Phonics Sequence

Phonics Sequence
Sound-Symbol Correspondence/ High-Frequency
Phonics Pattern
Examples Words
Notes

Set 1: a, b, t, s, m • Connect familiar sound to new symbol (letter).

•
(Integrating VC and CVC Words)

Point out what your mouth, tongue, and teeth do.

Alphabet Knowledge

Set 2: f, c, i, p • Have a visual to represent each letter.

• Model how to blend sounds of these letters together
to make words.
Set 3: h, l, n, o
• Begin by blending VC and CV words and
nonsense words
Set 4: g, d, r, k • Make sure student understand the difference
between vowels and consonants.
Set 5: j, v, z, u

Set 6: e, w, y, x, q
at, am, an, can, man, • CVC words are words with the pattern consonant-
CVC & VC Words: Short a cat, fan, bag
ran, had, as, has, was, vowel-consonant. VC words are vowel-consonant.
in, if, it, big, did, him, • Focus on what the mouth is doing for each vowel
CVC & VC Words: Short i fin, big, sit
six is, his sound.
• Use a keyword for each vowel.
CVC & VC Words: Short o hot, log, rod on, got, not, of • Teach decoding strategies: “Touch and Say”, reading
onset and rime (backward decoding), and successive
CVC & VC Words: Short u fun, nut, hug up, us, but, run, put blending.
Closed Syllables: Syllable is closed in by one or more consonants. Vowel is short.

• If needed, start with words that begin with

consonants that stretch (f, l, m, n, r, s, v, z)
CVC & VC Words: Short e net, pen, web let, get, red, yes
• Every syllable needs a vowel sound.

CVC Words: All Short Vowels • At this point, you are allowing time to practice to
Together reach automaticity. Duration will vary.
• Teach both nouns and verbs with suffix –s.
Morphology: Suffix -s hits, bugs, wins
• Introduce terms “base word” and “suffix”.

Consonant Digraphs: sh ship, wish she, wash •Digraphs are two or more letters that represent one
sound. These are consonant digraphs because they
represent a consonant sound.
Consonant Digraphs: ch chop, such
• Using sound boxes helps to show this.
the, that, this, then, Voiced and unvoiced th: Both sounds are made the same way,
Consonant Digraphs: th that, math
with, than, them, both but you use your voice for one and not the other.
Only a few words to use at this point with <wh> (when,
Consonant Digraphs: wh when when, which, what
what, whip, which)
At this point, you are allowing time to practice to reach
Consonant Digraphs: Review all automaticity. Duration will vary.
Words that end with the sounds /s/, /ch/, /z/, or /sh/
Morphology: Suffix -es dishes, buzzes
(s, x, z, sh, ch) will use suffix –es instead of -s.
Consonant blends are when two or more consonants are right
Beginning blends step, frog, plum and, must, help, just, next to each other, but they each represent their own sound.
went, stop, best, next,
(This is different than digraphs that represent only one
Ending Blends tent, lift, jump jump, last, want, from sound.)

At this point, you are allowing time to practice to reach

Review Together automaticity. Duration will vary.
Suffix –ed can make 3 sounds: /t/, /d/, and /id/.When added
Morphology: Suffix –ed jumped, rested
to a base word, it makes it past tense.
 Sound-Symbol / Phonics Pattern Examples High-Frequency Words Notes

Rule: When a 1-syllable word ends with a short vowel

Double Consonants: ll, ff, ss, zz fill, mess will, off, well, full, pull followed by f, l, s, or z, double that consonant.
Rule: When a 1-syllable word ends with a short vowel
Consonant Digraphs: ck rock, sack black followed by the /k/ sound, use ck. (Otherwise, use k.)
Rule: When a word ends with a short vowel followed by
Consonant Digraphs: tch catch watch the /ch/ sound, use <tch>. (Otherwise, use <ch>.)

Morphology: Suffix -ing jumping Suffix –ing means it is happening right now.
Closed Syllables

kind, fold, These syllables are closed, but the vowel does not make
Exceptions: ild, old, ost, ind, olt wild, most
old, cold, find, kind, hold, mind the expected short sound.
• ild, old, ost, ind, olt all have long vowel sounds.
sing, wink, bring, thing, think, thank, • ing/ink makes /ē/ sound; ang/ank has /ā/ sound.
-ng and -nk (& new grapheme: ng) bank, rang drink, sing, long
When you hear /ŏl/ at the end a word, you will usually
<all> spells /ŏl/ ball, call all, fall, small, call spell it <all>. (Exception: doll)

camp, cost, Rule: Use <k> if <e>, <i>, or <y> follows. Otherwise use <c>.
Beginning /k/ spelling rule kit, kelp

Digraph & Triple Blends (str, spr, spl, shrub, splash,

scr) string

Rule: When a 1 syllable word has 1 vowel followed by 1

rubbed, consonant, double that consonant before adding a vowel
Morphology Rule: Doubling Rule hopping, suffix.
me, we, baby, he, me, be, we, go, no, so, Syllables that end with a vowel. Vowel sound is long.
Open Syllables

One-syllable Open
robot she, Irregular: do, to
by, my, try, Rule: English words don’t end with the letter <i>. If you
Y as a vowel (long i) cry
my, by, why hear the sound /ī/ at the end of a word, usually use <y>.
When a word ends with a consonant then <y>, drop the y
Morphology: Drop the y, make it an i tries, flies and change it to <i> before adding suffixes (except –ing).

make, made, gave, take, VCe Pattern= vowel-consonant-e

VCe Pattern: a_e cake, game
came, ate • Usually syllables with this pattern will have a long vowel
sound. The first vowel will “say its name” and the <e>
like, five, time, ride, white, is silent.
VCe Pattern: i_e fine, smile
live • This is just one of silent e’s 6 jobs.
Some of the other jobs:
those, more, move, one, done, • Makes <c> “say” /s/: When the letter <e> comes after
VCe Pattern: o_e mole, home
some, come <c>, then <c> will represent its “soft” sound /s/.
Silent e (VCe Pattern)

• Makes <g> “say” /j/: When the letter <e> comes after
VCe Pattern: u_e cube, mule here, these, where*, there* <g>, then <g> will represent its “soft” sound /j/.
• English words do not end in the letter <v>. When a
word ends with the sound /v/, use <ve>. The <e> is
VCe Pattern: Review all together
there so the word does not end with <v>.
• Plural canceling rule: When a word ends with <s>, often
race, mice, there will be a silent <e> after the <s> so that the
<ce> chance
place, chance, once
word does not look plural (so the reader knows the <s>
page, hinge, is not a suffix -s.)
<ge> and <dge> spelling rule bridge
change • <dge> Spelling rule: When a word ends with the sound
/j/, use <dge> to represent /j/ if a short vowel comes
right before that /j/ sound. Otherwise, use <ge>.
give, have, have, give, live
<ve> valve
• Silent e is part of consonant –le syllable so there is a
written vowel. (Teach this later with multi-syllable words.)
Dropping Rule: When adding a vowel suffix to silent e
Morphology: Silent e with suffixes raked, hiking words, drop the <e> before adding the suffix.
 Sound-Symbol / Phonics Pattern Example High-Frequency Words Notes
There are more high-frequency words with these
digraphs, but if the other phonics patterns or graphemes
in those words haven’t been taught, then they were not
Digraphs: wr, kn write, knot write, wrote included here. For example, “know” is a HFW but <ow>
hasn’t been taught yet so that is included later after
teaching that grapheme.
can’t, don’t, Two words combined and shortened to make one word.
Contractions Words are combined using an apostrophe.
won’t, doesn’t
play, day, say, way, wait,
Long a: ai, ay rain, stay Vowel teams are two or more letters that together
says, said, they, their
represent a vowel sound. I break it up into vowel teams
green, sleep, three, need, that represent long vowel sounds and then other vowel
keep, feel, feet, week, real, teams (although long u is also with other vowel sounds).
Long Vowel Teams

Long e: ee, ea need, seat • <ai> is found in the beginning or middle; <ay> is at the end.
read, please, near, means,
year, leave, eat, each • <oa> is found in the beginning or middle; <ow> is at the
end (except with “shown”, “grown”, “own”); <oe> is found
grow, show, goes, own at the end of a just a few words.
Long o: oa, ow, oe boat, slow, toe
know; Irregular: though • <igh> is usually in the middle followed by <t>. Is found at
the end of a few words (high, thigh, sigh)
high, might, light, right, • <ie> is found at the end of just a few words (pie, tie, lie,
Long i: igh, ie light, pie
night; Irregular: eye, buy die).
• <ea>/<ee> can be found beginning, middle or end, but
field; bread, most commonly found in the middle.
Long e: ie; Other sounds of ea;
great
helpful, useless, • -ful, -less, and –y are added to words to make adjectives
Morphology: -ful, -less, -ly, -ness, -y • -ly usually makes adverbs. –ness makes nouns
quickly, bumpy
star, card start, part, hard, are When a vowel is in front of an <r>, it does not represent one
R-Controlled Vowels

<ar>
of its usual sounds. It represents a new sound with the <r>.
<or> corn, storm for, or, your, four • R-controlled vowel sounds are /ar/, /or/, and /er/.
• The /ar/ sound is usually represented by the letters <ar>.
bird, curb, • The /or/ sound is usually represented by the letters <or>.
<ir>, <er>, <ur> =/er/ first, her, turn, girl, were
fern • The /ir/ sound is usually <er>, <ir>, and <ur>.
• The letter <w> often warps the sound of the vowel.
war, wor warm, work warm, world, work, word <war> usually says /wor/ and <wor> usually says /wer/.
faster, • Suffix –er has 2 meanings: “more than” and “a person
Morphology: suffix –er, -est fastest, who”.
teacher •Suffix –est means “most”.

/ū/: oo moon, boot too, soon There are two long u sounds: /ū/ and /yū/.
• /ū/ can be spelled using <oo>, <ew> (usually at the end),
stew, fruit, <ue> (usually at the end), and <ui (this is the most rare).
/ū/ and /yū/: ew, ui, ue new, few, blue
glue • /yū/ is usually spelled <ue> or <ew>.
good, look; Irregular:
Other Vowel Sounds

Short /oo/ (as in book) book, stood The letters <oo> can also represent the short /oo/ sound.
could, would, should
how, now, down, brown, <ou>: beginning or middle of a word; <ow>: at the end OR in
/ou/= <ou> and <ow> house, cow
out, our, round, found the beginning/middle if followed by a single <l> or <n>.

/oi/: <oy> and <oi> toy, spoil boy <oi> found in beginning or middle. <oy> found at the end.
saw, draw, cause, laugh,
<au>: beginning or middle of a word; <aw>: at the end OR in
<aw> and <au> paw, sauce caught, walk, talk, bought,
the beginning/middle if followed by a single <l>, <n>, or <k>.
thought
Less Common Vowel Teams: ei, eigh, vein, eight eight

Digraphs & ghost sounds: ph, gh, gn phone, gnaw, ghost

reread, undo, •re: again; un: not;

Prefix: re, un, mis, pre preschool, misread •pre: before; mis: wrong
 This last page is still a work in progress. !

Sound-Symbol Correspondence /
Example High-Frequency Words Notes
Phonics Pattern/Morphology
When you see the pattern VCCV, usually divide the
VCCV Words (closed syllables) bas-ket, rab-bit word between the two consonants. The first vowel will
be short.

The schwa is the most common vowel sound. Every

until, often, funny, pretty,
The Schwa bacon, data, nickel vowel can represent the schwa sound. It is a lazy /ŭ/ or
<al> words: almost, always, /ĭ/ sound.
only, carry
Y spells /ē/ & Suffix -y funny, bumpy At the end of multi-syllable words, <y> = /ē/

Usually divide after the first consonant (unless you need

VCCCV Syllable Division Rule conflict, pumpkin
to keep digraphs and blends together like in pump-kin).

VCV Words (open and closed even, open, seven, ago, along, You will sometimes divide after the first vowel. This
ro-bot, clos-et very, any, many, enough makes that vowel long. Other times, you divide after the
syllables) consonant. This makes that first vowel short.

<c> spells /s/ and <g> spells /j/ when <e>, <i>, or <y>
Soft c and Soft G city, gem, pencil
follows.

A syllable type that is always at the end of the word. It

More Syllable Division & Morphology

tur-tle, ta-ble, is the only syllable type where you don’t hear a distinct
Consonant –le pud-dle
little, people
vowel sound. When dividing words with this syllable type,
just divide right before the consonant.

2-Syllable Words with silent e explore, define

sentence, before, • -ture is pronounced /cher/ at the end of multi-syllable
picture, above words
• <ture> (Suffix –ure) fracture, structure • -age is pronounced /ij/ at the end of multi-syllable
• -age garbage, words

number, under, after, better,

marker, birthday,
2-Syllable Words with Bossy r never, ever, over, sister, other,
corner
mother, brother

2-Syllable Words with long Vowel complain, window, between, follow, ready, away,
Teams eagle again, ahead

Prefixes ex, de, dis dislike •dis: opposite of/not/remove

2-Syllable Words with Vowel Teams

about, flower because, around, about
(ou, ow, oo, ue, ew, oi, oy, aw)

•in/im: in, on, not

Prefixes con, com, in, im
•con/com/col: together/with/thorough

different, together, example,

3-Syllable Words
another

Final Stable Syllables: • Pronounced /shun/ (and sometimes /zhun/)

-tion (Suffix –ion) -sion (Suffix –ion) • The suffix is just –ion, but the syllable is –tion/-sion..

darkness, • ness and ment: state of being;

Suffixes: able/ible, ment, ness punishment, useable • able/ible: able to

Morphology: Less common prefixes

and suffixes.

I teach common Latin roots when I begin teaching two-and three-syllable words. Students will see these roots when they are practicing syllable division. I do not have a specific
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