In the classroom we use Blast Phonics from Really Great Reading, in previous years we have used Spaldings Phonics. Spaldings Phonics is a great resource to use at home with your child. Watch the youtube tutorial explaining the visual phonics.
Spalding Phonics Rules
1. The letter q is always followed by u and together they say kw (queen). The u is not considered a vowel here.
2. The letter c before e, i, or y says s (cent, city, cycle), but followed by any other letter says k(cat, cot, cut).
3. The letter g before e, i, or y may say j (page, giant, gym), but followed by any other letter says g(gate, go, gust). The letters e and i following g do not always make the g say j (get, girl, give).
4. Vowels a, e, o, and u usually say a, e, o, and u at the end of a syllable (na vy, me, o pen, mu sic).
5. The letters i and y usually say i (big, gym), but may say i (si lent, my, type).
6. The letter y, not i, is used at the end of an English word (my).
7. There are five kinds of silent final e’s.
time The e lets the i say i (Job 1).
have blue English words do not end in v or u (Job 2).
chance charge The e lets the c say s and g say j (Job 3).
lit tle Every syllable must have a vowel (Job 4).
are Remnant of Old English (Job 5).
8. There are five spellings for the sound er. The phonogram or may say er when it follows w (work).
Her first nurse works ear ly.
9. For one syllable words that have one vowel and end in one consonant (hop), write another final consonant (hop + ped) before adding ending that begin with a vowel. This is the one-one-one rule.
10. Words of two syllables (begin) in which the second syllable (gin) is accented and ends in oneconsonant, with one vowel before it, need another final consonant ( be gin + ning) before adding an ending that begins with a vowel. This is the two-one-one rule.
11. Words ending with a silent final e (come) are written without the e when adding an ending that begins with a vowel.
12. After c we use ei (receive). If we say a, we use ei (vein). In the list of exceptions, we use ei. In all other words, the phonogram ie is used.
13. The phonogram sh is used at the beginning or end of a base word (she, dish), at the end of a syllable (fin ish), but never at the beginning of a syllable after the first one except for the ending ship (wor ship, friend ship).
14. The phonograms ti, si, and ci are the spellings most frequently used to say sh at the beginning of a second or subsequent syllable in a base work (na tion, ses sion, fa cial).
15. The phonogram si is used to say sh when the syllable before it ends in an s (ses sion) or when the base word has an s where the base word changes (tense, ten sion).
16. The phonogram si may also say zh as in vi sion.
17. We often double l, f, and s following a single vowel at the end of a one-syllable word (will, off, miss). Rule 17 sometimes applies to two-syllable words like recess.
18. We often use ay to say a at the end of a base work, never a alone.
19. Vowels i and o may say i and o if followed by two consonants (find, old).
20. The letter s never follows x. The phonogram x includes an s sound (ks).
21. All, written alone, has two l’s, but when written with another syllable only one l is written (al so, al most).
22. Till and full, written alone, have two l’s, but when used as a suffix, only one l is written (un til, beau, ti ful).
23. The phonogram dge may be used only after a single vowel that says a, e, i, o, or u (badge, edge, bridge, lodge, budge).
24. When adding an ending to a word that ends with a consonant and y, use i instead of y unless the ending is ing.
25. The phonogram ck may be used only after a single vowel that says a, e, i, o, or u (back, neck, lick, rock, duck).
26. Words that are the names or titles of people, places, books, days, or months are capitalized (Mary, Honolulu, Amazon River, Bible, Monday, July).
27. Words beginning with the sound z are always spelled with z, never s (zoo).
28. The phonogram ed has three sounds. If a base word ends in the sound d or t, adding ed makes another syllable that says ed (sid ed, part ed). If the base word ends in a voiced consonant sound, the ending ed says d (lived). If the base word ends in an unvoiced consonant sound, the ending ed says t (jumped).
29. Words are usually divided between double consonants. For speaking and reading, only the consonant in the accented syllable is pronounced; the consonant in the unaccented syllable is silent (lit’ le).