all over a beachball or any other ball.  Toll 
the ball and say the sound 
of each letter your thumb lands on.  Then have your child put the 
vowel sound in between each 
consonant and make a word.  i.e. my thumbs land on /p/ and /f/.  I 
make the individual sounds 
of each letter and then put the /ee/ sound in between to make 'peef' 
and 'feep'.
*Do a mad lib asking for words with specific sounds.  i.e. give me a 
noun with the /ee/ sound 
in it.
*Play CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) war with card decks.