Phonics:Elementary Review

Vowels are the letters a, e, i, o, and u. Long vowels sound like themselves when said aloud (long a in "cake"). Short vowels make a different sound.

Consonants are all of the letters of the alphabet that are not vowels.

Short Vowel Sounds

a: cat, at, as, fan, am, ant, an, had

e: ten, cent, belt, hen, bell, pen, red, sled, tent, nest, bed, desk

i: fish, pin, bib, six, pig, lips

o:got, top, job, box, doll, hot, sock, lot

u: bug, gum, pup, hug, cup, bus, mug, fun, mud, sun

Long Vowel Sounds

a: ay and ai make the long a sound.

Train, tray, rain, paint, hay, chain, snail

Adding the letter e to the end of certain words make them long vowel words.

e: ea, ee, or ey make the long e sound.

dream, bean, key, clean, leave, seed, money, tree, see

i: nine, tire, dime, mice, bike, hive, five

o: oa and ow make the long o sound.

show, goat, toast, road, show, low, slow, grow

u: ew, u-e, ue, and ui make the long u sound.

new, dew, blue, huge, cube, tube, clue, glue, blue, fruit, juice, suit

Blends

fl: flower, fly, floor, flame, flute, flag

pl, sl: slam, sled, please, slice, sleep, plant, slip, planet, plane, plate

bl, cl, gl: blue, clock, clean, glue, block, cloud, glad, glove, black, clothes, globe

br: broom, branch, brother, bright, broken, brave

cr: crust, cream, crown, cracker, craft, crab, crow, crate, crayon, crash, crib, cry, crack

dr: draw, drink, drum, dragon, dress, driver, dress, dry

fr: frog, front, from, fruit, friend, free

gr: group, grape, growl, grunt, grass, grow, green

tr: tractor, train, truck, tree, trap, trick, trip, trees

pr: pretty, prize, prince, proud, present

sm, sn: snowman, smoke, snake, smog, sart, smile, snail

st: start, stick, stack, store, stir

sw, sp: swim, swam, swing, sweet, spider, spoon, spot, spring

str, spr: street, strawberry, spray, stream, sprinkler, spring

Combination Sounds

ch: cheese, porch, chair, watch, chimney, catch, match

th: both, path, there, thank, there, think

sh: push, shop, shoe, show, dish, shirt, shell, wash, shirt

wh: wheel, wheat, whistle, why, whale, white, when, what, where

Same Sounds

oi, oy: letter combinations oi and oy have the same sound.

boil, joy, point, broil, oil, toy, soil, moist, join, boy, voice

ir, er, ur: letter combinations ir, er, and ur have the same r sound.

farmer, bird, purple, father, girl, shirt, dinner, nurse, turtle

Different Sounds

Letter c sounds like k before these vowels: a, o, and u : cat, cow, cake, cup

Letter c sounds like s before i and e: city, cent, circus

Letter g sounds like the g in goat before these vowels: a,o, and u: gas, good, gum

Letter g usually sounds like j before I and e: general, giraffe

Letter Combinations

oo, ue, ew: moose, blue, tooth, pool, dew, chew, new, glue, stool, school, broom, true

ou, ow: brown, crown, sour, hound, mouse, owl, clown, out

Silent Letters

l, k, w, h, t, b, and gh are sometimes silent: wrap, high, dumb, catch, knob, walk, honest

Contractions

Contractions are formed when you use an apostrophe to put words together.

Aren't=are not

I'll=I will

They'll= they will

Don't=do not

Isn't=is not

They're=they are

Can't=can not

We're=we are

Couldn't=could not

Compound Words

Compound words are words made up two individual, separate words, making up a completely new word with a different meaning, such as football, birdhouse, rainbow, doorbell, starfish, watchdog, and fireman.

Plural Endings

When a word ends in x,ss, ch, or sh, add es.

When a word ends in y, change the y to i and add es.

Suffixes

Suffixes are word endings. Common suffixes are -ing, -ness, -less, -er, -est, -ing, and -ful.

Prefixes

Prefixes are word beginnings. Un- is a prefix meaning "not". Mis- is also commonly used meaning "wrong".