Phonics & Early Reading
Phonics teaches the connections between letters and sounds. Once you know these patterns, you can read and spell thousands of words.
Letter Sounds
Every letter makes one or more sounds. Consonants mostly make one sound. Vowels (A, E, I, O, U) each have a short sound and a long sound.
| Vowel | Short Sound | Long Sound |
|---|---|---|
| A | cat, map, sad | cake, name, late |
| E | bed, pet, hen | feet, seed, me |
| I | sit, pig, bin | bike, mine, ice |
| O | hop, fox, top | home, note, go |
| U | cup, bug, fun | cube, mule, use |
CVC Words
A CVC word has the pattern Consonant-Vowel-Consonant and always uses the short vowel sound.
CVC Examples
cat • dog • sit • hop • bug • ten • map • pin • cup • bed
How to blend
Look at each letter, say its sound, then blend them together smoothly: /k/ /a/ /t/ → cat
Digraphs and Blends
A digraph is two letters that make one new sound. A blend is two letters where you hear both sounds blended together.
| Digraphs | Examples |
|---|---|
| ch | chip, chin, much |
| sh | ship, fish, she |
| th | this, think, bath |
| wh | when, where, white |
| Blends | Examples |
|---|---|
| bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl | blue, clap, flag, glad, play, slim |
| br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr | brick, crab, drip, frog, grab, price, trip |
| st, sp, sk, sm, sn, sw | stop, spin, skip, smell, snap, swim |
Magic E Rule
When a word ends in a silent E, the vowel before the consonant says its long sound.
Examples
cap → cape kit → kite hop → hope cub → cube pin → pine
The final E is silent but it "reaches back" to change the vowel sound. This is called the CVCe pattern.
Quick Quiz
Test what you just learned. Choose the best answer for each question.