Teaching the '-ck' Pattern

Ashton Smith: Lemme see crisscross. We're gonna do some listening games. I want you to give me the vowel sound, the what?

Students: The vowel sound ...

Ashton Smith: And our vowels are ...

Narrator: Ashton Smith is a kindergarten teacher at Hope-Hill Elementary in Atlanta, Georgia. Today, she and paraprofessional Diamond Jones are introducing a new spelling pattern using 'ck' to spell the /k/ sound.

Ashton Smith: All right. Your next word is pack.

Ms. Smith and students: /p/, /ă/, /k/ ...

Ashton Smith: What's our vowel sound?

Ms. Smith and students: /ă/ ...

Ashton Smith: What vowel says /ă/ ...

Students: 'a' ...

Narrator:

They begin with a quick listening game and then warm up with flashcards. They focus on the sounds that will be featured in today's lesson, short vowels and the /k/ sound.

Ms. Smith and students: 'u', up, /ŭ/ ... 'c', cat, /k/ ...'k', kite, /k/ ...

Ashton Smith: Wait a minute.

Ms. Smith and students: 'c', cat, /k/ ... 'k', kite, /k/, /k/, /k/ ...

Ashton Smith: Do they make the same sound?

Students: Yeah.

Ashton Smith: Right. Okay. So how do we know when to use it? Let's see. Curvy 'c' goes with ...

Ms. Smith and students: ... curvy 'a', curvy 'o', curvy 'u' ...

Ashton Smith: And straight 'k' goes with ...

Ms. Smith and students: ... straight 'i', straight 'e', straight 'y' ...

Ashton Smith: Very nice.

Narrator: After a quick refresher on 'c' versus 'k', Ms. Smith is ready to introduce the new spelling pattern 'ck'.

Ashton Smith: So we know that 'c' says /k/ and 'k' says /k/, but I'm gonna tell you guys something new. Are you ready?

Students: Yes ...

Ashton Smith: 'ck' goes at the end of a word. So I'm gonna tell you your rule. Ready? Yeah. Immediately ...

Students: Immediately ...

Ashton Smith: after a short vowel ...

Students: after a short vowel ...

Ashton Smith: at the end of a short word ...

Students: at the end of a short word ...

Ashton Smith: you spell /k/ ...

Students: you spell /k/ ...

Ashton Smith: 'ck' hooray!

Students: 'ck' hooray!

Ashton Smith: So, can we use this at the beginning of a word?

Students: No.

Ashton Smith: Can we use this with a long vowel?

Students: No. Short vowel.

Ashton Smith: Short vowel. All right. We're gonna do some practice with it. You have to tell me when to use 'c', when to use 'k', or when we're gonna use 'ck'. My first word is cup. Let's tap it.

Ms. Smith and students: /c/, /ŭ/, /p/ ... cup ...

Ashton Smith: All right. With a quiet hand, who can tell me where is my /c/ sound? Quinson? Is it the beginning of the word or the end of the word?

Quinson: Beginning of the word.

Ashton Smith: The beginning of the word. So we need to look at our vowel. What's our vowel sound?

Students: /ŭ/ ...

Ashton Smith: /ŭ/ ... So, Noah, what letter do I need to put for ...

Noah: Uh, 'c' ...

Ashton Smith: 'c' ... Kiss your brain. All right. My next word is rock. Let's tap it.

Ms. Smith and students:

/r/, /ŏ/, /k/ ... Nalah, where does my /k/ sound? Is it the beginning of the word or the end of the word?

Nalah: End ...

Ashton Smith: End. So, it's at the end. So what am I gonna use for /k/?

Nalah: 'ck' ...

Ashton Smith: All right. My last word is kit. Let's tap it.

Narrator: With plenty of group practice under their belts, Ms. Smith's students are now ready to try spelling the /k/ sound on their own.

Ashton Smith: All right, guys. Today for dictation, we've learned three ways to use the /k/ sound. We have 'c', 'k', and 'ck'. So you're gonna have to practice that today for dictation. We're gonna be making decisions. So you're gonna have to look at your short vowels. Lily, what's our vowel sound in the word hug?

Lily: 'u' ...

Ashton Smith: Sound?

Lily: /ŭ/ ...

Ashton Smith: /ŭ/ ... Put your finger on the second smiley face line.

Narrator: This part of the lesson is called sound dictation, where students write the sounds they hear, they're practicing with the same sounds they've been working on all lesson -- short vowels and the /k/ sound, which are key to learning the 'ck' spelling pattern.

Ashton Smith: All right, we're gonna go back and read what we wrote. I wanna hear the sounds. The what?

Students: The sounds.

Ashton Smith: All right, let's go.

Ms. Smith and students: /ŏ/, /ŭ/, /ĕ/, /k/, /k/, /k/ ...

Ashton Smith: All right, guys, when we we're gonna move on to our moon line. Our moon line is for what?

Students: Words ...

Ashton Smith: For what? Lou?

Lou: Words ...

Ashton Smith: Words. Our moon line is for what?

Students: Words ...

Ashton Smith: Words. So, tappers up. sack.

Students: sack ...

Ms. Smith and students: /s/, /ă/, /k/ ... sack ...

Ashton Smith: All right. Write it. Jayden, can you tell me how to spell sack?

Jayden: 's', 'a', 'c', 'k' ...

Ashton Smith: Yes. Kiss your brain. All right. This word is gonna be really tricky, so you're gonna have to make two decisions for your /k/ sound. Okay? So listen to your vowel and listen to where your /k/ sound is. Tappers up. Tappers up. Your word is kick ...

Students: Your word is kick ...

Ashton Smith: Just say the word with me ... kick ...

Ms. Smith and students: kick ...

Ashton Smith: Let's tap it.

Ms. Smith and students: /k/, /ĭ/, /k/ ... kick ...

Ashton Smith: Good job, Tran. Okay, Noah, I have a question. Can we use 'ck' at the beginning of a word?

Noah: Yeah. Yeah. Wait, at the end ...

Ashton Smith: At the end. So not 'ck'. What would we put here?

Noah: Um, 't' ...

Ashton Smith: What's your vowel sound?

Noah: Um, /ĭ/ ... /k/ ... Wait, 'k' ...

Ashton Smith: Very good. Very good. Lemme see antlers if you've got it. Lemme see your antlers. Noah wrote 'ck', 'i', 'ck'. But we talked about it. And can 'ck' go at the beginning of a word?

Students: No.

Ashton Smith: No, it can't. It only goes at the end. So how am I gonna fix this word?

Student: You need, you need to erase the 'c' ...

Ashton Smith: Erase the 'c'. Why did you, why do we pick 'k' for kick?

Student: Because there's a 'i' ...

Ashton Smith: Because there's what?

Students: A 'i' ...

Ashton Smith: An 'i'. And what does that 'i' say?

Students: /ĭ/ ...

Ashton Smith: Very good. And let's read what we wrote.

Ms. Smith and students: sack, rock, kick ...

Narrator: After reading what they wrote, the last step from Ms. Smith's students is writing sentences. Progressing from sounds to words to phrases and sentences is crucial for learning any new spelling pattern.

Ashton Smith: All right, here's our sentence. "We pack the bag."

Students: "We pack the bag."

Ashton Smith: "We pack the bag."

Students: "We pack the bag."

Ashton Smith: All right. How many words are gonna be in our sentence?

Students: Four!

Ashton Smith: All right, get started. [Chatter]. All right, guys, we're gonna read what we wrote. What?

Students: Read what we wrote ...

Ashton Smith: So, let's start at the lightning bolt line. I wanna hear you loud and proud because this has an exclamation point at the end, so we're showing some excitement. All right? If we pack a bag that means we're going somewhere. So we're excited about it. Are you ready?

Students: Yeah.

Ashton Smith: Let's read it together.

Ms. Smith and students: "We pack the bag."

Ashton Smith: All right. Now let's read it like we're talking. Let, let's not read it like robots. Ready?

Ms. Smith and students: "We pack the bag!”

Ashton Smith: Very good. Kiss your brain, hug yourself, and gimme antlers so I know you're ready to move on. Very good. Good job, guys.

Students: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillen Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Hope Hill Elementary, Reading Is Essential for All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First book.

Ashton Smith: My name is Ashton Smith, and this is Reading Universe.