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!

Making Sense of the Silent Final E

The silent final E may sometimes cause quite the conundrum. WHY is that E there? English makes no sense! Right? Well, that final silent E wears quite a few hats, and I’m going to use this post to explain those hats in a way that makes sense. 

  1.  It makes the vowel say its name.

    This is the most commonly known reason as to why the silent final E exists. It makes the vowel immediately preceding the consonant(s) before the E say its long vowel sound. When you add an E to the end of the word tap, you get tape.

    More examples: cap + E = cape; kit + E + kite; & past + E + paste

  2. Every syllable must have a written vowel — even if it cannot be heard.

    Would you write the word puzzl ? No way! It would be puzzle, with a silent final E. That’s because the word puzzle is two syllables: puz-zle, and if that silent final E were missing, there would be no written vowel in the second syllable.

    More examples: little (lit-tle); pickle (pick-le); & giggle (gig-gle)

  3. C and G can soften to /s/ and /j/ when followed by an E (I or Y, too).

    Have you ever noticed that when you add a silent final E to the word hug to make huge, the short U transforms to a long U, but the sound of the G changes from a /g/ to a /j/? This is because when a G (or C) comes before an E, I, or Y, the sound can soften.

    More examples: practice & garage

    (In these examples, see how the same letter can appear twice in the same word, but because of the silent final E, the second time the same letter appears, it is pronounced differently.)

  4. English language words do not end in I, J, U, or V.

    If you’re like me, you are trying very hard right about now to think of any and all exceptions that you can. “What about hi, flu, sushi, and ski ?” you may ask. Hi and flu are abbreviations for hello and influenza. Sushi is a Japanese word and ski is Norwegian. The true exceptions are the pronouns I and you.

More examples: olive, tie, & blue.

I hope that these examples of the many hats that silent final E wears make at least one part of the English language seem a bit less illogical. When these general rules of thumb are better understood, the English language will seem just a bit less confusing!

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Coordinating Conjunctions Craft Activity

Conjunction junction, what’s your function? were the famous Schoolhouse Rock words. (And it’s still impossible to talk about conjunctions without hearing them.) There are three categories of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, and correlative. They are all specific words that connect phrases, words, and clauses. This post focuses exclusively on coordinating conjunctions. 

There are seven coordinating conjunctions that can be easily remembered using the acronym FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. A good visual is what always helps me most, so I designed this coordinating conjunction fan to demonstrate the usage of these conjunctions for all those other visual learners out there. Also, kids LOVE putting these together.  To make this handheld fan, follow these simple steps:

What You’ll Need

  • Standard size (8.5in x 11in) sheet of paper

  • Marker

  • Ruler

  • Tape

How To

  1. Use a rule (or you can eyeball it!) to make roughly 1.5in marks

  2. Make six horizontal folds. This will then allow for seven spaces, one for each conjunction. There is enough space to also include the purpose for and / or an example of each coordinating conjunction. 

  3. Write each conjunction and purpose (see below for details) in each space.

  4. On the bottom where the conjunction FOR is written, you can flip up the to the opposite side and write COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS.

  5. Tape the bottom folds together to create a fan.

  • For a set-by-step video, you can hop on over to my Instagram page and watch it the reels section.

final 2.JPG

For

Purpose: To give a reason.

Example: I brought my umbrella with me when I left the house, for it was supposed to rain.

 

And

Purpose: To join words, phrases, or sentences that show a similar idea.

Example: Sam finished his homework, and then he ate his dinner.

 

Nor

Purpose: To introduce or present a further negative idea or statement.

Example: Jen does not like to travel in airplanes, nor does she like to travel on trains.

 

But 

Purpose: To show contrasting or opposite ideas. 

Example: They wanted to bake muffins, but they didn’t have all of the ingredients. 

 

Or

Purpose: To show a choice or different options.

Example: We can go to the beach this morning, or we can go this afternoon.

 

Yet

Purpose: To join two ideas that are opposite. Similar to the use of the word but.

Example: Pete studied every day for the test, yet he still did not do as well as he had hoped. 

 

So

Purpose: To show the result or effect of something (not to be confused with so as an adverb, meaning to a great extent)

Example: Three feet of snow fell last night, so we were not able to leave the house today. 

 

I hope these examples and demonstration help your learners master coordinating conjunctions a bit more easily!

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April is National Poetry Month

Poetry was always a part of every classroom I’ve taught in. It was integrated into lesson plans with students I tutored. I made sure it had a place in my students’ learning, regardless of their age or learning level. Once during independent reading time, a first grader approached me and said, “I’m reading this book. It takes place at a school, and in this chapter one kid wrote a poem. I wanted to read you the poem he wrote because I know you like poetry.” I do like poetry, but more so, I like sharing poetry with my students, and I was THRILLED that this kid had picked up on that.

Here’s why:

  1. Poetry lends itself well to teaching students about rhythm and rhyme.

  2. Poetry is a great way to introduce and work with figurative language and literary devices.

  3. Poetry encourages self-expression while honing verbal skills. (You can read more here about why I especially love teaching cinquain writing.)

  4. Poetry introduces students to a form of art and entertainment — slam poetry, anyone?

  5. Poetry fosters social and emotional learning.

  6. Poetry allows for flexibility, and students enjoy exploring the ways they can “break the rules.” When writing poetry, it is often perfectly acceptable to abandon certain writing conventions that are expected in written prose.

  7. Unless we’re talking lengthy works like the Odyssey, poems can be used as snapshots of bigger stories, life events, or teaching points to introduce students to a myriad of topics.

With April being National Poetry Month, it is the perfect opportunity to expose students to various forms of poetry and different poets; to engage students creatively and challenge them as they create pieces of their own. At the end of the month (this year: April 30) it is Poem in Your Pocket Day. A few years ago I created this poetry craft activity so that students can cut out paper pockets and sized to fit paper to carry around their poetry and share with others. The finished product also makes an attractive bulletin board display (for when we’re back in the classroom).

How do you bring poetry into your young writers’ lives? I’d love to hear!