In my last post I talked about how to spell consonants. This week, we will cover how to spell vowels. It is important to note that when I say “spell” consonants and vowels I am talking about how letters can make more than one sound. For example, a makes a long and short sound, as…
Often in phonics, we talk about letters and the sounds they make. For example, the letter d says /d/ as in dog. That’s familiar and expected. What I had never been taught before learning Orton Gillingham, however, was how to spell a sound. This concept—spelling sounds versus reading sounds—is a powerful (and overlooked) lesson in…
In my last post of the VCCCV syllable division pattern, or Ostrich words, I talked about blends and digraphs, and I said I would make my next post on these concepts so that Ostrich words will make more sense. That was three Mondays ago – I was out of town in Florida visiting my mom…
How we pronounce letter sounds when teaching or tutoring is important. Orton Gillingham is a phonics, rule-based approach to teaching and learning the English language. Using a scope and sequence makes it a cumulative, thorough approach to teaching English. Orton Gillingham training teaches how to use multi-sensory learning to teach all of this and more!
Why Is Bossy R So “Bossy”? Once students move beyond short vowels and Magic-E words, R-controlled vowels can feel confusing fast. With Bossy R patterns, the vowel no longer makes its usual short or long sound. The R changes the sound completely. For example: Students often recognize these patterns in simple words first before learning…
In the English language, there is a sound that shows up constantly, but often goes unnoticed. That sound is called schwa. Any vowel — a, e, i, o, u, or y — can make the schwa sound, which is why it can feel confusing in both reading and spelling. Understanding schwa helps explain why words…
When does an English word end in V? Orton Gillingham is a phonics, rule-based approach to teaching and learning the English language. Using a scope and sequence makes it a cumulative, thorough approach to teaching English to both kids and adults. Orton Gillingham training teaches how to use multi-sensory learning to teach all of this and more!
When teaching short vowels, if you are from the south, you may not want to teach “i” and “e” together. Southerners tend to say things like, “Go git (get) your brother.” If you are from the north, you may not want to teach “a” and “o” together. Northerners tend to say things like, “Get a…
You will never see, in the English language, the letter q without a u following it. The exception here is in proper names, like Q-tip, but that is the only exception. The rest of the time, qu is always together. For Easier Spelling and Reading Because of the QU consistently being together, we teach that…
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