Phonics Lesson 93 au, aw, augh - /aw/ & Lesson 94 ea - short /e/ & a - short /o/ : May 4- 8 (Reading Practice Book)

Phonics Lessons - May 4 - May 8

This week we have continued to learn about vowel teams. Vowel teams are two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound. This week we are learning about new ways to make vowel sounds we already know but alternative spelling patterns to make them.  

Lesson 93: au, aw, augh - /aw/

We learned this week a new sound /aw/. The /aw/ sound is similar to the short /o/ sound. The /aw/ sound can be made three ways. 

aw /aw/: The sound /aw/ can be spelled with the letters aw and is usually comes in the middle of a word, such as the words lawn and hawk. It can also come at the end of the word, such as the words paw and law. And it can also come at the beginning of a word, such as the word awe.  

au /aw/: The sound /aw/ can also be spelled with the vowel team au and comes in the middle of a word like haul and fault.

augh /aw/: The sound /aw/ can also be spelled with the augh spelling pattern and comes in the middle of a word like caught.    

In this week's text called, Trip to the Zoo, students are looking for all the words that have the letter teams that makes the /aw/ sound based on the au, aw and augh 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 combinations. We are specifically looking for the aw sound combinations from au, aw and augh making that special /aw/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Lesson 94: ea - short /e/ & a - short /o/ 

This week we learned there are some unique ways to make short vowel sounds of /e/ and /o/. These patterns are not very common and they only happen in a few words. We would really recognize these as heart (irregular) words but it helps to know the pattern. 

ea - short /e/: We know ea spells the long /e/ like in mean and team. In some words, ea spells the short /e/ sound like in head, read, thread and bread. We just have to recognize that it could be both when we read (and write) and see which one sounds correct in our word to make it make sense. 

a - short /o/ - and there is this letter a that wants to make the short /o/ in some words. Again, we just have to recognize that it can do that as a heart word but is not as common. This usually happens when a follows w. some words like this are watch, water, father, wash and swamp.  

In this week's text called, Surprise on the Track, students are looking for words that have one of our special vowel patterns listed above. 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 those letters that do not make the same sound as our vowel team we are looking for. 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:

• floor
• poor
• door
• won
• son
• month

This week's new words:

• hour
• minute
• Monday
• Wednesday

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!