I have a question about the word "rang". It is listed in Guided Spelling Phonic words in Plus 37. Rang has a long "a" sound, and I do not reccall teaching "a" following "ng" is long ei, sang, rang. Is that a phonics rule or are they sight words?
Thank you - Amy
Hi Amy-
The word "rang" is a tricky one because the "a" doesn't make a true long or short "a" sound when in front of the _ng sound (although some dialects might say "rayng"). Words like long, rung, and wrong do have that definite short vowel sound in there. In Lesson 15, the sound _ng is introduced using the sentence "Ping sang his song." When we introduce this sound the focus is actually on the _ng sound rather than the preceding vowels. When guiding students in spelling these words, you might use the short vowel wall cards to help them identify which sound the vowel is sounding most like: at, on, in, under, or edge. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any rule that will help students spell these. It probably just comes down to process of elimination and knowing which sounds it is definitely not making. Gotta love the English language!
Hope this helps!
