What are nonsense words?

Nonsense words are words that don’t have any real meaning. They are usually used to teach and assess decoding. For example, “blork” is a nonsense word that doesn’t mean anything.

Why teach nonsense words? Why are they important?

CVC Nonsense words are a syllable that helps students learn to decode larger words

When teaching phonemic awareness, we often break words into syllables. We have students clap syllables, jump on each syllable, or do something else to signify the number of syllables in a word. We work with syllables orally during phonemic awareness, but this oral practice transfers to reading words.

When we teach reading to young children, we start with short vowels. Each cvc word is a syllable. However, not all syllables are real words. this is where nonsense words come into play.

Nonsense words are precursors to reading words in chunks or by syllables.

When students practice reading words that are not real, they are practicing an important reading skill: breaking apart a word into syllables or sounds that may not hold meaning by itself. Even though the syllable may not hold meaning, it still, generally, follows the rules of phonics.

EXAMPLES INCLUDE:

Grat

Kring

Sosy

Clatch

Scarb

Yod

Cliber

Fingh

Spatzy

Can you think of anymore?

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