Word Consciousness

Definition: "awareness and interest in words and their meaning" -keystoliteracy.com

This is important because this is what gets children interested in spelling, writing, and all of the other aspects of learning words. It is important to get the children curious because that helps the learning become more meaningful. 


Diphthongs

Definition: "a sound made by combining two vowels, specifically when it starts as one vowel sound and goes to another, like the oy sound in oil" -vocabulary.com

These are important because these are difficult terms for students to understand. When teaching spelling or reading, it is hard to explain why the two sounds make a whole new sound.


Ambiguous Vowels

Definition: "vowel combinations that can make more than one sound, such as the oo in book and moon OR sounds that can be signified by more than one vowel mixture, like the sound of /ah/ in tall, caught, or cost"-theedadvocate.org

These are important because these are another thing that children have difficulty with. It is hard to explain that vowel combinations can make more than one sound and that sounds can be signified by more than one mixture. These are complex parts of the English language that we, as teachers, need to spend more time on. 


Homophones

Definition: "a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and/or spelling"-vocabulary.com

These are important because these are things that need extra focus when you are teaching them to children. These can be tricky and confusing for even some older children.





Homographs

Definition: "a word of the same written form as another but of different meaning and usually origin, whether pronounced the same way or not"-dictionary.com

These are important because, like homophones, they are tricky and can be confused easily. These need extra focus on so that the students do not get them confused with homophones or homonyms.


Homonyms (bonus)

Definition: "a word that is said or spelled the same way as another word but has a different meaning"-vocabulary.com

These are important because, like homophones and homographs, they can be confusing for children. These three words are spelled similarly and can be confused for another.