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Decoding Words


Closed Syllables Phonics Practice for Readers
Closed syllables are one of the first types of syllables kids learn to read. However, if a child doesn't understand phonics, they may struggle to spell the same words they can easily read. Phonics is a powerful tool for teaching spelling and reading. The following worksheets on closed syllables can help students learn to read, but they will need adult assistance. Readers can use the closed syllable worksheets to understand the rules of closed syllables and improve their spell


Teaching Syllables in Upper Elementary and Middle School Classrooms
Syllables are considered a lower elementary topic. Once kids know how to read, they don't need to spend time thinking about syllables. However, many of our upper elementary and middle school students never got explicit instruction in syllables. These kids are missing a key tool in spelling and decoding unfamiliar words. Upper elementary and middle school students don't need much instruction on syllables. Spend a week teaching them explicitly, so you can refer back to them as


Phonics Resources for the Short U Sound
If you are teaching young readers, then phonics is a vital part of your reading instruction. Introducing the Short U Sound You will want to start by connecting what your students already know to what they will learn. As you will see in this presentation, I like to do that using pictures. This presentation is for older students learning phonics patterns for spelling. It includes the less common spellings of the short u sound. Both of these presentations are from my Learning to


Phonics Resources for the Short O Sound
If you are teaching young readers, then phonics is a vital part of your reading instruction. Introducing the Short O Sound You will want to start by connecting what your students already know to what they will learn. As you will see in this presentation, I like to do that using pictures. This presentation is for older students learning phonics patterns for spelling. It includes the less common spellings of the short o sound. Both of these presentations are from my Learning to


Phonics Resources for the Short I Sound
If you are teaching young readers, then phonics is a vital part of your reading instruction. Introducing the Short I Sound You will want to start by connecting what your students already know to what they will learn. As you will see in this presentation, I like to do that using pictures. This presentation is for older students learning phonics patterns for spelling. It includes the less common spellings of the short i sound. Both of these presentations are from my Learning to


Phonics Resources for the Short A Sound
If you are teaching young readers, then phonics is a vital part of your reading instruction. Introducing the Short A Sound You will want to start by connecting what your students already know to what they will learn. As you will see in this presentation, I like to do that using pictures. This presentation is for older students learning phonics patterns for spelling. It includes the less common spellings of the short a sound. Both of these presentations are from my Learning to


Phonics Resources for the Short E Sound
If you are teaching young readers, then phonics is a vital part of your reading instruction. Introducing the Short E Sound You will want to start by connecting what your students already know to what they will learn. As you will see in this presentation, I like to do that using pictures. This presentation is for older students learning phonics patterns for spelling. It includes the less common spellings of the short e sound. Both of these presentations are from my Learning to


Expanding Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker VCE Long U
How We Learn to Read Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words. Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent


Expanding Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker VCE Long O
How We Learn to Read Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words. Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent


Expanding Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker VCE Long I
How We Learn to Read Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words. Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent


Expanding Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker VCE Long A
How We Learn to Read Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words. Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent


Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker Games
How We Learn to Read Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words. Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent


Expanding Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker Short U
How We Learn to Read Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words. Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent


Expanding Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker Short O
How We Learn to Read Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words. Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent


Expanding Reading and Spelling Using Word Families: Word Maker Short E
How We Learn to Read Our brains learn to read using a consistent process. The speed at which people learn how to read may differ, but the process is the same. We learn to associate symbols (letters) with sounds. We then learn to combine these symbols that represent sounds (phonemes) into words. Just like we have to learn that 2 + 2 = 4, we have to learn that the letter f makes the /f/ sound. I would argue that reading is even harder than math because each symbol can represent


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 14
This week, students will learn about compound words. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics pattern at Teachers Pay Teachers and build your own review sli


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 13
This week, students will learn how to spell the /ow/ sound. The letters ou make the /ow/ sound in the middle of a syllable. The letters ow make the /ow/ sound at the end of a syllable or in the middle of a syllable before the letters l, n, or d. Note that the letter ou can also make the /ow/ sound before the letter d. Students will have to learn the spellings of these words. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we ca


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 12
This week, students will learn how to spell the long /e/ sound using the ee and ea vowel teams. There is no general rule for when to use each vowel team to make the long /e/ sound. Students will have to learn the spelling for each word. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a revie


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 11
This week, students will learn how to spell the long /a/ sound using the ai and ay vowel teams. A general rule is that we use the ai vowel team to spell the long /a/ sound in the middle of a syllable and the ay vowel team to spell the long /a/ sound at the end of a syllable. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. St


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 10
This week, students will review spelling patterns they have been learning over the last nine weeks. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics pattern at Teac


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 9
This week, students will learn about the soft and hard g. The letter g can make two sounds. When the letter g comes before a consonant, a, o, or u, it makes the /g/ sound. When the letter g comes before e, i, or y, it makes the /j/ sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a rev


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 8
This week, students will learn about the soft and hard c. The letter c can make two sounds. When the letter c comes before a consonant, a, o, or u, it makes the /k/ sound. When the letter c comes before e, i, or y, it makes the /s/ sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a rev


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 7
This week, students will learn about the sounds the letter y makes at the end of a word. At the end of a one-syllable word, the letter y makes the long /i/ sound as in sky. At the end of a multisyllabic word, the letter y makes the long /e/ sound as in candy. The letter y can also make the short /i/ sound in the middle of a word, but that spelling is not covered in these review slides. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful t


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 6
This week, students will learn about consonant + le syllables. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics pattern at Teachers Pay Teachers and build your own


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 5
This week, students will learn about vce syllables. They will also learn about the two different sounds the letter s can make in plural nouns. If the letter s follows an unvoiced sound, it will make the /s/ sound. If the letter s follows a voiced sound, including a vowel sound, it will make the /z/ sound. This pattern also includes the letter s at the end of other words, such as verbs, but these review slides only include plural nouns. You can get the weekly phonics routine a


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 4
This week, students will learn about open syllables. An open syllable ends in one vowel, and the vowel makes its long sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for ever


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 3
This week, students will learn about the cat-kite rule. They will learn that both the letter c and the letter k can make the /k/ sound. The letter c makes the /k/ sound before the letters a, o, and u. The letter k makes the /k/ sound before the letters i, e, and y. There are exceptions to the cat-kite rule. The expectations are mostly from words adopted into English from other languages, such as kayak or koala. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers.


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 1
This week, students will review closed-syllable words from first grade. Blends and digraphs are included. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics pattern a


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 36
This is a review week for phonics. These activity mostly review silent letters and the letter a making the short /o/ sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 35
This week, students will learn about silent letters. Specifically, they will learn about the silent g and silent k at the beginning of words, and the silent b at the end of words. These letters are silent today, but hundreds of years ago, people said these sounds. We have lost the sound but kept the spelling. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently i


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 34
This week, students will learn about ways the letter a can make the short /o/ sound. When a comes after w or qu, it can make the short /o/ sound. When a comes before l, it can make the short /o/ sound. This week also includes the lesson that a bossy k can make the letter l silent. That is why we don’t hear the /l/ sound in walk, talk, or chalk. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 33
This week, students will learn about using the letters ea to make both the short /e/ sound and the long /e/ sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 32
This week, students will learn about using the letters tion and sion to make the /shun/ sound. The letters sion can also make the /zhun/ sound. The distinction will depend on accent. Both tion and sion include the suffix -ion which turns verbs into nouns. For example, collide becomes collision. This review does not address the suffix. It focuses on the unpredictable sound of the letters tion and sion. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 31
This week, students will learn about using the letters oo to spell both the long /oo/ sound and the short /oo/ sound. Please note that there are many ways to make the long /oo/ sound, such as the UI in fruit. We can also make the short /oo/ sound with the letter u in put. These alternate spellings are not included in this review. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read an


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 30
This week, students will learn about spelling the /aw/ sound with the letters aw and au. The /aw/ sound is very similar to the short /o/ sound. Most people will drop their chins more when they make the /aw/ sound. Accents will affect hearing the difference between the short /o/ sound and the /aw/ sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is inte


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 29
This week, students will learn about spelling multisyllabic words with r-controlled and consonant + le syllables. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics p


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 27
This week, students will review phonics patterns they have learned over the past 26 weeks. As a result, we will not follow the usual pattern of reviewing on Monday and interspersing review and new words on Tuesday through Thursday. Every day will be a review day. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 28
This week, students will learn about spelling the long /oo/ sound with the letters oo and ew. Note that the long /u/ sound can also be made with the letters ew. The difference between the long /oo/ and long /u/ sound can also be affected by accents. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 26
This week, students will learn about spelling the /er/ sound with the letters ir and the /or/ sound with the letters oar. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every p


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 25
This week, students will learn about the spelling of the /ch/ sound. After a short vowel, we spell the /ch/ sound with the letters tch. After other sounds, we spell the /ch/ sound with the letters ch. We also spell the /ch/ sound at the beginning of a word with the letters ch. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice.


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 24
This week, students will learn about the ur spelling of the /er/ sound and the ore spelling of the /or/ sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics patt


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 23
This week, students will review phonics patterns they have learned over the past 22 weeks. As a result, we will not follow the usual pattern of reviewing on Monday and interspersing review and new words on Tuesday through Thursday. Every day will be a review day. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 22
This week, students will review phonics patterns they have learned over the past 21 weeks. As a result, we will not follow the usual pattern of reviewing on Monday and interspersing review and new words on Tuesday through Thursday. Every day will be a review day. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 21
This week, students will learn about the vowel teams oo, ue, ew, and ui that make the long oo sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics pattern at Tea


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 20
This week, students will learn about the oi and oy diphthongs. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics pattern at Teachers Pay Teachers and build your own


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 19
This week, students will learn that oa, oe, and ow are all vowel teams that can make the long o sound. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections for decoding and encoding. You can get slides for every phonics pattern at


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 18
This week, students will review phonics patterns they have learned over the past 17 weeks. As a result, we will not follow the usual pattern of reviewing on Monday and interspersing review and new words on Tuesday through Thursday. Every day will be a review day. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 17
This week, students will learn that we can make the long i sound using the vowel teams IE and IGH. Students may point out that IGH only has one vowel, but we still refer to it as a vowel team. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neura


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 16
This week is a review week for phonics. Students will review the following spelling patterns: ar, er, ir, ou, ow, ee, ea, ai, and ay. There will also be other review patterns in multisyllabic words. Usually, these review slides would be a part of the weekly phonics routine, but this week, we are only reviewing, so there aren’t review worksheets and activities. You can pull activities from previous weeks. You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of


Second Grade Phonics Program: Week 2
This week, second graders will be learning about using -ck to make the /k/ sound after a short vowel and doubling the letters f, l, s, and z after short vowels (the floss rule). You can get the weekly phonics routine at Teachers Pay Teachers. One of the most powerful things we can do to help our students learn how to read and write efficiently is intentional repeated practice. Starting your phonics lesson with a review will help students strengthen their neural connections fo
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