vc

A vowel followed by a consonant is short; code it with a breve.

        l ŏg           căt           sĭt             tŭg           wĕt

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v′->

An open, accented vowel is long; code it with a macron.

        nō’            mē’           sō’            wē’            gō’            hī’

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K & C Rules

k before e, i, or y

        keg           kid            milky
        kept          skip           silky

c before a, o, u, or any consonant

        cat           cot           cut           clip
        can           cost          cup           crop

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Final /k/ Rules

ck after a short vowel

        black         lock          neck         duck         sick

k after a consonant or a vowel digraph

          milk          week         bank         book

ke after a long vowel

        make         broke      like           duke

c after the end of a word with two or more syllables

          garlic        Atlantic        magic      picnic

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v-e

A vowel followed by a consonant and a silent e is long; code the vowel with a macron and cross out the silent e.

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Floss Rule

When a one-syllable root word has a short vowel sound followed by the sound /f/, /l/, or /s/, it is usually spelled ff, ll, or ss.

        ff                            ll                              ss

       puff                         hill                           boss
       sniff                         well                         miss
        cuff                         doll                          pass

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Final /v/ Rule

When a word has the final sound of /v/, it is spelled with ve.

        have                          live                           wave
        hive                           leave                         solve

(These words can be irregular for reading since the e will sometimes appear to be a “sneaky e.”)

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Final /s/ Rule

After a short vowel, use ss.

        boss                  miss                  grass                        dress

After a long vowel, use ce.

        ice                    space

After a consonant or a vowel digraph, use se.

        false         rinse         pulse         loose         horse

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vc|cv Pattern

napkin               This word has more than one vowel which is heard, so it needs to be divided into syllables.

napkin               Students should find the vowels and write a v under each.

   v     v

  napkin              Students should look between the two vowels.  Seeing

       v c c v                                two consonants, they should put a c under each.

nap|kin              Students should now divide the word between the two

    v c     c v                             consonants.

nap’|kin             A two syllable word needs an accent.  Usually, at this

    v c     c v                             level, the accent will go on the first syllable.

năp’|kĭn             Students now code each syllable separately and read the word.