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What is letter knowledge?

This is one of the most important skills for a child to learn. This allows for students to understand letters can come in different shapes and sizes. This allows for students to understand different sounds that can occur also. This is the basis of your students ability to read, write, and overall be able to speak the English language properly.

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Chapter 3: Consonants Diagrams and Blends

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Chapter 3: Consonants Diagrams and Blends

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What: This chapter was about how we use diagrams and blends. This covered what we most commonly see in the classroom and why it is a thing. It points out some of the most common like, "The most common digraphs in English words are th, sh, ch, ph and wh. Schools are likely to select these digraphs to be among the learning expectations for first grade. Expectations are also likely to include common consonant blends and, perhaps, other consonant digraphs such as ng and gh" (Fox, 2014). It goes on to speak about how the English language has so many words but not enough of the alphabet for it. It says, "When the scribes realized that there were not enough English letters to represent the sounds in English words, they turned to the French writing system for a solution, introducing the ch, sh, wh, and th consonant digraphs to represent the /ch/, /sh/, /wh/, voiced /ℎ/, and unvoiced /th/." (Fox, 2014) This allowed for easier writing and communication since we had so much going on with few letters. The consonant blends can be described as a group of 2+ consonants that blend together when they are pronounced. The most common of these are at the beginning of words. Example of these include Br-Bright, str-string, and fl-flower.

Why: Blends are important because it will allow for the student to recognize and identify blends of consonants as familiar with words they are unsure of. Consonant diagrams are important because they help students identify unfamiliar words. Both of these are key players in a child's ability to read, write, and spell as many words in the English language follow and fall into these categories of having.

When: I will use this information in the classroom and even with my own future kids. When I begin teaching my students spelling and reading I will ensure that this is taught so they will feel more comfortable and confident in their abilities.

How: I will apply this in activities in my classroom so it makes the students have fun and be interested in learning.

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What: This chapter covers what vowels are and their importance. Vowels are a, e, i, o, and u. It goes on to state that vowels are often found in the middle of one syllable words or syllables. This means students must have the ability to recognize the middle sounds in the words and blend them. It goes on to give specific examples of types of vowels. A few are below.

R-controlled vowels: if the vowel letter in a one-syllable word or syllable is followed by r, the vowel will be affected by that r and the vowel is lost in the consonant

R-Controlled ä(r): a when coming before the R makes an r-controlled vowel.

R-Controlled ô(r): o before the R also makes an r-controlled vowel

It goes on and talks on diphthongs as well defining them as "single-vowel phoneme, represented by two letters, resembling a glide from one sound to another." (Fox, 2014). It further goes on to talk about more rules of vowel sounds such as the long vowels and oo.

Why: This is something in almost all words. This is such a key aspect in a child's learning and just even in adulthood. Every word has at least one of these letters in there so you must be able to recognize them and know what sounds should and would be made.

When: I will use this in my future classroom as I teach about the vowel sounds. I will think back on this when I am unsure and ensure I take all of the information and reviews to ensure adequate teaching.

How: I will use fun activities and learning modules I find to enhance my students abilities and learning.

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This is a short chapter only a few pages long that covers the topics of how many phonemes we have which is 44 and why they are so important. There is not as much in this chapter so my review will be shorter but I will use this in my classroom in the future to ensure the students are able to read and write.

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What: Phonics is the most important aspect of child literacy. Children use the skill of phonics to learn to read, write, and spell. Phonics is the ability to take sounds of English and match them to letter/letter groups. Teaching phonics will help boost the child's confidence in their academic skills and allow them to succeed in their learning.

Why: This is a key aspect in the students ability as said above due to the fact that this allows of recognition of letter groups and allow for confidence boost.

How/when: This is something that I see as highly important in teaching future classes as this was not how I was taught, but feel as if this were the method I would have enjoyed reading more and have been more confident in my ability to read and write as a child.

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What: This chapter begins by talking about k-5th grade and the standard they must have with phonics. It states "By and large, the Phonics and Word Recognition standards describe the sequence in which reading is taught, K–5. Children in kindergarten through second grade are expected to develop proficiency using phonics. The third grade standards do not mention letters and sounds. The third through fifth grade standards focus instead on reading long and complex words. Third graders are expected to decode multisyllable words and use prefixes and suffixes to read new words. Fourth and fifth graders should be able to use syllables, prefixes, suffixes, and other word parts to read multisyllable words in and out of context. A child who does not meet the standards one year and moves on to the next higher grade should meet the standards for the previous grade, as well as the standards for the current grade."(Fox, 2014). It goes on to speak on accents of words. It says to expect one syllables to have a primary accent. In compound words the accent typically falls in the first word of the compound. Nouns and verb accents differ in placement within words spelled alike. The accent usually is on the first syllable of a noun. A double consonant will have an accent on the syllable that is closing the first letter of that double consonant. It goes on to speak more on accent and placement but those are a few examples. It goes on to talk about how to know where words divide for syllables. It gives tricks to know where.

Why: These are important because it helps students know words are divided and how to read/pronunciation especially from within the dictionary.

How/when: I will use this in my classroom as I teach syllable breakdowns and use of a dictionary. I will teach he students what and why the accent marks are there and how the words are divided up and the reasoning to why.

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What: This chapter covers morphemes, prefixes, suffixes, contractions and compound words. It goes on to define Morphine as, "the smallest unit of meaning of language" (Fox, 2014). Morphine's fall into 2 categories: prefix and suffix. Prefixes placed at the beginning of a word and suffix at the end. These can change the meaning of words. It goes on to speak on types of prefixes/suffixes and how their rules and types vary. It talks about a compound words being a shortened version of 2 words. These have to be free morphemes. It then goes on to summarize the multiple rules of how to add prefixes and suffixes to words.

Why: This is important because multiple forms of communication like reading, writing, and speaking use contractions/compounds/prefixes/suffixes. To be able to effectively communicate you must know the rules and how words change.

When: I will use this in my teaching career when teaching kids ways to spice up their writing. I will give them the rules and the how to's. This can be helpful when given word limits, so you can have all you want but in shortened ways so you can fit more in. I will also teach them this when going over syllables and how to break up words.

How: I will do activities like mix and match, connect the contractions/compounds, fill in the blank, and other games that could be done as a class.