phoneme: a phoneme is the most basic unit of sound.

grapheme: a grapheme is the written representation of a phoneme. A grapheme can consist of one, two, and rarely three or four letters. The phoneme /k/ can be represented by the graphemes C, K, or CK as in cat, kite, and duck.

Dragon Words

Dragon words are flashcard collections of words representing different graphemes. The graphemes are set aside from the rest of the word by dark blue coloring. Though not intended to be a stand alone phonics program, these word cards can be used to supplement any synthetic phonics program.

The word collections are ordered according to the approximate level of difficulty or the order in which they could be introduced. Of course, this schedule is a rough estimate so teachers can be flexible and teachers can pick and choose lists to supplement as needed and change the order as desired. Before embarking on these lists, children should have a basic knowledge of some or most of the initial and final consonant sounds.

For ease of use, I paste the cards onto poster board before I cut them out and keep them in small ziploc bags to keep them organized.

Short Vowels

Short A Short E Short I Short O Short U

Easy Consonant Digraphs

CH SH THin CK NG LL

THis SS

Long Vowels

(Vowel Consonant E)

A_E I_E O_E U_E crY puppY

Easy Vowel Digraphs

EE EA AI OA OO AY OY

R-Controlled Vowels