Standard 2: Reading and Writing Foundations Students will develop foundational skills for reading and writing proficiency by working with sounds, letters, and text.

Phonics & Word Study: Students will decode words by applying phonics and word analysis skills in context and isolation.

2.2.PWS.1* ​Students will decode one- and two-syllable words by using their knowledge of the following phonics skills: 

a. single consonants, including those with two different sounds (e.g., soft and hard c [cent, cat] and g [gem, goat])

b. consonant blends  (e.g., bl, br, cr, spr, spl)

c. consonant digraphs and trigraphs (e.g., sh, tch)

d. vowel-consonant-silent e (e.g., lake)

e. r-controlled vowels (i.e., ar, er, ir, or, ur)

f. vowel digraphs (e.g., ea, oa, ee)

g. vowel diphthongs  (i.e., vowel combinations having two vowel sounds [e.g., oi as in boil, oy as in boy])

h. schwa (e.g., banana)

i. silent letter combinations (knew, could, ghost) 

*sequential skills

Student Actions

Teacher Actions

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include single consonants, including those with two different sounds. 

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include consonant blends.

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include consonant digraphs and trigraphs.

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include vowel-consonant-silent e.

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include r-controlled vowels.

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include vowel digraphs.

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include vowel diphthongs.

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include the schwa sound.

• Students decode or read one- and two-syllable words that include silent letter combinations.

• Teachers provide daily lessons with explicit instruction following a gradual release of “I Do, We Do, and You Do” focusing on the phonics skills following a logical, sequential order.

• I Do: Explicitly explain the principles that govern the sounds and spelling patterns of the focus skill.

• We Do: Practice blending one- and two-syllable words with students using the focus skill currently being taught.

• You Do: Students independently apply the focus skill currently being taught to read one- and two-syllable words.

• For additional information on phonics instruction,  see this module. 

• Teachers model using phonics skills to blend one- and two-syllable words pointing to sounds while moving from left to right discussing phonics patterns found in the word.

• Teachers provide instruction on consonant blends being composed of the combined sounds of two to three consonants that each retain their sound.

• Teachers provide instruction on digraphs and trigraphs being a combination of consonants that are represented by one unique sound.

• Teachers provide instruction on vowel(s), vowel sounds, including the schwa, and vowel patterns in one- and two-syllable words. 

• Teachers provide instruction on silent letter combinations in one- and two-syllable words.

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to interact with one- and two-syllable words throughout the day through reading words in isolation, reading decodable texts limited to the phonetic skills students have already learned or are currently learning, word sorts, games, and other interactive activities.

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for feedback when students practice decoding one- and two-syllable words.

• See 44 Phonemes for English phonemes and the related letter or letter combinations. 

Recommendations

Key Terms & Related Objectives

When students struggle with decoding and blending sounds in one- and two-syllable words, teachers can…

• prompt students to look for any letter patterns that they have previously been introduced to (e.g., “Do you notice any consonant blends in this word?”)

• prompt students to look at the first letter of the word and make the letter’s sound before moving to the next letter using cumulative blending.

• use Elkonin boxes to represent sounds.

• provide multisensory opportunities to draw attention to the sequence of letters in printed words.

• introduce phoneme-grapheme mapping where students connect the graphemes (letters) with the sounds they represent to help students break apart words in order to notice phonics patterns.

When students struggle with differentiating between the vowel sounds represented in one- and two-syllable words, teachers can…

• review short vowels, r-controlled vowels, the vowel-consonant-e rule, vowel digraphs, vowel diphthongs, and the schwa sound.

• ask students to highlight vowels in words discussing the vowel(s) and possible vowel patterns in order to differentiate between short vowel sounds, r-controlled vowels, and long vowel sounds. 

• model flexing vowel sounds to see which sounds correct.

• Consonant Blend: two or three consonant phonemes before or after a vowel in a syllable that retain their individual sounds (e.g., /bl/ in block; /str/ in string).

• Consonant Digraph: two consecutive consonants that represent one phoneme or sound (e.g., /ch/ in chip, /sh/ in ship).

• ​​Consonant Trigraph: three consecutive consonants that represent one phoneme or sound (e.g., /tch/ in match).

• Decodable Texts: a type of text used in beginning reading instruction that incorporates words that are consistent with the letter-sound relationships that have been taught.

• Decode: to translate a word from print to speech, usually by employing knowledge of sound/symbol correspondences; also the act of deciphering a new word by sounding it out.

• Elkonin Boxes: a diagram that helps students build phonological awareness by segmenting words into sounds or syllables; helps students better understand the alphabetic principle in decoding and encoding.

• Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping: a physical way to represent the relationship between phonemes and graphemes

• R-Controlled Vowels: the modified vowel sound immediately preceding /r/ in the same syllable (e.g., car, bear, cheer, for, heard).

• Schwa: the sound that a vowel makes in an unaccented syllable. Usually a short i or short u sound. 

• Syllable: a unit of pronunciation that is organized around a vowel sound; it may or may not have consonants before or after the vowel.

• Vowel Digraph: two vowels together that represent one phoneme or sound (e.g., oa in boat).

• Vowel Diphthong: vowel combinations having two vowel sounds (e.g., oi as in boil, oy as in boy).

• 2.2.PA: Phonological/Phonemic Awareness

• 2.2.SE.2: ​​Encode words