RICA - Phonics & Sight Words

the ability to make the correct association between the sounds and the symbols of language

• High-frequency words - words that appear often in children's text (as, of, the)
• Words with irregular spelling (dove, great)
• Words that children want to know because they want to be able to write them (dinosaur, Burger King)
• Words that are introduced in content-area lessons in Social Studies and Science (insect, butterfly)

The study of word formation

the process of recognizing words by analyzing suffixes, prefixes and root words

the process of recognizing words by analyzing the syllables in a word

A consonant occurs when airflow is somehow obstructed by your mouth, teeth or lips.

is a consonant sound that can be held and stretched out (f, l, m, n, r, s, v, z)

Phonics is the ability to make the correct association between the sounds and symbols of a language.

consonant sounds that must be uttered quickly (b, c, d, g, j, k, p, qu, t). also known as clipped consonants

• 1) High-frequency words - words that appear most frequently in the texts that children read.
• 2) Words with irregular spelling such as dove or great.
• 3) Words that children want to know, usually because they want to use them in their writing.
• 4) Terms specific to a subject/content area such as insect or butterfly.

The study of word formation.

The process of recognizing words by analyzing prefixes, suffixes and base words.

Is the process of recognizing words by analyzing the syllables in a word.

The words surrounding a word provide clues to the meaning of an unknown word.

Reading at an appropriate pace and with appropriate expression.

is when a child is able to swiftly and accurately identify words.

are two-letter combinations that make one sound (example: ph).

two- or three-letter sounds said rapidly and where each letter makes a sound (examples: pl, bl, spr)

sounds made when air leaving the lungs vibrates in the voice box and there is a clear passage from the voice box to your mouth.

they say their own name, as in: bake and bite.

vowel combinations that make a single sound (example: boat and teach).

glided sounds made by vowel combinations as in oil and boy.

neither long, nor short, as in: car, her, girl, hurt and in for.

are vowel sounds that are neither long or short as in: chalk, help, milk, cold and bull.

• suffixes that do not change the part of speech of the root word
• examples: walk -> walked, big -> bigger

word pattern vowel-consonant as in: am, it and up.

• consonant-vowel-consonant patterned words with the vowel as a short sound.
• Examples: cat, bat, lip, pet.

• Consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant as in:
• balk, cost and film.

Consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant as in brat, clap and skip. Most of these words begin with a consonant blend.

Consonant-vowel-vowel-consonant as in bait, team and goat. Many but not all words in this category have vowel digraphs (two vowels, one sound).

Consonant-vowel-consonant-E ending as in: made, like, cone and huge. Beware of irregular exceptions like love and live.

• ☐ Compound words, divide between the words (in-side, foot-ball).
• ☐ Single syllable prefix, divide between the prefix and the root (un-kind, pre-test).
• ☐ Two consonants in the middle of the word that are not digraphs, divide between the consonants (sis-ter, but-ter).
• ☐ Single consonants in the middle of the word between two vowels, the vowels preceding the consonant is short, divide after the consonant (cab-in, lev-el).
• ☐ Single consonant in the middle of a word between two vowels, the vowel preceding the consonant is long, divide before the consonant (be-long, fe-ver).

Some words reflect the spelling of another language while others reflect the pronunciation shifts in the English language over time.

words that are taught as a whole unit so that students do not need to decode. Many irregular words are neither nouns, adjectives or verbs but are often function words (of, the, was).

When they are high-frequency words that children need to know and some sound-symbol relationship will not be taught until later on (ex: each).

Shows no understanding that words represent sounds. Child uses pictures instead of letters at random.

Children attempt to use letters to represent sounds, however, their knowledge of sound-symbol relationship is poorly developed (example: "baa" for banana).

• Children at this stage know that letters represents sounds but often do not choose the correct letter-sound combinations.
• Example: I lik to flii a kit for I like to fly a kite.

• At this stage children know most of the orthographic patterns of English. Mistakes tend to occur when sounds have different spellings.
• (ex: nayborhood)

The child spells all the words correctly. Mistakes happen when writing new words with irregular spellings.

frequently occurring letter combinations in English (-ight, -tion).

morphemic analysis

the process of decoding a multisyllabic word with an affix (prefix or suffix) added to a base word.

the process of decoding a multisyllabic word by examining the word syllables.

what a person know about how to spell words, aka spelling.

the most elemental unit of meaning in a language.

• some words and affixes.
• Examples:
• elephant has only one morpheme
• walk-ed has two morphemes
• chair-s has two morphemes

prefixes or suffixes

before the root.

after the root.

• prefixes and suffixes that cannot occur alone and must be attached to a root word.
• Examples: un, -est

• uttered alone with meaning.
• Example: test

pronounced with a single uninterrupted sounding of the voice. All syllable must have at least one vowel.

ends with a vowel, as in be and go.

• ends with a consonant.
• Examples: both syllables in kick-ball and nor-mal.

effortless and rapid identification of words.

• ☐ Display several sentences, each with a word that contains the target prefix/suffix/root word.
• ☐ Read again the underlined target words and identify the key common element. 
• ☐ Work with the student to identify the meaning of the prefix/suffix/root word. If they can't figure it out tell them what it means.
• ☐ Provide new words with the common element or have the children provide them.

• ☐ Display the suffix/prefix/root word on the board and tell the children what it means.
• ☐ Prepare 4x6 cards with root words that can be added to the prefix/suffix to make words.
• ☐ Help children to put newly formed words into sentences which can be written on the board.

State the six rules for syllabication, then have children divide target words based on these rules and ensure correct pronunciation.

• ☐ Groups of words that have commonly occurring orthographic patterns: rimes, blends, dipthongs, digraphs, prefixes, suffixes, root words.
• ☐ High-frequency words, especially those that have irregular patterns.
• ☐ Common-need words, words that several children in the class have trouble spelling.
• ☐ Content-area words taken from other subjects.
• ☐ Words that relate to each other: synonyms, antonyms, homophones.

• ☐ Look at the word and say it to yourself.
• ☐ Say each letter in the word to yourself.
• ☐ Close your eyes and spell the word to yourself.
• ☐ Write the word, check your spelling.
• ☐ Write the word again.

• Pre spelled as per
• fore (as in forecast) spelled as for
• sub spelled as sup
• less spelled as les
• ness spelled as nes
• ion spelled as shun
• dropping the e from bake to baking
• doubling final consonant sound as in bat to batting

explicitly teaching common English roots and affixes.

• ☐ increase the pace or complexity of the instruction
• ☐ building on extending current knowledge and skills

in both isolation and context.

to present a list of words for the child to read aloud while the teacher records any errors.

a spelling test where the teacher reads a list of words aloud and the child writes them.

a review of the child's journal to find patterns in their spelling choices.

• - to read simple, new regular words from left to right
• - to generate sounds from all the letters
• - to blends sounds into a recognizable word

• - progress systematically from simple words and word length to more complex words
• - model (letter-sound correspondence, blending, reading whole words)
• - sequence words strategically
• - provide initial practice in controlled text
• - provide repeated opportunities for students to read words
• - use decodable text based on specific phonics lessons
• - teach necessary sight words
• page 121

• - high-frequency words tha tdo and do not conform to phonics and spelling patterns
• - the frequency with which a word occurs in students' reading materials
• - how visually similar or dissimilar a word is to other words
• - strategies to help students master the spelling of sight words

• - phonics skills
• - sight-word knowledge
• - knowledge and skills in syllabic and structural analysis and orthography

decoding multisyllabic words formed by adding a prefix or suffix to a base word or morpheme

decoding multisyllabic words composed of common syllable patterns, such as open and closed syllables

• - teaching multisyllabic words formed by adding a common prefix or suffix to a base word
• - teaching multisyllabic words that follow common syllable patterns
• - teaching students to use knowledge of structural analysis and syllable patterns to spell multisyllabic words