Getting to Know the Voiced and Unvoiced Phonemes

In English, we have voiced and unvoiced sounds. A voiced sound elicits vibration of the vocal cords. Unvoiced sounds do not. Instead, there is only air.

WHY IT MATTERS

Understanding the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds can be especially helpful in identifying and differentiating between phoneme pairs that share the same mouth position but have different sounds when the voice is either turned on or turned off. For example, the sounds /b/ and /p/ are pairs; however, while /b/ is voiced, /p/ is not.

WHICH PHONEMES ARE VOICED, AND WHICH ARE UNVOICED?

All vowel sounds are voiced.

The consonant phonemes, on the other hand, fall into different categories: stops, affricates, nasals, fricatives, liquids, and glides. Many phonemes are pairs that have the same mouth position but differ in that one is unvoiced while the other is voiced.

The STOPS include these unvoiced/ voiced pairs:

  • /p/ and /b/ as in pig and bus

  • /t/ and /d/ as in top and dog

  • /k/ and /g/ as in cat and gate

The AFFRICATES include this unvoiced/ voiced pair:

  • /ch/ and /j/ as in chair and jam

The FRICATIVES include these unvoiced/ voiced pairs:

  • /f/ and /v/ as in fan and van

  • /th/ and /TH/ as in thumb and feather

  • /sh/ and /zh/ as in share and treasure

  • /s/ and /z/ as in sun and zip

  • /h/ (this phoneme has no pair, and is unvoiced) as in hat

The NASALS include all voiced phonemes:

  • /m/ as in map

  • /n/ as in net

  • /ng/ as in ring

The LIQUIDS include two voiced phonemes:

  • /r/ as in rain

  • /l/ as in lock

The GLIDES include this unvoiced/ voiced pair:

  • /wh/ and /w/ as in whale and /wind/ AND

  • /y/ (an unpaired voiced phoneme) as in yarn

HOW TO TEACH STUDENTS TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE

One of the best ways to teach the differences between unvoiced and voiced phonemes is by doing the “voice box check” trick. Take the phonemes /s/ and /z/ phonemes. /s/ is unvoiced. If you put your hand gently on your throat where the voice box is, and say the voiceless /s/ sound, there will be no vibration, just air. Try this again but with the voiced /z/ sound. There will be a noticeable vibration from the vocal cords. Give it a try and watch the kids get really into discovering the voiced and unvoiced phonemes!

Long O Spelling Patterns

We know that the long o sound says its name. But how many ways are there to spell this long vowel sound? There are FIVE common ways to spell the long o sound. (I include 6 examples in the chart below because of the two different spelling rules — or generalizations — about the o spelling pattern.)

It is worth acknowledging that the long o sound can also be spelled as oo (as in door and floor); ou (as is soul); and ough (as in though and dough). However, these spelling patterns are so far and few between for the long o sound that they are not included in this chart as a main go-to for spelling patterns of this sound.

Knowing these different spelling patterns for this one sound is vital in developing phonemic awareness that will support students on their journey of becoming strong, confident, and fluent independent readers. As students move from picture-heavy readers to more text-heavy books, they need to be equipped to confidently tackle words without guessing or using pictures. Targeted phonics instruction will not only help students decode more fluently, but students who have strong decoding and fluency skills also comprehend what they read more efficiently. In this post, I list each of the five spelling patterns as well as when each spelling pattern is most likely to be used.

O

Can spell the long o sound at the end of a syllable or when followed by two consonants. Ex: robot; gold

O_E

Can spell the long o sound when the silent final e makes the o say its name. Ex: cone

OA

Can spell the long o sound at the beginning or in the middle of a base word. Ex: oat; coat

OE

Can spell the long o sound at the end of a word. Ex: toe

OW

Can spell the long o sound at the end of a base word. Ex: snow

Note: The placement of the ow will sometimes shift to the middle of a single syllable word when that word changes form (such as to past participle), and almost exclusively when it ends in n. Examples: grown, known, flown. The word bowl is also an exception.

For targeted practice with the different spelling patterns of the long o sound, check out this decodable reading resource in my shop.

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Long I Spelling Patterns

We know that the long i sound says its name. But how many ways are there to spell this long vowel sound? There are FIVE different ways to spell the long i sound. (I include 6 examples in the chart below because of the two different spelling rules — or generalizations — about the i spelling pattern.) Knowing these different spelling patterns for this one sound is vital in developing phonemic awareness that will support students on their journey of becoming strong, confident, and fluent independent readers. As students move from picture-heavy readers to more text-heavy books, they need to be equipped to confidently tackle words without guessing or using pictures. Targeted phonics instruction will not only help students decode more fluently, but students who have strong decoding and fluency skills also comprehend what they read more efficiently. In this post, I list each of the five spelling patterns as well as when each spelling pattern is most likely to be used.

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I

Can spell the long i sound at the end of a syllable or when followed by two consonants. Ex: lion; child

I_E

Can spell the long i sound when the silent final e makes the i say its name. Ex: lime

IE

Native English words cannot end in i, and so requires a silent final e to be added. The word pie ends in an ie and makes the long i sound because a silent final e must be added after the i. ie also spells the long i sound when the tense or form of the word is changed. Ex: fry to fries; cry to cried

IGH

Can spell the long i sound in the middle or at the end of a base word. Ex: light; sigh

Y

Can spell the long i sound at the end of mostly  single syllable words. Ex: cry.

* y can also spell the long i sound in the middle or at the end of a few multisyllabic words (ex: cycle; supply; apply), or when the verb suffix fy is added to a word (ex: solidify). This is not to be confused with the adjective suffix fy (ex: goofy; stuffy), which then makes a long e sound. 

For targeted practice with the different spelling patterns of the long i sound, check out this decodable reading resource in my shop.

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Word Building Game

Games are a vital part of learning and can support learning in a myriad of ways. This image below is my screen from a recent Zoom session with one of my rising middle school students. We were ending a session playing the asked-for-over-again word building game.

WHAT IS IT?

This is a word building game I play frequently with my students. They love that they’re playing a game, and I love that they are building their vocabulary, spelling, and organization skills.

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HOW DO YOU PLAY?

It’s pretty simple. Choose a word and create 4 columns: one column each for 2-letter, 3-letter, 4-letter, and 5+ letter words. When playing virtually, I create a chart like this on my screen, and my students either a) creates a similar chart on paper or b) creates a document on their devices that they can screen share with me. Once the word is revealed and the grid is created, it’s go time. I allot approximately three minutes for students to build as many words as possible using the letters in the given word. Letters cannot be used more than once, but they can be used in any order.

You’ll notice that I have a FOCUS ON section. I do not use this with every student, but I will if my goal is to target particular spelling patterns, or if I have a student who has particular difficulty with task initiation and / or finding words, particular more complex ones.

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE A WORD?

When choosing a word, I typically choose one that is seasonal, relevant to a current events issue, or related to a student’s interest. The word in this example above is from a recent session after Hurricane Isais wrecked havoc through our area and knocked out power, resulting in weeklong (and longer) power outages for many. My family is thankful that when we bought our house, there was already a generator installed. Unfortunately, the generator broke down after day 4 of working as back up. Hence, generator seemed like an appropriate word for many reasons that week: it was relevant, it targeted vocabulary and parts of speech (i.e. What are other forms of the word?: generate, generation, generated, etc…), and it honed particular spelling skills I wanted to focus on with this specific student.

This game can be differentiated for many different learning levels and needs. For extension work, ask students to pick a word to use in a well-written and descriptive sentence.

Happy Playing!

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