Word Families
(Note: Because vowel sounds are always controlled by the letters that follow, teach students onsets and rimes in which the controlling letters always follow the vowel. May (1994) recommends that students learn at least half of these in the first grade and all of the others by the end of second grade.)
VC (Vowel-Consonant) Patterns
__ short A (e.g., at, ad, ab, am, an, ap)
__ short E (e.g., ed, en, et)
__ short I (e.g., id, ig, im, in, ip, it)
__ short O (e.g., ob, od, og, op, ot)
__ short U (e.g., ub, ug, um, un, ut)
VCC (Vowel-Consonant-Consonant) Patterns
__ short A (e.g., ack, amp, and, ang, ank, ash)
__ short E (e.g., ell, end, ent, est)
__ short I (e.g., ick, ill, ing, ink, int)
__ short O (e.g., ock, ong)
__ short U (e.g., uck, uff, ump, ung, ush, unk)
VCE (Vowel-Consonant-Final E) Patterns
__ long A (e.g., ace, ade, ake, ale, ame, ane, ate, ave)
__ long E (VCE is an uncommon way of spelling the long /e/ sound)
__ long I (e.g., ice, ide, ime, ine, ive)
__ long O (e.g., oke, one, ope)
__ long U (e.g., VCE is an uncommon way of spelling the long /u/ sound)
VVC (Vowel-Vowel-Consonant) Patterns
__ long A (e.g., ail, ain)
__ long E (e.g., eak, eal, eam, eat, eed, eep)
__ long I (VVC is an uncommon way of spelling the long /i/)
__ long O (VVC is uncommon except with oa, as in goat)
__ long U (e.g., cool, room, moon, loop, boot)
Other Families: ay, all, ar, are, ar, aw, ear, ew, ight, ind, ow, ore, orn
Inflectional ending blends
__ s, es (e.g., jumps)
__ ed (e.g., walked)
__ ing (e.g., jumping)
__ er, est (e.g., better, best)
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