Logos Incognitum

A Guide to Dealing With Big Words

TheReadingMind
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Rules for Meeting Strange Words

Do not skip Strange Words! Think: YESI CAN! Look for the vowelsdot them. Draw a rectangle around prefix/suffix/ing/ed Consider the silent e
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Noticing how many long and unknown words you are encountering in your reading? Ever feel like reading is just TOO hard - too many big words and too many pages?? Do you ever want to just quit reading?!? Sturock & Assocs.

READING CAN BE EASIER!!!

If you know how to decode long words, you will read more easily. This means you will read quicker and longer. THIS means that you will be more interested, remember more and GET BETTER GRADES!
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IT IS NOT MAGIC! Dealing with long words is easy IF you have some strategieslike noticing patterns.
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Logos Incognitum
(unknown word)

Everyone needs a concrete

strategy to decode multi-syllabic words. vernacular dialect
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Its just a bunch of syllables! Large words are simply a group of syllables put together.
vernacular dialect
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What is a syllable?
Words have beatslike music has beats. Say your name. How many beats does your first name have? Your second name? How many beats altogether?
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Tap the beats in these words

Dogs Angel Revolutionary Industrial Capable

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Analyze the number of syllables in these lines of poetry

Mother doesnt want a dog Mother thinks they smell And never sit when you say sit Not even when you yell
Excerpt Judith Viorst
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abcdefghijk lmnopqrstu vwxyz

This is the alphabet. Why are the letters in different colors?
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What determines a syllable?

Within each syllable is a vowel. Our job as a reader is to determine what that vowel sounds like.

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Vowels Are Shape Shifters

Consonants keep their own sounds most of the time .* Vowels change their sounds ALL OF THE TIME!
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Consonants That Shape Shiftgo) UNLESS they are following c and g have a hard sound (cat and
by the vowel E, I or Y. These vowels will make the c and g sound soft: cereal generous cilia gigantic cyclone gymnasium

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Vowels can sound

Long.race Shortrat Schwa.applicable R-controlled.car
(most of the time)

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A few statistics about words-

84% of our words are phonetically regular 16% are not This 16% represents the category of words referred to as SIGHT WORDS.
Blevins, Teaching Phonics in the Middle Grades

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Sight words continued said although certain come above

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High Frequency Words & Sight Words

These terms have been comingled, and are commonly seen/presented as one group under either name. This group of words makes up 50% of all print.

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SEE ITSAY IT

Method used to teach phonetically irregular words OR high frequency words.

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Phonetically Regular84%
We teach students to decode these words by:

following the PATTERNS of words applying the rules of phonics

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The Brain is a Pattern Seeking Organism

Patterning is a highly successful method of learning about words. However, ALL students improve their ability to encode and decode words with phonics instruction when and where it is needed.

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Syllable Types
Vowel Teams Silent E Consonant le Closed R Controlled Open
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Learning the Basic Syllable Types

How do you get this information to stick in your head?

V.E.L.C.R.O.

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Logos Incognitum

Choose seven sheets of different colored paper and follow the directions of your teacher.

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V is for VOWEL TEAM

When two go walking, the first one does the talking.

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The vowels teams are:

ai, ay, ei, ee, ea, ie, oa, ui

When these vowel teams are located within a word, they act to create one single long vowel sound.

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Examples of Vowel Teams

ai ay ei ee ea ie* oa ui straight, rain, stray, delay receipt, conceit, deceive creep, sheet team, scream shriek, field, boat, float fruit, suit, pursuit
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Your Turn
In your booklet, make a list of additional examples of these patterns. Try to find samples of one, two, three? syllable words that fit each pattern.

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E is for silent e
time, tape, fine, safe, demonstrate Your turn.

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L is for consonant le

table, maple, muddle, meddle Your turn.

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C is for closed
When a vowel is enclosed by two consonants, it is referred to as a CLOSED syllable. The vowel sound is typically short. cut, fit, scat, cuddle, hot, vulnerable Your turn.
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R is for r-controlled
The consonant r is bossy! Every time it follows a vowel, or a vowel team, it overpowers the vowel sound. sort, reservation, start, hoard, chirp Your turn.

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O is for open syllable

When a vowel is not enclosed by consonants, it is typically pronounced as a long vowel sound. famous, tiger, bystander, financial Your turn.
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Now you have the key

All words in the English language have vowels. The vowel creates the syllable. Once you know the basic patterns, you have a strategy to determine the pronunciation of the word. An auditory check is, however, very frequently needed.
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What is an auditory check?

Saying the word to determine the correct pronunciation.

con/sti/tu/tion
The sti is an open syllable. It SHOULD be pronounced as long i. However, practice has it that we do not. Its a schwauh
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Spoken vocabulary

A persons spoken vocabulary plays a big role in how able someone is to correctly pronounce an unknown word. Exposure to vocabulary plays a role in being able to monitor and adjust the correct pronunciation of an unknown word.
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Reading is Important!!!
The most valuable source of building your vocabulary is readinga great deal.
Read in the content area you are studying Keep a journal of words you find interesting. Make it a practice to try to use the new and more sophisticated words you are learning!

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Word Benders

Teacher: Listen to this word: INTEGER How many syllables are in this word?

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Word Benders
Use one strip of your paper and fold it into the same number of segments as there are syllables in the word you just heard. integer = 3 syllables Fold your paper into five segments.

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Word Benders
Your fold should look like this:

Each segment represents a syllable. Say the word slowly and on each segment write the syllable sounds you are hearing.
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Word Benders
Your fold should look like this:

IN

TE

GER

Lets try a few more.

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Word Benders
Choose several words that the students are currently using, content area words or other vocabulary words. Have them say the word, fold it and then write the syllables on the segments.

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Dictionary Doublecheck
Now is the time to teach your students how to use a dictionary. Many have not had explicit instruction in how to do this. An easy web reference for demonstration is: Dictionary.com

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Dictionary Doublecheck
Your ears will get you close to the correct spelling, not necessarily to the exact correct spelling. To find out the correct spelling, you will have to consult a dictionary or other word reference, like the index.
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Dictionary Doublecheck
Dictionaries are arranged alphabetically. Try to locate your word in the dictionary. You may have to do a little hunting. (Like if you spelled the beginning sound with an e instead of an i.)

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