Name: ​Dacen Cox, Maren Brower, Rebecca Black, Sophie Williams,
Phonic Pattern (Scope and
Sequence)
CONSONANTS
SHORT VOWELS
-ad, -am,-an,-at, -ap
-id,-ig,-im,-it,-in,-ip
-ed,-eg,-en,-et,
-op,-og.-ot,ox, -ock
-un, -ud,-ug,-ub,-ut
Phonics Test
Rational & Definition List Examples
Definition: ​Letters of the alphabet that are not vowels (a,e,i,o,u). t,n,r,m,d,s,l,c (hard), p,f,g
The sound that consonants make have you push air through, or (hard),v,h,w,b,k,j,x,y,q,z,
stop air through your teeth, mouth, nose or lips.
Rational: ​The alphabet is the foundation to reading, and should
be taught first. If students can not identify letters, and master
their sounds, they will not be able to decode new words later on.
Consonants should be taught first because the majority of the
consonants only create one sound. The suggested order to the
right is based on the letter’s frequency in words. If students learn
to recognize frequent letters in words, they will be able to read
sooner. The least frequent letters, or ones with difficult sounds
should be taught last. Consonants that have the same manner or
place should not be taught together because it would set up a
foundation of spelling errors later on. Their first consonant
should be the letters in their name in Kindergarten, but then we
could teach these letters in this order based on letter frequency.
Definition:​ Vowels (a,e,i,o,u) that say a relaxed sound (ie. /a/ in ad:​ ​dad, mad, fad, bad, had
“hat”). Vowels have two sounds; this is the sound that does not am:​ ​bam, ram, jam, ham, yam
say its letter name. Our vocal tract is open when we say the an:​ ran, man, van, can, fan
sound of a vowel. at: ​sat, cat, mat, rat, pat
ap: c​ ap, map, lap, nap, rap
Rational: ​Short Vowels should be taught after consonants id: ​hid, bid, kid, lid, did
because the short vowel is the first sound that children are ig:​ ​pig, rig, big, fig, dig
introduced to while watching a majority of children’s media (ie. im: ​sim, him, rim, zim, dim
“A says /ă/”). If children have been learning from media at it: ​kit, mit, fit, hit, pit
home, they will expect all the letters to have a sound that is in: ​bin, fin, pin, tin, win
different from the letter’s name. The short vowel sound is lax. ip:​ nip, rip, pip, tip, dip
When one-syllable words follow the CVC pattern as in bed, cat, ed: ​bed, fed, red, wed, led
and mad, the vowel is usually a short vowel sound. eg:​ peg, leg, keg, beg, zeg
 en: d​ en, ten, hen, men, pen
et: ​pet, wet, met, net, bet
op:​ ​hop, bop, mop, pop, cop
og: ​fog, hog, log, jog, bog
ot:​ ​hot, lot, jot, not, tot
ox: ​fox, sox, box, pox, ox
ock: ​rock, sock, lock, dock, mock
un:​ fun, run, sun, bun, gun
ud: ​dud, bud, mud, sud, cud
ug: ​jug, mug, hug, rug, bug
ub: ​rub, dub, hub, cub, nub
ut: ​but, rut, cut, hut, jut, nut

LONG VOWELS Definition: ​The vowel sound that says its letter name. In words, ate: ​mate, rate, fate, late, hate
Ate, ake, ade, ide, etc. long vowels usually have another vowel friend to help it say its ake:​ cake, make, fake, wake, lake
name. ade: ​made, wade, fade, lade, bade
ide: ​tide, hide, wide, bide, ride
Rational: ​Long Vowels should be taught after long vowels
because it is the secondary sound to vowels. Children expect all
letters to have a sound. If Long Vowels were taught before short,
then they might start confusing some of the consonant sounds
(thinking the consonant sound was its name, or the consonant
name was its sound). Each of these examples set up the
foundation for the “silent e” rule. The silent “e” is what makes
the interior vowel say its name. You can teach students about the
Magic “e”​. If there is a consonant between a vowel, and an “e”,
the ​Magic “e”​ makes the previous vowel say its name. The “e”
is silent because it is a silent magician.

SIGHT WORDS Definition: ​These are words we see a lot in reading, and we The, of, and, to, a, in, is, that, it, was, for,
the, a, are should memorize so we can read quickly. Most of the sight you, he, on, as, are, they, with, be, his, at,
words can not be sounded out. or, from, had, I

Rational: ​Sight words should be taught after long vowels

because it gives children an opportunity to start reading right
away. As they learn to read these words with automaticity, they
will be able to save time in reading, and they will not have to try
 to decode them later on. We should practice memorizing these
words together as a class, and encourage students to memorize
sight words at home. A short daily review at the beginning of the
year could be integrated in a phonics warm up throughout the
year.

There are two types of sight words: Permanently Irregular and

Temporarily Irregular. Permanently Irregular sight words will
always have patterns that can not be sounded out, and should be
memorized (ie. the). Temporarily Irregular sight words have
patterns that are not known at first, but will later be learned, and
children will be able to read them more easily (ie. of).

Vowel Teams Definition:​ A vowel team is a pair of vowels within the same ai:​ gain, pain, maid, laid, paid
ai, ay, ee, ey, ea, oe, oa, ou, oo, au, syllable that make a single vowel sound. ​Some vowel team ay:​ say, bay, jay, may, pay
aw examples would be /ai/ in rain, or /oa/ in boat. ee:​ meet, feed, beep, peel, jeep
ey:​ key, foley, honey, kidney, money
Rational:​ Vowel teams can be taught after sight words because ea:​ beak, peak, beat, bean, read
after learning consonants, long vowels, short vowels, and sight oe:​ toe, woe, foe, hoe, doe
words, they can begin to recognize vowel team patterns within oa:​ boat, goat, loaf, soap, toad
the sight words that they know and build off their current level ou:​ out, bout, foul, mound, sound
of understanding. This is an opportunity for them to learn oo:​ moon, loop, cocoon, hoot, noodle
syllables and that every syllable has a vowel, or vowel team. au:​ aunt, pause, auto, haunt, taunt
Some vowel teams make more than one sound. When we see aw:​ saw, paw, raw, law, fawn
this, teachers should rely heavily on phrases and pictures to help
the students learn the different sounds with automaticity. The
vowel teams with 2 or 3 sounds are:

● o​o (2 sounds) - Teachers can use the key phrase “Look

at the Moon​” to teach the different sounds
● ou (2 sounds) - Teachers can use the key phrase “Trout
Soup” to teach the different sounds
● oe (2 sounds) - Teachers can use the key phrase “Doe in
the canoe” to teach the different sounds
● ey (2 sounds) - Teachers can use the key phrase
● e​a (3 sounds) - Teachers can use the key phrase “Eat
Bread & Steak​” to teach the different sounds.
 Some students may have heard the phrase “when two vowels go
walking, the first one does the talking.” This phrase works for
some vowel teams (i.e. ai says /ā/ in the word gain); however it
does not work for all of them (i.e. ea says /ā/ in the word steak).
Because of this, it is important that vowel teams are taught
explicitly just as we would teach sight words, vowels and
consonants explicitly.

Y as a vowel and consonant Definition:​ The letter ‘y’ can occasionally be a vowel and y as /e/:​ baby, hazy, lady, moody, ​lazy
Y as /e/ 2 or more syllables occasionally be a consonant. We know that it is a vowel when it y as /i/:​ my, zy, Ty, by, why (sight word)
Y as /i/ usually 1 syllable sounds like a vowel (my, cry, sky) and when ‘y’ is the only y as a consonant:​ yet, yak, yes, you, yen
Y as a consonant vowel in a one syllable word.

Rational:​ Teaching ‘y’ as a vowel and a consonant, can be done

sixth because after students learn vowel teams, they have
developed the concept of multiple letters and different letters
making different sounds. Once they understand the vowels in the
alphabet and their sounds, they can learn to recognize them and
add the concept of ‘y’ as a vowel to their understanding. In order
to understand more explicitly when the letter ‘y’ is standing as a
vowel, students must recognize these patterns:

The letter Y is to be considered a vowel if:

● It is at the end of a word or syllable (deny, lazy)

● The word has no other vowel (my, cry)
● It is in the middle of a syllable (type, hyena)

In each case, the letter ‘y’ is pronounced as a long vowel​ e​ or

a short or long vowel ​i​; it is essential that this be taught
explicitly when teaching young children how to recognize
when ‘y’ is being used as a vowel.​ ​Consequently, anytime that
the letter ‘y’ does not follow one of these patterns when it is
used in a word, than it is considered a consonant. For
example, when it is written at the beginning of a word (yes,
yet, yam).
CONSONANT BLENDS
L BLENDS-pl, sl, spl, bl, fl, cl, gl
R BLENDS- gr,tr,pr,shr, br, dr, cr,
fr
S BLENDS-sk, st, str, sm, sn, sp,
squ, sc
Definition: ​Consonant blends are a collection of two or three
different consonants that are put together. Each consonant sound
is heard when a word is pronounced.
Rational: ​Consonant blends can be taught seventh because after
students learn consonants, vowels, and vowel teams, which are
two letters making one sound, they are ready to build off of their
knowledge. Consonant blends are an essential aspect of the
English language and the sounds that occur in consonant blends,
are sounds that are heard very often in words. Learning
consonant blends will help to improve students’ knowledge of
phonics and they can begin to build words on their own. Most
consonant blends are two different consonant sounds, however,
there are some blends that create three different consonant
sounds. Most three-sound consonant blends begin with the letter
‘s’ such as “str” in straw, “shr” as in “shred”, or “spr” as in
“spring.” Combinations of consonants that create consonant
blends, such as the ones listed on the left, have to be in the same
syllable.
The S blend, is the easiest blend for students to learn because of
the continuous air flow (WTW, p.164).
pl:​ ​plant, plop, play, plum, plan
sl:​ ​slim, slid, slam, slip, slug
spl:​ ​splat, split, spleen, splint, splump
bl:​ ​blog, blot, blip, blop, blob
fl:​ ​fly, flop, flee, flat, flit
cl:​ ​clean, clear, clam, clap, claim
gl: ​glim, glam, glad, glee, glop
gr:​ grab, gray, grip, grit, grin
tr:​ try, tray, trip, tree, true
pr:​ ​pry, pray, prim, prune, pride
shr:​ ​shrimp, shred, shrug, shrine, shrub
br:​ ​brag, brim, brat, bran, brain
dr:​ ​drive, draw, drag, drab, drain
cr:​ ​crab, crop, craw, crib, cram
fr:​ frog, free, from, fray, fret
sk:​ skin, skip, skim, skat, skeet
st:​ ​stop, stem, stag, stud, state
str:​ ​strum, strap, straw, stray, strut
sm:​ smog, smug, smut, smit, smoke
sn:​ ​snail, snot, snake, snob, snap
sp:​ ​speak, spin, span, spun, spit
squ:​ ​squid, squat, squad, squaw, squib
sc:​ scan, scam, scum, scab, scone

Double Consonants Definition:​ Two repeating consonant letters that you see right ff:​ off, ruff, iff, puff, aff
-ff, -ll, -ss, -zz next to each other in a word. Only one letter is heard. ll:​ fall, doll, yell, pill, wall
ss:​ grass, bass, mass, class, lass
Rational: ​Double consonants can be taught eighth because zz:​ jazz, wizz, fuzz, buzz, fizz
students have learned the concept of blending two consonant
sounds together and where both sounds are still heard. Double
consonants build off of consonant blends by teaching more
sounds that blend, but rather than hearing both sounds, only one
of the letters is heard. One of the easiest ways to know if a word
has a double consonant before adding a suffix to the word is if
the root word has the pattern of CVC. Understanding this
concept after having learned consonants, vowels, and when
 words have consonant blends and/or vowel teams will improve
students’ spelling. In addition, students can understand that
double consonants should be included in words when:

● The word contains 1 syllable, double the last consonant

ONLY if the word ends in 1 vowel + 1 consonant. (doll,
wall, call)
● The word contains 2 or more syllables, then double the
last consonant ONLY if the word ends in 1 vowel + 1
consonant AND the final syllable is stressed.

DIGRAPHS Definition:​ When two consonants are put together and stand for wh: ​white, when, why, wheel, whip,
wh, ch, ph, sh, th, -ng only one new sound. whale, where
*qu ch: c​ hat, chest, cheer, chill, chip, chop
Rational:​ Consonant digraphs should be taught after double ph: ​phone, graph, phase, phonics, trophy
consonants, because students already have practiced putting two sh:​ shine, she, shelf, shut, shop, ship
letters into one sound. In this case, the two letters make one new th: ​that, thin, this, those, thing, they, there
sound, instead of the first letter saying the sound like in a double ng: ​sing, ring, thing, king, pin, wing
consonant. So, by learning double consonants first students will *qu: ​square, quiz, queen, quit, quote
then be prepared for the trickier concept of a digraph. The
knowledge of consonant digraphs is necessary for a student to be
fluent in reading and proficient in writing. Digraphs are also not
phonetically intuitive so instruction is required for a student to
really gain a grasp of how a digraph makes a new sound. These
sounds should be practiced repeatedly until they can be repeated
with automaticity.

END BLENDS
-nk, -ld, *-ck (*silent blend)
Definition:​ An end blend is a consonant blend that is used at the nk: ​ink, think, rink, pink, sink, stink
end of a word. ld: ​cold, bold, gold, sold, old, mold
*ck: ​back, smack, snack, rack, shack
Rational:​ End blends should be taught after regular consonant
blends so that the students can easily transfer the things they
know about blends to the learning of end blends. Like consonant
blends, you can hear each distinct sound of the end blend. End
blends should also be taught after digraphs because it is a new
skill, where students have to pay attention to the end of a word,
 instead of the beginning. It is harder for students to hear the end
sounds in words.

The reason we placed “ck” here is because it is a common sound

found at the ends of words that children should learn how to read
early on in their reading journey. Even though a “ck” could be a
double consonant or a silent blend it best fits as an end blend,
because unlike double consonants it is made up of two different
consonants rather than two of the same consonants repeated. It
should be taught before a silent blend because it is more
phonetically intuitive than the other silent blends.

SILENT BLENDS Definition:​ A silent blend is where two or more consonants are kn: ​knack, knife, knee, knead, knob, knit
next to each other in a word, but the sound of only one of the gn: ​gnarl, gnash, gnome, gnaw, gnat
kn, gn , gh says /g/ or /f/ or consonants is heard when the word is pronounced and the other gh: ​ghost, ghoul (these say the /g/ sound)
silent(-ight) consonant is “silent”. night, right, eight (sight word), high, sigh,
nigh (these are silent), enough (is a sight
Rational:​ A silent blend is challenging for beginning readers word but could be used as an example of
because it is an exception to traditional sounding out processes. the /f/ sound).
There are also silent blends like “gh” where the blend can take
on a /g/ sound, an /f/ sound, or be silent altogether. With that in
mind, it is wise to teach all the types of consonant blends before
you teach silent blends to avoid confusing students with these
exceptions to the general rules.

We put “gh” here even though it can also be a digraph (as in

“laugh”) and a vowel pattern (as in “though”), because it takes
one three different sounds making it a rather complex blend.
This makes it better to teach later on, after the students have
other concepts down, so the students are not confused when they
are learning those simpler concepts.

The rules for “gh” are varied, and sometimes the words just have
to be practiced and memorized. One rule that has 100% utility is
if the “gh” is followed by a “t”, the “gh” is silent (ie. fight).
Sometimes, when the letter “i” is followed by “gh”, then the
 “gh” is silent. Sometimes, when “ou” if followed by “gh”, it
makes an /f/ sound.

DIPHTHONGS Definition:​ A diphthong is a set of two vowels that make two ou: ​loud, noun, out, pout, bout
distinct sounds. The first vowel sound in a diphthong, blends ow: ​glow, grow, row, sow, tow, snow
ou, ow, oi, oy into the second vowel sound. oi: ​oil, boil, coil, foil, soil, void
oy: ​boy, joy, soy, toy, coy
Rational:​ A diphthong is best taught after consonant blends
because vowels are more complicated to understand than
consonants. Therefore, a vowel blend, or diphthong, ought to be
taught after a consonant blend. This should be taught after other
vowels because it involves the blending of vowel sounds rather
than just making one vowel sound.

CONTROLLED R’S (bossy R’s) Definition: ​A bossy “R” is when the “R” makes the vowel it is ar: ​bar, car, chart, star, mart
next to, sound different because it makes the vowel hard to hear. er: ​herd, clerk, thunder, verb, under
ar, er, ir, or, ur The “R” is being bossy, and taking over the sound of the vowel. ir: ​bird, first, shirt, stir, swirl
or: ​born, cord, north, worn, store
Rational: ​These are important to teach after vowels, consonants ur: ​hurt, furnish, burden, slurp, burp
and all the other blendings, because the vowel sound changes in
this blend. The /ar/ sound is like the sound found in /car/. The
/er/ sound is like the sound found in /clerk/. The /ir/ sound is like
the sound found in /stir/. The /or/ sound is like the sound found
in /north/. The /ur/ sound is like the sound found in /slurp/. In
most small words with one vowel in the middle, that vowel
makes a short vowel sound as in the words bad, hen, sit and fox.
When we replace the last letter of these words with the letter r, it
changes the sound of the vowel: bad changes to bar, hen changes
to her, sit changes to sir and fox changes to for.

The sound /ar/ is always spelled with the letters a-r, but this
pattern is not the same for other controlled r combinations. The
sound /er/ can be spelled a-r (collar), e-r (runner), i-r (bird), o-r
(motor), u-r (nurse) or e-a-r (earth). The sound /or/ can be
spelled o-r but can also be spelled a-r (warm), o-a-r (board),
o-r-e (chore), or o-u-r (pour).​ Because there are many variations to
 controlled r’s and their sounds, it is important that students learn the
look of familiar words rather than memorizing pronunciation rules.

HARD & SOFT “G” AND “C
c says /k/ or /s/, g says /g/ or/j/
Definition: ​A hard “G” makes a strong sound at the beginning /k/​:​ candy, car, cake, corn, card
of a word, and sounds like the sound in /goat/. The soft “G” /s/:​ face, rice, pencil, ace, city
makes the /j/ sound, like in the word /angel/. A hard “C” is used /g/:​ goat, game, gobble, good, girl
when the sound comes out as a /k/ and a soft “C” makes the /s/ /j/:​ angel, gem, huge, gel, cage
sound. The O shape is for the hard sounds and the straight lines
are for the soft sounds.

Rational: ​Should be taught after bossy R’s because these hard

“g”s and soft “c”s stand for sounds that are assigned to other
letters. This is more complex than the things taught before
because it is an exception to the common rules for these letters.
If they haven’t learned the above things they won’t know how to
recognize the letter and the sound.

Generally, when a “c” is followed by an “i”, “e”, or “y” it makes

a “/s/” sound.
Sometimes, when a “g” is followed by an “e”, “i”, or “y” it
makes a “/j/” sound. Exception- /gift/

SUFFIXES
-ed, -er, -est, -ing,- s, -es,- ful, -ly
Definition: ​Suffixes are letters that are put onto the ends of a
base word. This often changes the tense of a word, changes the
word to an adverb, or changes the plurality of a word.
Rational: ​This should be taught hard and soft C and G because
it builds off of the skills students have already learned in
decoding. Students should be able to read all of the base words,
and just need to learn the rules of adding a suffix, and know the
meaning of the new word.
● ed- changes the word to past tense.
● er- usually changes a noun or adjective to a verb.
● est- changes the base words degree (ie. the cow was big,
or the cow was the biggest. It changes the degree to
being the best).
ed​: flipped, hopped, jumped, wished,
skipped
er:​ harder, softer, nicer, brighter, propeller
est​: biggest, hardest, whitest, closest,
slowest
ing:​ thinking, eating, sleeping, hopping,
compelling
s:​ shirts, boys, socks, chips, cups
es:​ dishes, braces, traces, places, faces
ful:​ handful, playful, thankful, hopeful,
skillful
ly:​ softly, slowly, happily, crazily, lovely
 ● ing- changes the word to present tense.
● s- changes the word to a plural form.
● es- changes the word to a plural form, but you use when
the base word ends in a /s/ or /sh/ sound.
● ful- means “full of” Hopeful means “full of hope”.
● ly - changes the word to an adverb

Rules: When a word ends with a consonant and vowel sound,

you double the last letter of the original word.
When you have a “y” at the end, you drop the y and then add the
-ing. When you have an e at the end, you also drop that to add
ing.

PREFIXES Definition: ​A letter or group of letters attached to the beginning re:​ repeat, react, remove, reward, rename
of a word to change its meaning. un​: unable, unhappy, unlucky, unkind,
re, un, mis unplug
Rational: ​Prefixes can be taught after suffixes because it is mis​: misunderstand, misfire, mistake,
complex and is one of the hardest skills for children to mismatched, misbehave
understand. They need to know how words work in order to add
letters onto the front to make a word or to change the meaning of
a word. Teachers can teach this concept by helping the students
to understand that the spelling of the base word never changes
even if double letters occur when the prefix is added to the word
as in unnatural (un + natural = unnatural). Teach the students
that words can be “absorbed.” This is when the spelling and
sound of the consonant has been absorbed into the spelling and
sound at the beginning of a word Ex: ad + tract = attract or sub +
mit = submit. Pronunciation is when the prefix changes the
stress on the word to change how it is pronounced.
Pronunciation is the way in which the word is pronounced/said.