Consonant Minilessons

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Consonant Minilessons

• Author Dr. Diane Nettles
• PPT Designed by Dr. Christine Peterson

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Minilesson Features

• This presentation is designed as a self-study.
  Each slide will guide you through the process to
  learn about specific phonetic elements.
• If you see an arrow button click on it to
  return to the previous slide or to
  advance to the next slide in the presentation.

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Consonants

• Mini-Lesson 1 Consonants
• Consonants are letters. In the English alphabet,
  there are twenty-one consonants, and they are
  b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m,
  n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y,
  and z. You will see later that the w and the
  y can also function as vowels.

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Predictable Single Consonant Sounds

• Letter b represents the phoneme /b/ as in
  bear.
• Letter c
• represents the phoneme /k/ as in cat.
• represents the phoneme /s/ as in city.
• Letter d represents the phoneme /d/ as in
  dog.
• Letter f represents the phoneme /f/ as in
  fox.
• Letter g
• represents the phoneme /g/ as in go.
• represents the phoneme /j/ as in geography.
• Letter h represents the phoneme /h/ as in
  hat.
• Letter j represents the phoneme /j/ as in
  jam.
• Letter k represents the phoneme /k/ as in
  kitchen.
• Letter l represents the phoneme /l/ as in
  lion.
• Letter m represents the phoneme /m/ as in
  man.
• Letter n represents the phoneme /n/ as in
  nice.
• Letter p represents the phoneme /p/ as in
  pickle.

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Predictable Single Consonant Sounds

• Letter q The letter q, when paired with the
  letter u, represents a blend of the phonemes
  /k/ and /w/, as in queen.
• Letter r the phoneme /r/ as in run.
• Letter s represents the phoneme /s/ as in
  sun.
• Letter t represents the phoneme /t/ as in
  turtle.
• Letter v represents the phoneme /v/ as in
  violin.
• Letter w represents the phoneme /w/ as in
  well.
• Letter x when it is at the end of a word or
  syllable, represents the phonemes /k/ and /s/
  blended together, as in fox.
• Letter y when it is at the beginning of a
  word or syllable, represents the phoneme /y/ as
  in yellow.
• Letter z represents the phoneme /z/ as in
  zoo.

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Consonant Combinations 1

• Study the list of words below. Each word is in
  the book, Spots First Picnic, by Eric Hill
  (1987).
• Pronounce the words to yourself.
• Mini-lesson 1 List 1
• Spot sticky crash
  trouble cloudy splash
  stepping stream branch slippery
  Steve crossed stones
  grass dry climbed
  started tricks dry
  friends small
• tree

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Consonant Blends

• Eldredge (1999) lists the consonant blends that
  occur most often at the beginning of words.
  Twenty-four of these are shown on the next few
  slides.

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Common Consonant Blends

• bl as in black and blue
• br as in brush and brittle
• cl as in clear and clink
• cr as in crinkle and crush
• dr as in drive and dribble
• fl as in flipper and flaunt

• fr as in fry and frozen
• gl as in glisten and glad
• gr as in green and grab
• pl as in please and plank
• pr as in prey and pretty
• sl as in slow and sliver

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Common Consonant Blends

• sc as in scar and scale
• scr as in screech and scruples
• sk as in skate and skunk
• sl as in slip and slumber
• sm as in smitten and smug
• sn as in snatch and snowman

• spl as in split and splatter
• spr as in spring and spray
• st as in sticky and stare
• str as in street and strange
• sw as in swat and swim
• tr as in tree and tricky

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Consonant Combination 2

• There is another type of consonant combination
• that is different from a blend or cluster.
• Look at another list of words to find out more
• about it. Notice the appearance of the words.
• Then pronounce them and think about the first
• sound in each.
• Mini-lesson 1 List 2
• they then shouted
  charge there where third
  that while when
  shower shake whoops what
  chuckled thanks

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Consonant Digraphs

• ch usually represent the phoneme /ch/ as in
  chicken.
• th represent the phoneme /th/, as in thick,
  and /th/ as in that.
• sh usually represent the phoneme /sh/ as in
  shoe.
• wh usually represent the phoneme /hw/ as in
  white.
• ph usually represent the phoneme /f/ as in
  phonics.

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Consonant Combination 3

• Look at the words in List 3 and draw a
  conclusion about them.
• Mini-lesson 1 List 3
• knock write knit wren

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Self-Quiz for Minilesson 1
Test yourself. In each of the following, which
one does not belong? Click on the link to check
your guess.

• 1.
• flutter
• thing
• spangle

• 2.
• spin
• sherry
• chocolate

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You are correct.
The other two words begin with a consonant blend.
15
You are correct.
The other two words begin with consonant digraphs.
16
Incorrect. Try again.
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Self-Quiz for Minilesson 1
Test yourself. In each of the following, which
one does not belong? Click on the link to check
your guess.

• 3.
• wet
• write
• whale

• 4.
• strap
• slim
• shot

18
You are correct.
This is the only word with the silent consonant.
19
You are correct.
The other two words begin with consonant blends.
20
Incorrect. Try again.
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Self-Quiz for Minilesson 1
Test yourself. In each of the following, which
one does not belong?

• 5.
• knee
• this
• wren

• 6.
• shrug
• that
• drill

22
You are correct.
The other two words begin with a silent consonant
combination.
23
You are correct.
The other two words begin with consonant blends.
In the word shrug, the sh represents a
phoneme of its own, and the r represents a
phoneme of its own. Thus, the two consonant
phonemes are blended.
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Incorrect. Try again.
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Review of Minilesson 1

• You learned
• A consonant blend or cluster is a combination of
  two or three consonants in the same syllable, in
  which both of the phonemes represented by the
  consonants are heard.
• A consonant digraph is a combination of two
  consonants in the same syllable, which represent
  a single, unique consonant phoneme.
• Some consonant combinations, such as wr and
  kn contain a letter that represents no sound,
  which is often called a silent letter. They
  are also sometimes called a consonant digraph,
  because of the fact that the two letters
  represent one sound.
• A consonant combination of three letters, such as
  shr in shrug, is actually a blend of two
  phonemes the digraph phoneme and the single
  consonant phoneme.

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The minilessons were prepared using the following
referenceNettles, D. (2005). Literacy
instruction in todays classrooms Balancing the
whole, the parts, and the heart. Boston, MA
Allyn Bacon.