Phonics is a sound-to-letter-based rule system. Before learning phonics rules, children must first know the letters of the alphabet by name and by the most common sound each represents. Phonic rule letter patterns rely on other sounds in the words.
The rules combine what you hear with what will follow – what you will see next.
For Example:
One of the primary rules is: Short vowels are the captain of the ship.


Short vowel tones rule letter patterns.
Short vowel sounds guide letter patterns that follow. Listen for their tones.
Sounds that make up spoken words are called 'phonemes.'
Each word has one or more 'phonemes.' /a/ = one phoneme. /k/ /a/ /t/ (cat) = three phonemes.
Phonic rules tell us that when we hear specific phonemes, then we know certain letter patterns will follow.
Here are a few quick phonics facts:
- The 'final e' on the end of a word, in most cases, will not follow a short vowel.
Examples: dim vs. dime | pet vs. Pete |can vs. cane |cut vs. cute | pop vs. pope, a few exceptions: 'love' [because we never end a word with 'v'] and 'some' [because the word 'sum' has a different meaning but sounds the same as 'some']. To, two, and too are also examples. Words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings are called 'homophones.'
- Words ending in /l/, /f/, and /s/ after a short vowel tone usually have two letters: 'll', 'ff', and 'ss'
Examples: Mill | cuff | miss , but after the long vowel, the letters do not double mile | mice | life
- When words end with -s, -x, -z, -ch, or –sh, we usually add -es instead of just -s.
Examples: wishes, axes, buzzes, misses, watches
- Following the long vowels /a/ /i/ or /u/ sounds, instead of 's' we write 'ce'.
Examples: juice, race, slice
- The '-ck', -tch, and –dge patterns always follow a short vowel.
For Example: luck vs. Luke | fill vs. file | etch vs. each | tack vs. take | ledge | dodge | wage | huge
One cannot make the decision about which letter pattern to use UNLESS we LISTEN and can tell the difference between each of the vowel sounds.
It is only possible to 'play the phonics game by the rules' when you listen and make the connection between which phoneme sounds you hear and the rules for the phonemes in the word you want to read or write.
Any child who plays video games can understand the rules of play. "Do one thing, then another will happen."
It is essential to remain alert and act according to the rules to either gain points or avoid losses.
Did you know that many people cannot distinguish between short vowel tones and long vowel tones? They are tone deaf.
This phenomenon makes singing very difficult. One way to help is to teach simple melodies, such as 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' or 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat,' to mention a couple. Show them how to watch their mouth in a mirror and feel the opening of their jaw and the position of their tongue when matching vowel tones. Mnemonic devices also help. I use the sentence "Is Eddy At Uncle Ollie's?" as a device for comparing the ones to the first sound in the sentence. This activity is similar to the song "Bingo". A variation is to say the sounds instead of the letters in the word. [/b/-/i/-/n/-/g/-/o/] To help memorize the jaw position for the short vowel tones and the matching the tones to the letters, the "Bingo" melody can be used for repetition singing "/i/-/e/ -/a/-/u/-o/" in the place of the "Bingo" letters.
When people cannot 'hear' or 'process' the short vowel tones, understanding the rules becomes a problem. No wonder phonics seem like a lot of random rules. When all of the vowels sound the same, phonics does not make any sense to them!
- Working with word chains helps students to 'hear' or 'process' the individual sounds in words and the distinction between similar sounds [i.e., short i and e | short a and e, etc.].
- Learning to feel how the mouth makes each sound helps children to recognize phonemes by their letter and patterns of phonics rules.
- Each time the mouth moves, a new sound is made. Therefore, it is crucial to notice how your mouth moves when speaking each sound in words as you write them. Noticing mouth movements connects or 'maps' letters and letter patterns to sounds.
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