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-
