Phonics and Decoding Flashcards

What is a consonant blend (consonant cluster)?

Answer: Two or more adjacent consonants where each individual sound can still be heard

A consonant blend is a group of two or more consonants in which each consonant sound is heard, such as 'bl' in 'black' or 'str' in 'string.'

Why does the letter 'c' make a /s/ sound in 'city' but a /k/ sound in 'cat'?

Answer: The soft/hard consonant rule based on the vowel that follows

The soft/hard consonant rule states that 'c' (and 'g') typically make their soft sounds before 'e,' 'i,' or 'y,' and their hard sounds before other letters.

What is a vowel team?

Answer: Two or more vowels working together to represent a single vowel sound

A vowel team is a combination of two or more vowels representing a single vowel sound, such as 'ea' in 'bean' or 'ai' in 'rain.'

In the vowel-consonant-e (VCe) syllable pattern, what role does the final 'e' play?

Answer: It causes the preceding vowel to make its long sound

In the VCe or 'magic e' pattern, the final 'e' is itself silent but signals that the preceding vowel makes its long sound, as in 'make,' 'pine,' or 'note.'

Decodable texts are primarily designed to:

Answer: Contain words that primarily use phonics patterns students have already been taught

Decodable texts are constructed to contain words made up of letter-sound patterns that have already been explicitly taught, giving students practice applying their phonics knowledge.

What is the primary purpose of 'word sorting' activities in phonics instruction?

Answer: To help students discover and internalize spelling patterns by categorizing words

Word sorting activities have students compare and categorize words by their spelling patterns, deepening their understanding of orthographic patterns and phonics principles.

Which instructional practice best supports students in reading multisyllabic words?

Answer: Teaching syllabication strategies to break long words into decodable parts

Teaching syllabication strategies gives students a systematic, transferable approach to decoding longer multisyllabic words they encounter across texts.