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Before you can teach about a closed syllable exception, you first must understand what a closed syllable is. To learn about the closed syllable click here. A closed syllable exception is a syllable that contains one vowel, followed by one or more consonants. However, rather than a short vowel sound, the closed syllable exception has…
Explicit and systematic instruction in the reading and spelling of words with suffix -s and -es is the most effective way to ensure that students become skilled decoders. When should suffix -s and -es be introduced?
There are some important things to know about glued or welded sounds in order to teach them effectively. First, some glued sounds only have two sounds while others have three. We wrote a previous post about how to teach the two-sound element. You might want to read “What Are Glued Sounds and Why Are They…
There are a few simple rules that students need to learn about reading and spelling words with bonus letters. Bonus letters are double consonants found at the end of the word. There are only four consonants that are consistently doubled: f, l, s, and z. These letters are doubled when they directly follow a vowel…
Glued sounds are also known as welded sounds. Glued sounds are groups of letters whose distinct sounds are difficult to separate when segmenting words. These types of letter groupings are more easily taught as ‘stuck together’. We’ll talk more about that a bit later. Are all glued sounds the same? No. Some glued sounds have…
Consonant digraphs are two consonants next to each other that work together to make one sound. The most common digraphs that beginning readers need to recognize are wh, ch, ph, sh, th, and ck. Why do I need to teach about consonant digraphs if my students already know their letter names and sounds?