Phonics Lessons - April 27-May 1
This week's focus has been learning about more vowel teams (that don't make long vowel sounds). Vowel teams are two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound and these are newer vowel sounds rather than the 'regular' ones we speak of.
Lesson 90: oo - /ew/
We have learned that the vowel team oo can spell the sound /oo/ as in book but it can also spell the sound /ew/ as in spoon.
OO spells the /ew/ sound in the middle of a word like in soon and food. It can also spell that at the end of a word like in too and boo. Finally, it can spell that sound at the beginning of the word like in oops and ooze.
In this week's text called, The Groom is Late!, students are looking for all the words that have the vowel team oo that males that /ew/ sound. They are looking to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that include the oo that makes the the /oo/ sound from last week or the heart words we have been learning! We are specifically looking for the /ew/ sound that oo can make. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.
Lesson 91: ew, ui, ue u - /ew/
We have learned that oo spells that /ew/ sound like in the middle of the word spoon. There are three more vowel teams that can make that same /ew/ sound.
ew /ew/: The sound /ew/ can be spelled with the letters ew. It comes at the end of a word like in flew and grew.
ui /ew/: The sound /ew/ can also be spelled with ui and comes in the middle of a word like suit and juice.
ue /ew/: The sound /ew/ can also be spelled with the ue spelling pattern and comes at the end of the word like glue and sue.
In this week's text called, Cruise Ship Trip, students are looking for all the words that have the letter teams that makes the /ew/ sound based on the ew, ui and ue spelling patterns to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that just include any letter e, u, w or combinations. We are specifically looking for the ew sound combinations from ew, ui and ue making that special /ew/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.
Heart (Irregular) Words of the Week
Heart words are words that do not decode or follow the spelling rules that we have been learning. We have to know them by 'heart'. However, once we learn more spelling rules, they may be only temporary heart words and the rules will come along later! In the meantime, we have been focusing on reviewing and learning the words below with focused in class practice. These will eventually (if not already) be on spelling word lists or word rings.
This week we are reviewing:
- they
- want
- friend
- always
- almost
- floor
- poor
- door
Fluency Grids
With each lesson, there is a fluency grid with the lesson focus that is intended to help students recognize the phonics rule and assist in reading it with accuracy and automaticity. At home, challenge your young reader to read the word (aim is to decode/read each word within 3 seconds) and then recall it each time they see it within the grid of mixed up, repeated words. A couple minutes of practice is all they need. This acts as a warm up before reading the text that also applies the same skill while building on all the previous skills as well. Each week we are building on the previous week to become more fluent readers so we can focus on what the text is sharing rather than spending all the time decoding the words.
Homework Reminders
Students have been working on the story or stories in their Reading Practice book this week that will come home each weekend. At school, they work with a partner to complete their fluency grid, read with someone their story and highlight the focus words. Following, they are illustrating a picture for the text to show their understanding.
At home, students are to finish the above tasks and read to an expert the week's lesson(s). After completing, parents are to initial at the indicated spot at the top.
This week, we are have completed two lessons so there will be two stories to complete in their white Reading Practice booklet after the clip. Please see the information letter in the front of the book for more, detailed information about this weekend practice book coming home. Please return on Monday (or Tuesday if there is a no school day on Monday).
Happy reading!
