Phonics Lessons - April 7-10
This week's focus has been learning about more long vowel teams. Vowel teams are two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound.
Lesson 85: ee, ea, ey - long /e/
We have already learned that the letter E can spell the long /e/ in silent (or super hero) e words like in theme. We have also learned that E spells long /a/ in open syllable words like in begin.ee - The vowel team ee spells long /e/ and it usually comes in the middle of a word like in need and feet. But ee can also come at the end of a word like in see and tree. Also, ee sometimes comes at the beginning of the word like in eel.
ea - The vowel team ea also spells the long /e/ and usually comes in the middle of a word like in mean and team. It can sometimes come at the beginning of a word like in eat and each and also can come at the end of a word like tea and flea.
ey - The vowel team ey also spells the long /e/ and only comes at the end of a two-syllable word like in money and turkey.
In this week's text called, Deep in the Green Forest, students are looking for all the words that have the long /e/ sound based on the ee, ea or ey 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 in the word - we are specifically looking for the ee. ea and ey making the long /e/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.
Lesson 86: oa, ow, oe - long /o/
We have already learned that the letter O can spell the long /o/ in silent (or super hero) e words like in bone. We have also learned that O spells long /o/ in open syllable words like in cozy.
oa - The vowel team oa spells long /o/ and it usually comes in the middle of a word like in boat and road. But oa sometimes comes at the beginning of a word like in oat and oak.
ow - The vowel team ow also spells the long /o/ and usually comes at the end of a word like show and grow. OW can also come in the middle of a word like in bowl and flown.
oe - The vowel team oe also spells the long /o/ and comes at the end of a word like toe.
In this week's text called, A Trip to the Coast, students are looking for all the words that have the long /o/ sound based on the oa, ow or oe 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 o in the word - we are specifically looking for the oa, ow and oe making the long /o/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.
Heart (Irregular) Words of the Week
- father
- water
- today
- very
- above
- among
- again
- against
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.
Happy reading!
