Free printable color coding chart for phonics, spelling and syllabication

Hello my omschool friends. Here's my revised and updated Color Coding chart for spelling, phonics and syllabication. 

CONSONANTS AND CONSONANT-ONLY PATTERNS

 DARK BLUE:

·         Color individual consonants blue if they only make one sound within the word (if they’re not part of a digraph or blend):  B, D, F, J, K,L, M, N, P, R, S ,T,V, W, Z.  

·         Also color C and G blue when they make their hard sound (when they are followed by A,U,or O)

o   c as in cake

o   g as in gun

·         Also color H and Y blue when they begin a word.

o   H as in happy

o   Y as in yellow

·         Note: -g as in -ing and other digraphs or diphthongs will have a different color

PURPLE: “Soft” consonants followed by I, E, Y

·         C as is cider, cyst and cent

·         G as in gem, gym and ginger

LIGHT BLUE: Beginning and ending blends. Although the consonant sounds do not change, I do note the blends slightly differently to help students learn to connect the sounds.

·         Beginning: bl-, br-, cl-, cr-, dr-, fl-, fr-, gl-, gr-, pl-, pr-, sc-, scr, -sk-, sm-, sn-, sp-,spl-,spr-, st-, str-, sw-, tr-, tw- vr

·         Ending: -ft, -lb, -ld, -lf, -lk, -lm, -ln, -lp, -lt, -nd, -mp, -pt, -sp, -st

 GREEN: Digraphs: two consonants that make a single, different sound.

·         -ch-, -sh-, -ph- , -th- (can come at the beginning, middle or end of a word)

·         -tch (comes only at the end of a word)

·         Special rule about -th- TH can be voiced or whispered when it comes at the beginning or middle of a word. “Think” or “though”. It’ s only voiced in the middle “father” and only whispered at the end like “moth.”

DARK BLUE and YELLOW: Digraphs that make the sound of one of the letters only or are double consonant digraphs. Color the spoken consonant letter blue and the silent partner yellow.

·         -ck -(only at the end)

·         wh- (only at the beginning)

·         -ff-, -gg-, -ll-, -ss- (only found in the middle or end of a word. In the middle, they indicate a syllable division, like or muffin, yellow, toboggan, fluffy and at the end like staff, egg, small, mess.

·         -bb-, -dd, -mm, -nn-, -tt-(only found in the middle of words as syllable dividers; are generally only doubled when adding a word ending or in consonant -le patterns as in rubber, rudder, common, winner, waddle, matter, drummer.

 VOWELS

 ORANGE: regular short vowel sounds (found in the middle of words after consonants).

·         A as is cat, paddle

·         E as in bed, setter

·         I as in lit, hidden

·         O as in hot, bother,

·         U as in cup, butter

 RED: long vowels, or as we sometimes call it “vowels that say their name.” 

 YELLOW: silent letters and vowels. Some letters are randomly silent such as W in wrong. All long vowel sounds require a silent vowel to make them long. Y and W are silent vowels when the follow another long vowel, with some exceptions.

·         Silent E at the end of the word or syllable with the CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant, silent E pattern) lake, tide, duke, rode. There aren’t many CVC-silent E words with long E.

·         silent vowel partners. The first vowel usually says it’s name and the second is silent. But the silent vowel must be present so the first can say its name. Remember the poem “when two vowels go walking the first does the talking and second says nothing.”  In this case, the vowel which says its name is colored red and the silent partner is yellow, reminding students that it makes no sound.

o   Long E silent vowel partners.  This vowel is tricky. Sometimes she’s the second vowel who is normally silent. And sometimes, she can be shy about saying her name and needs two silent vowels to help. There are a few CVC-silent E words with long E but not many. (Eve, recede, replete) There are more with these patterns.

§  EA in the middle sometimes needs that second silent partner as in peace, ease, weasel. Sometimes it doesn’t like in meal and bean.

§  EA at the end doesn’t a second silent vowel, like sea, flea, plea

§  EE may or may not need the second silent vowel. See, keen and feel are fine with just one. But sneeze and cheese need the second.

§  IE may or may not need help BUT it’s the first I that’s the silent partner that makes E say her name (believe, achieve, chief, thief) IE is also pronounced as Long I which we’ll get into later.

§  EY--Y is a vowel, and the silent partner,  when it follows another vowel like in key. This pattern is most usually found at the end of a word like donkey.

§  EI is really tricky. She says long A most of the time on only long E after C. Remember this: “ I before E except after C.” like in Receive or receipt) Most of the time. There are some exceptions.

·         Long A

§  CVC-silent is the most common way to spell the Long A sound. Cake, make, male, lame, lace, made, safe, gate, rare

§  AI – this is a crazy one because it can say long A as in paid or tail short E as in said, short A as in plaid.

§  AY- In syllables, the long A sound is spelled AI when followed by a consonant (claim) and AY when it ends the syllable or word. Play, played.

·         Long I

§  CVC-silent E in words such as like, spice, mile, lime, tide, mite, white

§  IE as in tie and lied. It’s not as commonly spelled that way.

·         Long O this one can be tricky too.

§  CVC-silent E in rode, hove, hole, poke, tote

§  OA as in float, load coal, roast

§  OE as in toe

§  OU as in dough (see the special OU rules in the diphthongs section)

§  OW as in blow and row (W is a silent partner).  

§  Long O is usually spelled OA when followed by a consonant and OE when it ends a word or syllable.

§  OMB, OST There are some blends and digraphs in which no silent vowel to make the O long, such as most, ghost or comb. But OST can also say -aw like in cost or Long U as in tomb.

§  OLD This pattern requires no silent E to make the O long, and is the most common pronunciation of OLD words, like gold, old, cold, hold, bold.

·         Long U (pronounced -ew or -oo)

§  CVC-silent E in ukelele, mule, cute (said -ew)

§  UI as in suit (not a common way to pronounce it and usually only found before T. UI is long I in guise for example.

§  UE as in glue, flue

§  OMB is an exception in words like tomb where the O with no silent partner says OO. The B however, is silent in tomb and comb.

PEACH and GRAY are for diphthongs or vowel slides in which the vowel combination makes both vowel sounds or a different sound altogether. If the same combination makes different sounds, use peach for one and gray for the other.

·         AW as in claw, flaw

·         EU which says Long E and Long U.

·         OO can be long U in hoot, food, school, pool, room, noon, soon and groom (peach). Color it gray for OO as in hood, good, look

·         EW can be Long U in flew and new.

·         OW as in how and owl

·         OY as in boy and ploy (usually spelled this way at the end of syllable or word)

·         OI as in coin and foil (usually spelled this way when followed by a consonant)

 

 CONSONANT/ VOWEL COMBOS

 PINK: irregular vowel/consonant blends

·         EIGH as in sleigh, and sleigh

·         AUGH as in caught

·         ING (ring), ANG, UNG, ONG and UNG

 

 TURQUOISE: - R- controlled vowel sounds

·         AR as in car

·         ER as in her

·         IR as in bird,

·         OR as in cord

·         UR as in hurdle

·         Write OR as in word and AR as is war,  in turquoise outlined in black to show it’s a rule-breaker that sort of follows the rule and sort of doesn’t.

 RED/BLUE/YELLOW: IGH and IGHT Because the I says its long sound, it is red, GH is silent and therefore yellow, and the T is blue because it makes its usual sound.

BROWN SHADES: For OU and OUGH since there are several pronunciations for these, indicate by using different shades of brown.

·         CREAM--ough (ow as in bough)

·         TAN--ough (aw as in bought)

·         BURNT ORANGE--ough (awff as in trough)

·         BRICK/ RED BROWN--ough (uf as in rough)

·         CHOCOLATE--ou (oo as in should)

·         OLIVE--ou (oo as in you)

·         BLACK–ou as in dough

 

 WORD ENDINGS/SUFFIXES

SILVER -tion, -ion, -ous, -cian, -y, -ily, -est, -er –est

PREFIXES:

GOLD pre-, un-, re-, a-, mis-