Phonics, Step 6

The next things to teach are these rules (which are ususally true, but there always seem to some exceptions):

1. An 'e' on the end of a word makes the first vowel in the word "say its name" (the long vowel sound).
• We didn't do much with this rule because K. had already learned it in the reading she has chosen to do.
2. "When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking" -- the first vowel is long and the second is silent.
• K. had a bit of trouble with this one when I first introducted it. I printed out 15 sample words and looked through magazines to find pictures to cut out and glue by the words. This provided practice reading the words as K. has to find the right word to go with the pictures. After doing this once she got the hang of it.
3. 'Y' on the end of a word is a vowel and complies to rule #2 above. (bay, stay, gray)
4. When 'y' is the only vowel in the word it says "i". (my, cry, fly)
5. If a two syllable word ends in 'Y', it says 'e'. (baby, mommy, flabby)

I thought it would be difficult to teach K. about syllables, but by clapping her name (3 syllables), mommy (2 syllables), and dad (1 syllable) she got the hang of it really quickly. I also showed her that each syllable had a vowel (at least one).