Foundational Skills Flashcards

Which skill is assessed when a teacher asks a student to tell how many syllables are in 'umbrella'?

Answer: Syllable segmentation

Counting syllables (um-brel-la = 3) is a syllable segmentation skill within phonological awareness.

What distinguishes a consonant blend from a consonant digraph?

Answer: A blend retains each letter's individual sound; a digraph creates one new sound

In a blend (e.g., 'st'), both consonant sounds are heard; in a digraph (e.g., 'sh'), two letters make one new sound.

A teacher uses nonsense words like 'bim' and 'roke' on a decoding assessment. Why?

Answer: To ensure students are using phonics rules rather than memorized sight words

Nonsense words prevent students from relying on word memory, isolating their phonics decoding skill.

Which word contains an r-controlled vowel?

Answer: born

'Born' contains the r-controlled vowel 'or,' where 'r' changes the vowel sound from its expected short or long pronunciation.

On a FastBridge aReading report, a student in the 'some risk' category most likely needs:

Answer: Strategic, targeted supplemental instruction

The 'some risk' (yellow) band indicates the student benefits from strategic, targeted instruction to close skill gaps.

A student reads 'bake' but says 'back.' What phonics error did the student make?

Answer: Ignored the silent 'e,' reading the vowel as short

The student missed the final silent 'e' rule, causing the 'a' to be read as short /æ/ instead of long /eɪ/.

Which example shows phoneme substitution?

Answer: Changing /m/ in 'mat' to /s/ to make 'sat'

Phoneme substitution means replacing one phoneme with another to form a new word, as in mat → sat.