Fundations

Our spelling program follows the phonics concepts and skills taught in the Fundations program. Your children have been working with Fundations since kindergarten. We began Unit 1 this week.

The review concepts for the first unit are:
• closed syllable
This syllable has only one vowel and that vowel is followed by one or more consonants. (ex. at, itch, scram) The vowel sound is always short.
• spelling of the /k/ sound
Rule: At the end of one syllable words, ck is used immediately after short vowels
(sick). If there is another consonant after the short vowel, you only use the k (milk). The letter c is most often used at the beginning of the word and the letter k is most often used at the end of the word.

The new concepts for the first unit are:
• tch sounds like /ch/ and is used in spelling after a short vowel (catch)

As we practice and review new concepts I will begin holding children accountable for using the phonetic rules in their own writing.