04-graphemes
Activity 4 – Phonemes and Graphemes
1.Read the following excerpt from the Common Core State Standards for English
Language Arts – Appendix A.
2.How is this information helpful in your classroom?
Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences
Consonants
Common graphemes (spellings) are listed in the following table for each of the consonant sounds. Note that the term grapheme refers to a letter or letter combination that corresponds to one speech sound.
Consonant Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences in English
Phoneme Word Examples Common Graphemes (Spellings)
for the Phoneme*
/p/ pit, spider, stop p
/b/ bit, brat, bubble b
/m/ mitt, comb, hymn m, mb, mn
/t/ tickle, mitt, sipped t, tt, ed
/d/ die, loved d, ed
/n/ nice, knight, gnat n, kn, gn
/k/ cup, kite, duck, chorus, folk, quiet k, c, ck, ch, lk, q /g/ girl, Pittsburgh g, gh
/ng/ sing, bank ng, n
/f/ fluff, sphere, tough, calf f, ff, gh, ph, lf /v/ van, dove v, ve
/s/ sit, pass, science, psychic s, ss, sc, ps
/z/ zoo, jazz, nose, as, xylophone z, zz, se, s, x
Phoneme Word Examples Common Graphemes (Spellings)
for the Phoneme*
/th/ thin,
breath,
ether th /th/ this, breathe, either th
/sh/ shoe, mission, sure, charade, precious, notion,
mission, special
sh, ss, s, ch, sc, ti, si, ci /zh/ measure, azure s, z
/ch/ cheap, future, etch ch, tch
/j/ judge, wage j, dge, ge
/l/ lamb, call, single l, ll, le
/r/ reach, wrap, her, fur, stir r, wr, er/ur/ir
/y/ you, use, feud, onion y, (u, eu), i
/w/ witch, queen w, (q)u
/wh/ where wh
/h/ house, whole h, wh
*Graphemes in the word list are among the most common spellings, but the list does not include all possible graphemes for a given consonant. Most graphemes are more than one letter.
Vowels
Common graphemes (spellings) are listed in the table (see page 3 of this section) for each of the vowel sounds. Note that the term grapheme refers to a letter or letter combination that corresponds to one speech sound.
Vowel Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences in English
Phoneme Word Examples Common Graphemes (Spellings)
for the Phoneme*
/ē/ see, these, me, eat, key, happy, chief, either ee, e_e, -e, ea, ey, -y, ie, ei /?/ sit, gym i, y
/ā/ make, rain, play, great, baby, eight, vein, they a_e, ai, ay, ea, -y, eigh, ei, ey /?/ bed, breath e, ea
/?/ cat a
/ī/ time, pie, cry, right, rifle i_e, ie, -y, igh, -i
/?/ fox, swap, palm o, wa, al
/?/ cup, cover, flood, tough u, o, oo, ou
/aw/ saw, pause, call, water, bought aw, au, all, wa, ough
/ō. vote, boat, toe, snow, open o_e, oa, oe, ow, o-
took, put, could oo, u, ou
moo, tube, blue, chew, suit, soup oo, u_e, ue, ew, ui, ou
/y//ū/ use, few, cute u, ew, u_e
/oi/ boil, boy oi, oy
/ow/ out, cow ou, ow
er her, fur, sir er, ur, ir
ar cart ar
or sport or
*Graphemes in the word list are among the most common spellings, but the list does not include all possible graphemes for a given vowel. Many graphemes are more than one letter.
Phonological Awareness
General Progression of Phonological Awareness Skills (PreK–1)
Word Awareness (Spoken Language)
Move a chip or marker to stand for each word in a spoken sentence.
The dog barks. (3)
The brown dog barks. (4)
The brown dog barks loudly. (5)
Rhyme Recognition during Word Play
Say “yes” if the words have the same last sounds (rhyme):
clock/dock (y)
red/said (y)
down/boy (n)
Repetition and Creation of Alliteration during Word Play
Nice, neat Nathan
Chewy, chunky chocolate
Syllable Counting or Identification (Spoken Language)
A spoken syllable is a unit of speech organized around a vowel sound.
Repeat the word, say each syllable loudly, and feel the jaw drop on the vowel sound: chair (1) table (2) gymnasium (4)
Onset and Rime Manipulation (Spoken Language)
Within a single syllable, onset is the consonant sound or sounds that may precede the vowel; rime is the vowel and all other consonant sounds that may follow the vowel.
Say the two parts slowly and then blend into a whole word:
school onset - /sch/; rime - /ool/
star onset - /st/; rime - /ar/
place onset - /pl/; rime - /ace/
all onset (none); rime - /all/
General Progression of Phoneme Awareness Skills (K–2)
Phonemes are individual speech sounds that are combined to create words in a language system. Phoneme awareness requires progressive differentiation of sounds in spoken words and the ability to think about and manipulate those sounds. Activities should lead to the pairing of
phonemes (speech sounds) with graphemes (letters and letter combinations that represent those sounds) for the purposes of word recognition and spelling.
Phoneme Identity
Say the sound that begins these words. What is your mouth doing when you make that sound?
milk, mouth, monster /m/ - The lips are together, and the sound goes through the nose.
thick, thimble, thank /th/ - The tongue is between the teeth, and a hissy sound is
produced.
octopus, otter, opposite /o/ - The mouth is wide open, and we can sing that sound.
Phoneme Isolation
What is the first speech sound in this word?
ship /sh/
van /v/
king /k/
echo /e/
What is the last speech sound in this word?
comb /m/
sink /k/
rag /g/
go /o/
Phoneme Blending (Spoken Language)
Blend the sounds to make a word:
(Provide these sounds slowly.)
/s/ /ay/ say
/ou/ /t/ out
/sh/ /ar/ /k/ shark
/p/ /o/ /s/ /t/ post
Phoneme Segmentation (Spoken Language)
Say each sound as you move a chip onto a line or sound box:
no /n/ /o/
rag /r/ /a/ /g/
socks /s/ /o/ /k/ /s/
float /f/ /l/ /oa/ /t/
Phoneme Addition (Spoken Language)
What word would you have if you added /th/ to the beginning of “ink”? (think)
What word would you have if you added /d/ to the end of the word “fine”? (find) What word would you have if you added /z/ to the end of the word “frog”? (frogs) Phoneme Substitution (Spoken Language)
Say “rope.” Change /r/ to /m/. What word would you get? (mope)
Say “chum.” Change /u/ to /ar/. What word would you get? (charm)
Say “sing.” Change /ng/ to /t/. What word would you get? (sit)
Phoneme Deletion (Spoken Language)
Say “park.” Now say “park” without /p/. (ark)
Say “four.” Now say “four” without /f/. (or)
Orthography
Categories of Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences
Consonant Graphemes with Definitions and Examples Grapheme Type Definition Examples
Single Letters A single consonant letter can
represent a consonant
phoneme. b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, z
Doublets A doublet uses two of the
same letter to spell one
consonant phoneme.
ff, ll, ss, zz
Digraphs A digraph is a two- (di-) letter
combination that stands for
one phoneme; neither letter
acts alone to represent the
sound. th, sh, ch, wh
ph, ng (sing)
gh (cough)
[ck is a guest in this category]
Trigraphs A trigraph is a three- (tri-)
letter combination that stands
for one phoneme; none of the
letters acts alone to represent
the sound. -tch -dge
Grapheme Type Definition Examples
Consonants in blends A blend contains two or three
graphemes because the
consonant sounds are separate
and identifiable. A blend is not
“one sound.” s-c-r (scrape) th-r (thrush) c-l (clean) f-t (sift)
l-k (milk) s-t (most) and many more
Silent letter combinations Silent letter combinations use
two letters: one represents the
phoneme, and the other is
silent. Most of these are from
Anglo-Saxon or Greek. kn (knock), wr (wrestle), gn (gnarl), ps (psychology), rh (rhythm), -mb (crumb), -lk (folk), -mn (hymn),
-st (listen)
Combination qu These two letters, always
together, usually stand for two
sounds, /k//w/.
quickly
Vowel Graphemes with Definitions and Examples Grapheme Type Definition Examples
Single letters A single vowel letter stands
for a vowel sound. (short vowels) cap, hit, gem, clod, muss
(long vowels) me, no, music
Vowel teams A combination of two, three,
or four letters stands for a
vowel. (short vowels) head, hook (long vowels) boat, sigh, weigh (diphthongs) toil, bout
Vowel-r combinations A vowel, followed by r, works
in combination with /r/ to
make a unique vowel sound.
car, sport, her, burn, first
Vowel-consonant-e (VCe) The vowel–consonant–silent e
pattern is common for spelling
a long vowel sound.
gate, eve, rude, hope, five
Six Types of Written Syllable Patterns
Syllable Type Definition Examples
Closed A syllable with a short vowel
spelled with a single vowel
letter ending in one or more
consonants. dap-ple hos-tel bev-erage
Vowel-C-e (“Magic e”) A syllable with a long vowel
spelled with one vowel + one consonant + silent e.
compete
despite
Open A syllable that ends with a
long vowel sound, spelled
with a single vowel letter. program table recent
Vowel Team Syllables that use two to four
letters to spell the vowel. beau-ti-ful train-er con-geal spoil-age
Vowel-r
(r-controlled) A syllable with er, ir, or, ar, or
ur. Vowel pronunciation often
changes before /r/.
in-jur-ious
con-sort
char-ter
Consonant-le An unaccented final syllable
containing a consonant before
/l/ followed by a silent e. dribble beagle little
Three Useful Principles for Chunking Longer Words into Syllables
1. VC-CV: Two or more consonants between two vowels
When syllables have two or more adjacent consonants between them, we divide between the consonants. The first syllable will be closed (with a short vowel).
sub-let nap-kin pen-ny emp-ty
2. V-CV and VC-V: One consonant between two vowels
a) First try dividing before the consonant. This makes the first syllable open and the vowel
long. This strategy will work 75 percent of the time with VCV syllable division.
e-ven ra-bies de-cent ri-val
b) If the word is not recognized, try dividing after the consonant. This makes the first syllable
closed and the vowel sound short. This strategy will work 25 percent of the time with VCV syllable division.
ev-er rab-id dec-ade riv-er
3. Consonant blends usually stick together. Do not separate digraphs when using the first two
principles for decoding.
e-ther spec-trum se-quin
Morphemes Represented in English Orthography
Examples of Inflectional Suffixes in English
Inflection Example
-s plural noun I had two eggs for breakfast.
-s third person She gets what she wants.
-ed past tense verb We posted the notice.
-ing progressive tense verb We will be waiting a long time.
-en past participle He had eaten his lunch.
’s possessive singular The frog’s spots were brown.
-er comparative adjective He is taller than she is.
-est superlative adjective Tom is the tallest of all.
Examples of Derivational Suffixes in English
Derivational suffixes, such as -ful, -ation, and -ity, are more numerous than inflections and work in ways that inflectional suffixes do not. Most derivational suffixes in English come from the Latin layer of language. Derivational suffixes mark or determine part of speech (verb, noun, adjective, adverb) of the suffixed word. Suffixes such as -ment, -ity, and -tion turn words into nouns; -ful, -ous, and -al turn words into adjectives; -ly turns words into adverbs.
nature (n. - from nat, birth) permit (n. or v.)
natural (adj.) permission (n.)
naturalize (v.) permissive (adj.)
naturalizing (v.) permissible (adj.)
naturalistic (adj.) permissibly (adv.)