2.1 Connecting 'y' as a Vowel to Other Phonics Skills

The structured literacy approach is systematic and cumulative. That means each time we teach a new phonics skill, we need to consider how it interacts with skills that students have already learned. 

Here are five other phonics skills that connect to the 'y' as a vowel spelling rule. You'll want to talk about these connections explicitly when you come across them.

After teaching 'y' as a vowel, you can review the 'c' vs. 'k' spelling rule. Now that students recognize 'y' as a vowel, we can add to the chant for when to use 'k' at the beginning of a word.

We can now say: Straight 'k' looks at straight 'e', straight 'i', and straight 'y'.

This helps reinforce that 'k' is used before the straight-line vowels: 'e', 'i', and now 'y'.

When teaching 'y' as a vowel, it's a great time to revisit both open syllables and syllable division with multisyllabic words. 

We will remind students that an open syllable ends in a vowel, and that vowel usually spells the long sound. For example, in me, the syllable ends in 'e' and spells /ē/. The same is true for 'y' when it's acting as a vowel. When we have a one-syllable word, the vowel can say /ī/, like in fly.

Or, if we have a multisyllabic word, like in candy, the 'y' can spell /ē/. This also ties into the VCCV syllable division pattern (vowel–consonant–consonant–vowel). Now that students know 'y' can act as a vowel, they'll begin to see it at the end of open syllables in multisyllabic words, such as pony and happy.

Not long after teaching 'y' as a vowel we will introduce the soft 'c' and soft 'g' spelling rule. Students will learn that the letter 'y' will often make the /ĭ/ sound when it comes after the letters 'c' or 'g' and it will also be a signal that the 'c' or 'g' will make its soft sound, /s/ or /j/, like in the words cycle or gym.

The most common vowel sound of 'y' is the long 'e', /ē/, especially at the end of words with common suffixes like '-y' and '-ly', such as tricky and dressy. We can teach the suffix '-y' that spells the long 'e' sound, /ē/, and means full of.

Now that you have explicitly taught that 'y' can act as a vowel, your students can sound out words that have 'y' as a vowel and follow a regular spelling pattern. Below are some high-frequency words containing 'y' as a vowel that you can easily incorporate for students to read and spell.