Tag: Consonants and Short Vowel Sounds

Some struggling students have challenges reading words with the final “s.” June Orton left the final -s for later in her scope and sequence; I made it green so that caregivers can assist the child in reading this word if necessary.

Be sure to check your student’s letter formations!  Struggling readers often make the letter r from the bottom up. (They often do the same formation with the n and m).  It is important to remind them that the English language goes from top to bottom, left to right.  The r, n, and m letters are…

The next phonogram in June Orton’s scope and sequence is the r. Students will learn this as a beginning sound only until later.  (When the r follows a vowel, it creates a different syllable type, known as r-controlled, which is more complex).  Since the word ran is now in the student’s word bank, an appropriate…

The above chart uses remaining words and nonsense syllables from June Lyday Orton’s Phonics Lesson 1 and 2 from “A Guide to Teaching Phonics.”  Again, the student can read the words across the chart, then down, then randomly.  The goal is to become fluent with each word and not sound them out.  Typically, the nonsense…

In the story, “A Nap in a Pan”, ask students if they notice a pattern by looking at the colors in the words.  In each line, the beginning and ending sounds of the decodable words have been switched, so that the word “nap” becomes “pan”, “tap,” becomes “pat”, etc. This is a good example of…

Reading words in isolation, often called the “Whole Word Reading Drill” in an Orton-Gillingham Lesson, is an essential part of learning to read words quickly and accurately without context clues.  The above chart can be used to review decodable words and nonsense syllables used so far in the decodable stories.  The student can read the…

Some Orton-Gillingham scope and sequences will introduce the l later in the sequence.  The letter l is called a “liquid consonant” and is considered a complex sound that can vary greatly according to accents and in different contexts. June Orton introduced it early in her scope and sequence.

The decodable stories presented are inspired by Phonics Lessons 1 and 2 in June Lyday Orton’s A Guide to Teaching Phonics.   The only vowel presented so far is the short vowel a. Single consonants include the b, s, f, m, t, h, j, n, p, l.  The only two sounds that are sometimes confused by…

What is the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness?  Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize spoken parts of words such as syllables, onset-rime, and phonemes.  Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.  Both are key skills in getting students ready to read.

Phonics is the system of associating letter symbols with speech sounds.  Phonetics is the science of speech. Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds. A phonogram is a letter or combination of letters that represents a sound.  So far, the following phonograms and corresponding sounds have been…