Glossary
alphabet knowledge: an understanding of letter names, shapes, and sounds
long vowel: a vowel that is pronounced like its “name”; often the vowel just before a silent- e ending (ex: the o in note ) and in open syllables (ex: the e in begin ) open syllable: a syllable that ends in a long, single- letter vowel sound (ex: go - pher ) orthographic mapping: the ability to recognize certain words at once without needing to decode them (as opposed to individually decoding each letter to understand a word) phoneme: one sound in a word; the smallest building block of sound in a word (ex: cat has three phonemes, /k/ /a/ /t/; phone has three phonemes, /f/ /o/ /n/) phonemic awareness: the ability to hear and play with individual units of sound (phonemes) in words (one type of phonological awareness) phonics: a method of teaching reading that focuses on understanding the connection between written letters and the sounds they make prefix: a letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning print concepts: the elements of printed material (letters, words, and pictures) and the elements of printed language (left to right, top to bottom) r -controlled vowels: a vowel followed by an r ; the r affects the pronunciation of the vowel and the two are pronounced as one (ex: the ar in part) schwa: a short, unstressed “weak” or “neutral” vowel; can be represented by different letters (i.e., the a in ago , the second o in bottom ) suffix: a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning syllables: units of sound that make up words and into which words can be separated ( pic • nic ); every syllable has a vowel sound systematic phonics: gradually teaching phonics sound-by-sound, practicing before moving on to a new sound. Often paired with explicit phonics.
closed syllable: a syllable with a short vowel followed by an end consonant (ex: nap-kin ) complex vowel: a vowel sound that is neither long nor short (ex: r -controlled vowels) consonant blends: two or more consonants that keep their own sounds when sounded out together decoding: using letter-sound spellings to “sound out” a word from its written form to speech decodables: a text primarily using specific letter-sound spellings that children have already been taught to decode; texts based on a scope and sequence that go from simple to complex digraphs: two letters that make one sound, unlike a consonant blend, which has two distinct sounds (ex: ch )
diphthong: a vowel combination that starts as one sound and ends as another (ex: the oy in boy )
encoding: using letter-sound spellings to write a word
explicit phonics: teaching specific letters, their sounds, and their irregularities. Often paired with systematic phonics. grapheme: the smallest single unit of a given writing system (ex: a single letter) home language: the language spoken by children and their families at home high-frequency words (sight words): words that children encounter frequently and learn to recognize inflectional ending: an ending given to a word to change its tense, number, or other grammatical value (ex: walk to walked ; dog to dogs ) informal assessment: a nonstandardized way of evaluating children through observations, reflections, anecdotal notes, portfolios, checklists, etc. letter-sound spellings: the relationship between each letter and the specific sound or sounds it represents
Implementation Guide | 47
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs