What:
Consonants are the following single letters of the alphabet:
b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z
Blends are voiced combinations of two or three consonants. Following are examples:
fl, bl, sl, cl, pl, bl, gr, tr, br, cr, dr, pr, fr, wh, str, sw, sp, sc, sn, sm, sk
Diagraphs are voiceless combinations of two consonants. Following are examples:
st, sh, ch, th, wh
Why:
There are only two words in our spoken and written language that have one letter. They are a and I. All other words have at least one consonant.
Without automatic recognition of consonants, blends and diagraphs, the student will not be able to phonetically decode words at a fluent rate. The ability to comprehend written material decreases if analysis and/or hesitation for each sound and/or word are slow.
When:
Learning consonant sounds should be taught early in any reading program. My Breakfast Reading Program focuses on consonants in Lessons 1 28. Blends and diagraphs are introduced in Lessons 29 42.
How:
Repetition, repetition, repetition!
My Breakfast Reading Program presents a maximum of five consonants, blends or diagraphs in each lesson. Each lesson consists of one 60-second exercise. This exercise provides a high number of repetitions in a very short time frame. Each lesson is repeated five days a week.
Statistical Analysis:
· Consonants/blends/diagraphs:
Analysis of the database indicates that there are sixty-six beginning
consonants, blends and diagraph combinations for the beginning sound.
See Table 1.
Analysis of the database indicates that there are forty-six ending sound
consonants, blends and diagraph combinations. See Table 1.
· Consonants: Lessons 1 - 28
o
Beginning sound (47%):
Twelve consonants comprise 47% of
the words with the beginning sounds. That is, of the 2377 words, 1120 have
the beginning sound of one of the twelve consonants. Therefore, a
significant emphasis is placed on these twelve beginning consonant sounds.
The twelve most frequently used beginning consonants are (in frequency
order): b, l, p, h, m, r, t, s, f, d, w, c
o
Ending sound (56%):
Twelve consonants comprise 56% of the
words with the ending sounds. That is, of the 2377 words, 1338 have the
ending sound of the twelve consonants. Therefore, a significant emphasis is
place on these twelve ending consonant sounds.
The twelve most frequently used ending consonants are (in frequency order):
t, d, k, n, p, l, g, m, s, b, c, v
o Common consonants: Note that of the 12 beginning and 12 ending consonants, the following 8 are the same:
t;
d; p; l; m; s; b; c
· Blends and Diagraphs (32 % of beginning sounds): Lessons 29 - 34
o
?R
family (13%): Eight blends that have an r sound comprise 13% of the words with the
beginning sounds. That is, of the 2377 words, 308 words have a ?r
blend beginning sound.
The ?r family consists of:
br, cr, dr,
fr, gr, pr,
str, tr:
Lessons 29 and 30.
o
?L
family (10%): Six blends that have an l sound comprise 10% of the words with the
beginning sounds. That is, of the 2377 words, 238 words have a ?l
blend beginning sound.
The ?l family consists of:
bl, cl, fl, gl,
pl, sl: Lessons 31 and 32.
o
S? family
(9%): Seven blends that begin with s comprise 9% of the words with the beginning sounds.
That is, of the 2377 words, 208 words have an s? blend beginning sound.
The S? family consists of: sc,
sk, sm,
sn, sp, st,
sw: Lessons 33 and 34.
· Diagraphs (6 % of beginning sounds): Lessons 35 - 36 (42)
o
?H
family (6%): Four diagraphs that have an h sound comprise 6% of the words with the beginning
sounds. That is, of the 2377 words, 133 words have a ?h
blend or diagraph beginning sound.
The ?h family consists of: ch,
sh, th,
wh: Lesson 35
Note: ch, sh, and
th also comprise 5% of ending sounds:
Lesson 42.
· Summary of above consonants, blends and diagraphs:
o Beginning Sounds: Of the 66 beginning consonants, blends and diagraphs, the cumulative total of 37 comprise 85% of the beginning sounds in the database of 2377 words. That is: 12 beginning consonants (47%), 21 beginning blends (32%) and 4 beginning diagraphs (6%). These high frequency beginnings are the primary focus of the program.
o Ending Sounds: Of the 46 ending consonants, blends and diagraphs, the cumulative total of 16 comprise 84% of the ending sounds in the database of 2377 words. That is: 12 ending consonants (79%) and 3 ending diagraphs (5%). These high frequency endings are the primary focus of the program.
Table 1
|
Initial Position Visual Patterns Sorted by Total |
Medial Position Visual Patterns Sorted by Total |
Final Position Visual Patterns Sorted by Total |
||||||||||||||
| Count of Printed Word | Count of Printed Word | Count of Printed Word | ||||||||||||||
| Rank |
IVC - Initial Visual Component |
Total | % | Cum % | Rank |
MVC - Medial Visual Component |
Total | % | Cum % | Rank |
FVC - Final Visual Component |
Total | % | Cum % | ||
| 1 | b | 118 | 5% | 5% | 1 | (blank) | 294 | 12% | 12% | 1 | t | 201 | 8% | 8% | ||
| 2 | l | 110 | 5% | 10% | 2 | i | 272 | 11% | 24% | 2 | n | 191 | 8% | 16% | ||
| 3 | p | 105 | 4% | 14% | 3 | a | 266 | 11% | 35% | 3 | d | 159 | 7% | 23% | ||
| 4 | h | 102 | 4% | 18% | 4 | u | 215 | 9% | 44% | 4 | p | 128 | 5% | 29% | ||
| 5 | m | 102 | 4% | 23% | 5 | o | 163 | 7% | 51% | 5 | m | 108 | 5% | 33% | ||
| 6 | r | 101 | 4% | 27% | 6 | e | 162 | 7% | 58% | 6 | l | 103 | 4% | 37% | ||
| 7 | t | 91 | 4% | 31% | 7 | a-e | 138 | 6% | 64% | 7 | k | 91 | 4% | 41% | ||
| 8 | s | 87 | 4% | 34% | 8 | i-e | 112 | 5% | 68% | 8 | g | 81 | 3% | 45% | ||
| 9 | f | 82 | 3% | 38% | 9 | ea | 88 | 4% | 72% | 9 | ll | 76 | 3% | 48% | ||
| 10 | d | 81 | 3% | 41% | 10 | o-e | 82 | 3% | 75% | 10 | ck | 74 | 3% | 51% | ||
| 11 | c | 73 | 3% | 44% | 11 | ee | 75 | 3% | 79% | 11 | st | 64 | 3% | 54% | ||
| 12 | w | 68 | 3% | 47% | 12 | oo | 66 | 3% | 81% | 12 | b | 62 | 3% | 56% | ||
| 13 | st | 66 | 3% | 50% | 13 | ai | 47 | 2% | 83% | 13 | ch | 60 | 3% | 59% | ||
| 14 | g | |||||||||||||||