BOLETÍN C-2

bathe gather smooth together whether

Medial/Final Position

/th/ as in the ^(voiced)

How formed: The /th/ sound is a voiced dental fricative. To make the /th/ sound, place the tip of the tongue between the teeth. Force the air through the front of the tongue while the tongue vibrates.

Spellings: The /th/ sound is most frequently spelled by the digraph th as in the or that. Most of the words containing the /th/ sound are of higher frequency in English than those containing the /th/

sound. The digraph th represents two sounds—the voiceless /th/ sound as in thin and the voiced /th/

sound as in the. The letters th are fairly reliable for these two sounds. However, sometimes the letters th stand for the /t/ sound as in Thomas and thyme, and sometimes they are silent as in isthmus. When the letters th appear together in a word, but are in separate syllables (EXAMPLE: boathouse), the t stands for /t/ and the h stands for /h/.

than that

the their

them then

there these

they this

those though

thus

WORDS FOR INSTRUCTION

Initial Position

Phonics From A to Z © Wiley Blevins, Scholastic Teaching Resources

Final Position

WORDS FOR INSTRUCTION

Initial Position

/th/ as in thumb (voiceless)

How formed: The /th/ sound is a voiceless dental fricative. To make the /th/ sound, place the tip of the tongue between the teeth. Force the air through the front of the tongue without vibration.

Spellings: The /th/ sound is most frequently spelled by the digraph th as in thin or bath. The digraph th represents two sounds—the voiceless /th/ sound as in thin and the voiced /th/ sound as in the. The letters th are fairly reliable for these two sounds. However, sometimes the letters th stand for the /t/ sound as in Thomas and thyme, and sometimes they are silent as in isthmus. When the letters th appear together in a word, but are in separate syllables (EXAMPLE: boathouse), the t stands for /t/ and the h stands for /h/.

Another spelling of the /th/ sound is chth (chthonian).

/hw/ as in wheel

How formed: The /hw/ sound is rapidly disappearing from the English language. Many dialects do not distinguish the /hw/ sound in whether from the /w/ sound in weather. Listen carefully as you say aloud these words. Do you pronounce the beginning sound differently? When making the /hw/ sound, /h/ (just a puff of air) is vocalized before /w/. The jaws are apart to produce /h/, then close as the lips come closer together to produce /w/. You should be able to feel a slight vibration of the lips.

Spellings: The /hw/ sound is represented by the digraph wh. This spelling appears only at the begin-ning of a word or syllable. The digraph wh can also represent /h/ as in who, whom, whose, and whole.

whack

WORDS FOR INSTRUCTION

Initial Position

Phonics From A to Z © Wiley Blevins, Scholastic Teaching Resources

angry bang clang clung finger gang gong hang hung hunger

king linger long longer rang ring rung sang sing song

sprung strangler strong strength thing wing wrangler wringer young

bank brink drink drunk honk ink junk link mink pink

rank sank shrunk sink sunk tank thank wink

WORDS FOR INSTRUCTION

Medial/Final Position

/ng/ as in ring

How formed: The /ng/ sound is a voiced velar nasal. To make the /ng/ sound, raise the back of the tongue toward the top of the mouth similar to the production of the /g/ and /k/ sounds. However, relax the soft palate to allow the air to flow through the nose. The /ng/ sound is one of three nasal sounds (/m/, /n/, /ng/). These sounds are responsible for resonance in the voice.

Spellings: The /ng/ sound is frequently represented by the letters ng as in ring. This sound never occurs at the beginning of a word or syllable and always follows a vowel sound. The letters ng are only moderately reliable for this sound.

At the end of words, the letters ng always stand for the /ng/ sound. However, within words the two letters n and g can cause confusion. For example, the letter n alone may stand for the /ng/ sound and the g for /g/ as in finger; or the letter n may stand for the /n/ sound and the g for the /g/ sound as in ungrateful, ongoing, or engulf. The letters ng can also stand for the /n/ and /j/

sounds as in angel, change, plunge, and ranger.

The letter n alone can represent the /ng/ sound when followed by k as in pink, rank, think, and sink. In the words linger and mango you also hear the /g/ sound after /ng/.

Other spellings of the /ng/ sound include: ngg (mah-jongg), ngue (tongue), nd (handkerchief).

Phonics From A to Z © Wiley Blevins, Scholastic Teaching Resources

WORDS FOR INSTRUCTION

/a/ as in cake

How formed: The /a_

/ sound is referred to as the long-a sound. To make the /a_

/ sound, the front part of the tongue is midheight in the mouth. The lips are unrounded and the facial muscles are relatively tense.

Spellings: The most common spellings of the /a_

/ sound include a_e (cake), ai (pain), and ay (say).

Other spellings of the /a_

/ sound include: eigh (eight), a(r) (vary), ai(r) (fair), ey (they, obey), ae (Gael), ag (champagne), aig (campaign), aigh (straight) ao (gaol), au (gauge), é (exposé), e (suede), ea (steak), ee (matinee), eh (eh), ei (veil), eig (feign), eigh (sleigh), eilles (Marseilles), er (dossier), es (demesne), et (beret), hei (heir), ie (lingerie), ué (appliqué), uet (bouquet).

bake

Phonics From A to Z © Wiley Blevins, Scholastic Teaching Resources

/e/ as in feet

How formed: The /e_

/ sound is referred to as the long-e sound. To make the /e_

/ sound, the front part of the tongue is high in the mouth.

The lips are unrounded and the facial muscles are relatively tense.

Spellings: The most common spellings of the /e_

/ sound include e (we), ee (feet), ea (heat), y (lazy), and ie (field).

Other spelling of the /e_

/ sound include: ey (key), uay (quay pronounced “key”), ae (Caesar), e’e (e’en), e_e (precede), ei (receive), eip (receipt), eo (people), i_e (machine), is (debris), oe (amoeba), ea_ue (league), it (esprit), ui (mosquito), agh (shillelagh), ois (chamois).

WORDS FOR INSTRUCTION

be

Phonics From A to Z © Wiley Blevins, Scholastic Teaching Resources

/i/ as in bike

How formed: The / i_

/ sound is referred to as the long-i sound. Many linguists categorize this sound as a diphthong.

Spellings: The most common spellings of the / i_

/ sound include i_e (bike), y (my), i (child), ie (tie), and igh (high).

Other spellings of the / i_

/ sound include: ais (aisle), ay (kayak), aye (aye), ei (stein), eigh (height), ey (geyser) eye (eye), is (island), uy (buy), ye (lye), ia (diamond), oy (coyote), ui_e (guide).

While reading Big Books to students, mask a word that contains a sound-spelling you want to review.

Have children predict the word based on context and picture clues. Then reveal one letter at a time in the word as children confirm or change their predictions based on their knowledge of sound-spelling relation-ships. This is an excellent way of providing opportu-nities for children to use all three cueing

systems—semantic (meaning), syntactic (grammar), and graphophonic (sound-spellings).

WORDS FOR INSTRUCTION

bike

Phonics From A to Z © Wiley Blevins, Scholastic Teaching Resources

/o/ as in boat

How formed: The /o_

/ sound is referred to as the long-o sound.

To make the /o_

/ sound, the back part of the tongue is midheight in the mouth. The lips are rounded and the facial muscles are relatively tense.

Spellings: The most common spellings of the /o_

/ sound include o (go), o_e (home), oa (boat), ow (show), and oe (toe).

Other spellings of the /o_

/ sound include: ou/ough (boulder/though), ew (sew), au (mauve), aut (hautboy), aux (faux pas), eau (beau), eaux (Bordeaux), eo (yeoman), oh (oh), ol (yolk), oo (brooch), ot (depot), owe (owe), os (apropos).

WORDS FOR INSTRUCTION

bold

Phonics From A to Z © Wiley Blevins, Scholastic Teaching Resources