A Diphthong, you say.....

Diphthong is an interesting word.  It sounds funny.  It has two back to back digraphs which I think is cool.  Oh and of course it has a welded sound;)  But what is it and why teach it?

A diphthong is when one vowel glides into another vowel in a continuous motion like in the vowel patterns  OI and OY.  It is important for students to be able to recognize these sounds when they encounter them in text.  I know exciting right!  So last week, I did a little mini lesson for my second grade students about oi and oy.

One way to start phonics lessons off is by asking the students to state what the pictures have in common.  

 

Then go over the concept kids need to learn and/or review.  In this lesson in particular, I focused on what a diphthong is and how a student can recognize whether it is oi or oy.

 Then do some practice marking up of words and discussion of vowel patterns, syllables, etc.  This will get kids familiar with recognizing syllable types when they are reading and will aide them in figuring out tricky words.

End the lesson with a game or two that reinforces the pattern as well.  Luckily, Smart Notebook already has games that you can just enter in pictures and words that you need to instruct!

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