Pathways
Vowel Town
Vowel Town is a mnemonic device that helps students remember the mouth position when making the various vowel sounds. It is consists of “Smile Hill”, the “Wide Open Valley”, “Circle Hill”, four “taxis”, and an ap”ar”tment building. This helps the children use the 5 basic vowels to form 17 sounds with 23 different letter combinations.
Smile Hill
The sounds on “smile hill” are made with the lips in a smiling or semi-smiling position. They are arranged from top to bottom depending on how much the jaw drops to make each sound. It might be easier to think about how close together your teeth are, the closer they are the higher on the hill the vowel sound is located.
Vowel sound distortion is a problem for many students, so Pathways emphasizes the correct pronunciation and has a couple of tricks to help get the sound right. One trick is the placement of the sounds. On Smile Hill, the houses are arranged with 3 at the top and 3 toward the bottom. The first three are produced with the teeth rather close together; the last three have the jaw drop further open.
At the top of the hill we find 3 sounds: /ee/ as in see, /i/ as in if, and /e/ as in egg. For the /ee/ sound, only a fingernail will fit between the upper and lower teeth. It is found highest on the hill. The /i/ sound allows only the tip of your finger to fit between the teeth and is the next sound down the side of the hill. The /e/ sound allows the width of your finger to fit between your teeth.
Toward the bottom of the hill we find: /ae/ as is late, /a/ as is apple, and /u/ as in umbrella. For each of these sounds the jaw drops a little further, but reserve a little space for Wide Open Valley.
Wide Open Valley
There is only one sound in Wide Open Valley: /o/ as in octopus, autumn, or awful. We introduce all three of the spelling patterns, so when the student reads the chart they read o, au, aw. Although some cultures pronounce the au and aw pattern slightly differently, in the United States they are pronounced essentially the same and are taught that way in the Pathways program. When making this sound, the jaw is dropped as far as possible.
Circle Hill
The three sounds on Circle Hill are made by forming the mouth into a circle. As you move up the hill, the circle gets tighter and the chin moves up. At the bottom is /oe/ as in toe. The next sound up is /oo/ as in book, and highest on the hill in /oo/ as in too. (On the picture there is one dot above the oo chunk for the book sound, I remember it as being able to read one book at a time. There are two dots above the oo chunk for the too sound, my cue for that is two for oo. The students aren't expected to remember the dot system.)
Taxis
The taxi sounds are unique in that they require the mouth to move when being made. There are four sounds: /ie/ as in pie, /ue/ as in cute, /ou,ow/ as in out or plow, and /oi,oy/ as in boil. The /ow/ taxi picture has a bandage on it as a reminder to the students, and the /oi/ taxi has a boy inside.
The Ap”ar”tment
This is where the r-controlled vowels are placed. Because the brain tends to remember silly things better, we create a story to help the student recall the placement and what sound is attached to the chunk.
Mr. “Ar” is the apartment manager and lives in the middle so he can get to the other apartments quickly. He used to be a pirate and when someone calls for help, he always answers, “Arrr, I can do that.”
The “Or” family lives on the bottom floor, by the door. They are afraid of heights and want to be able to get out of the building quickly, hence the bottom floor by the door.
The “Er” sisters, er, ir, and ur, live on the top floor because they want to be just like each other. They do everything the same, including sounding the same.
Screech Guides
Screech is the character Pathways uses to teach some of those pull-your-hair-out rules for spelling. They are introduced during lessons and referred to as needed. Following is a list of “rules” they address.
Help at Home
When children pause on a word ask these prompts:
1. What’s the vowel sound?
2. What’s the word? Blend one sound into the next. Don’t let your voice turn off.
3. Read your sentence again and see if that word makes sense.
4. At some point, ask the student, “What will you do to help yourself figure out that word?”
Vowel Town is a mnemonic device that helps students remember the mouth position when making the various vowel sounds. It is consists of “Smile Hill”, the “Wide Open Valley”, “Circle Hill”, four “taxis”, and an ap”ar”tment building. This helps the children use the 5 basic vowels to form 17 sounds with 23 different letter combinations.
Smile Hill
The sounds on “smile hill” are made with the lips in a smiling or semi-smiling position. They are arranged from top to bottom depending on how much the jaw drops to make each sound. It might be easier to think about how close together your teeth are, the closer they are the higher on the hill the vowel sound is located.
Vowel sound distortion is a problem for many students, so Pathways emphasizes the correct pronunciation and has a couple of tricks to help get the sound right. One trick is the placement of the sounds. On Smile Hill, the houses are arranged with 3 at the top and 3 toward the bottom. The first three are produced with the teeth rather close together; the last three have the jaw drop further open.
At the top of the hill we find 3 sounds: /ee/ as in see, /i/ as in if, and /e/ as in egg. For the /ee/ sound, only a fingernail will fit between the upper and lower teeth. It is found highest on the hill. The /i/ sound allows only the tip of your finger to fit between the teeth and is the next sound down the side of the hill. The /e/ sound allows the width of your finger to fit between your teeth.
Toward the bottom of the hill we find: /ae/ as is late, /a/ as is apple, and /u/ as in umbrella. For each of these sounds the jaw drops a little further, but reserve a little space for Wide Open Valley.
Wide Open Valley
There is only one sound in Wide Open Valley: /o/ as in octopus, autumn, or awful. We introduce all three of the spelling patterns, so when the student reads the chart they read o, au, aw. Although some cultures pronounce the au and aw pattern slightly differently, in the United States they are pronounced essentially the same and are taught that way in the Pathways program. When making this sound, the jaw is dropped as far as possible.
Circle Hill
The three sounds on Circle Hill are made by forming the mouth into a circle. As you move up the hill, the circle gets tighter and the chin moves up. At the bottom is /oe/ as in toe. The next sound up is /oo/ as in book, and highest on the hill in /oo/ as in too. (On the picture there is one dot above the oo chunk for the book sound, I remember it as being able to read one book at a time. There are two dots above the oo chunk for the too sound, my cue for that is two for oo. The students aren't expected to remember the dot system.)
Taxis
The taxi sounds are unique in that they require the mouth to move when being made. There are four sounds: /ie/ as in pie, /ue/ as in cute, /ou,ow/ as in out or plow, and /oi,oy/ as in boil. The /ow/ taxi picture has a bandage on it as a reminder to the students, and the /oi/ taxi has a boy inside.
The Ap”ar”tment
This is where the r-controlled vowels are placed. Because the brain tends to remember silly things better, we create a story to help the student recall the placement and what sound is attached to the chunk.
Mr. “Ar” is the apartment manager and lives in the middle so he can get to the other apartments quickly. He used to be a pirate and when someone calls for help, he always answers, “Arrr, I can do that.”
The “Or” family lives on the bottom floor, by the door. They are afraid of heights and want to be able to get out of the building quickly, hence the bottom floor by the door.
The “Er” sisters, er, ir, and ur, live on the top floor because they want to be just like each other. They do everything the same, including sounding the same.
Screech Guides
Screech is the character Pathways uses to teach some of those pull-your-hair-out rules for spelling. They are introduced during lessons and referred to as needed. Following is a list of “rules” they address.
- · Use “defender-c” when the /k/ sound follows a one-letter vowel. (tack vs. took)
- · When the vowel says its name the e goes to the end. (name)
- · Copycat letters don’t have their own sounds, they copy sounds. (qu=kw, x=ks, y=ie, ee,i)
- · C followed by e,i, and y makes the /s/ sound. (cite, ice, cell)
- · Most letters that start with the /k/ sound begin with c, not k.
- · When two vowels go walking; the first one does the talking and says his name. (ai, oa, ay, ea)
- · G followed by e, i, or y can make the /j/ sound or the /g/ sound. (get, geese, gem, gym)
- · The /j/ sound at the end of a word is always spelled ge. (cage, huge, large)
- · Add defender-d if the /j/ sound at the end of a word follows a one-letter vowel. (edge, badge)
- · Add defender-t if the /ch/ sound at the end of a word follows a one-letter vowel. (patch)
Help at Home
When children pause on a word ask these prompts:
1. What’s the vowel sound?
2. What’s the word? Blend one sound into the next. Don’t let your voice turn off.
3. Read your sentence again and see if that word makes sense.
4. At some point, ask the student, “What will you do to help yourself figure out that word?”