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 in make and tack. But to spell the letter a, we can use many combinations to make the long a sound. For example, the long a sound can be spelled using the letters ai, as in rain, train, brain. The difference that comes out of this is, if someone asks, “What does the letter i…
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How to Spell a Consonant Sound
Often in spelling and writing the letters and their pronunciations are considered, but what I had never experienced until working with OG is how to spell a letter sound. This post is on how to spell consonant sounds. Next week, I will cover spelling vowel sounds. There are letters that make sounds, d says “d” (dog), and there are sounds made up of letters, the sound “sh” can be made using the letters sh (shout) or ch (chef). We call that how you “spell” a sound. This can come in handy when teaching how to spell and read. Knowing that certain letters and letter combinations make certain sounds that may…
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Short Vowel Rule Overview: FLOSS, Pitch, Judge, Stack
My most recent posts covered the Short Vowel Rules in Orton Gillingham. Today I would like to give an overview of all four of these rules. I will also provide a practice worksheet and a quiz on these rules. Now that you have seen all four rules, grouping them together as “Short Vowel Rules” should make sense. If not, then once you see them in an overview, I think you will see a pattern. The first rule we covered was FLOSS. This rule says: FLOSS: Double f, l, and s at the end of one syllable words following one short vowel. Notice that the word FLOSS is an example of…
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Short Vowel Rule: “CH” Rule – An Important Batch of Words
This week we will cover the last of the Short Vowel Rules in Orton Gillingham. So far, we have made it through FLOSS, “K” Rule, and the “J” Rule. The fourth and final short vowel rule is the “CH” Rule. The “CH” Rule says: -tch is used after one short vowel at the end of one syllable words to spell “ch.” This means, in a one syllable word where there is a short vowel sound followed by a “ch” sound, the letters –tch are being used to make that sound. Examples of this rule are: ă snatch, match, hatch, patch ĕ sketch, stretch, fetch, etch ĭ ditch, snitch, stitch, switch…
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Short Vowel Rule: “J” Rule – Make a Pledge to Learn This Rule
Following in the path of my post last week, today we cover the third of four Short Vowel Rules in Orton Gillingham. It is the “J” Rule. So far, we have covered FLOSS and the “K” Rule . The “J” rule says: -dge is used after one short vowel at the end of a one syllable word to spell “j.” This means, in a one syllable word where there is a short vowel sound followed by a “j” sound, the letters –dge are being used to make that sound. Examples of this rule are: ă badge, cadge ĕ pledge, edge, wedge, sedge, hedge, ledge ĭ ridge, bridge, smidge ŏ dodge,…
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Short Vowel Rule: “K” Rule — The Pick for Learning when to use –CK
In Orton Gillingham, basically the whole English language is divided up into categories and each category is divided into rules. I have given one “Short Vowel Rule,” known as the FLOSS rule. Today, I am moving to a second (of four) short vowel rules: the “K” Rule. The “K” rule says, -ck is used after one short vowel at the end of one syllable words to spell “k.” This means, one syllable words that contain a short vowel and the “k” sound at the end will have a –ck to make the “k” sound. If there is not a SHORT vowel sound, then it is not –ck. Examples of when…
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More Syllable Division: The Long & Short of –ci, -si, -ti, -xi
Today, I received a great question from a reader. After my last post on syllable division, she asked me, “What do you say about the letter i in the following examples: div i sion in ci sion de li cious am bi tion ig ni tion???” I can understand the confusion, based on my previous posts. According to what I have said so far, those I’s should be long because the syllable is considered open. Now we get into a more advanced rule of division. It has to do with the suffixes on those words. This division rule has to do with -ci, -si, -ti, -xi being suffixes. They are…
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A Mountain View: Labeling and Syllable Division
We have covered all of the components of REVLOC and the different syllable division rules. Today, I would like to condense that down to an overview, so, hopefully, a bigger picture can be formed. First, REVLOC, stands for types of syllables. These syllables are then classified by the corresponding letter from the REVLOC system. Once classified (or maybe labeled is a better term), the word can be broken down and pronounced based on the rules associated with each syllable type. The word “REVLOC” is what it is because that is the order in which each syllable type should be considered in pronunciation. For example, the word “war” might look like…
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SOS – A Technique to Save Spelling
In learning through OG, words are broken down into the REVLOC system and pronounced by rules. But what about sight words? Those pesky words that do not follow the rules and you just have to memorize. OG has that covered too. I would like to introduce a learning technique called SOS. This stands for Simultaneous Oral Spelling. One thing to remember to digest this technique is that Orton Gillingham uses multi-sensory tools to learn the English language. We want to see it, feel it and hear it – all of “it.” Learning to spell can be challenging for anyone, but throw in a word that makes no sense in its…
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Short Vowel Rule: This FLOSS is Not About Teeth
Today’s topic is FLOSS, and I’m not talking about teeth here. FLOSS is a helpful reminder to a short vowel rule that says: double f, l and s after a short vowel at the end of a ONE SYLLABLE word. This concept is taught in mainstream methods, but calling it FLOSS is something done in OG. For example: F Cliff Sniff Off Huff Staff L Hill sell Ill pill S Bass Dress Fuss Glass Seen here is a whole list of words from a book, How to Teach Spelling. As in most rules, there are exceptions to the FLOSS rule. First, when a final s makes the “z” sound it…