Session 2 - Voicing S and Z

This session covers:

Voicing

Consonant pairs

• Consonant ‘S’
• Consonant ‘Z’

Voicing...

Is when your vocal cords are vibrating in your throat, creating a “buzzing sound”.

Say “Ahhhh”

Can you feel the vibrations in your neck?

• all vowels are voiced
• some consonants are voiced, some are not

Paired Consonants:

Unvoiced Voiced  >>  Voiced

• P                     >>         B
• T                    >>          D
• F                    >>           V
• SH                 >>        ZSH
• K                    >>           G
• S                     >>          Z

Three rules for S/Z endings 

This is easier than it looks! 

Rule #1 

If a word ends in a sound that is unvoiced (such as P,T,K,F), you add an unvoiced /S/ 

Examples:

• 1 cup,
• 2 cups

(the ‘p’ in cup is unvoiced, so you just add an unvoiced ‘s’)

1 cat,

2 cats

(the ‘t’ in cat is unvoiced, so just add an unvoiced ‘s’)

I break, he breaks

I stop, he stops 

Rule #2 

If a word ends in any of these sounds: ‘s,z,sh,ch,or dg (j)’

when adding an ‘S’ ending, add... IZZZZZZ 

Examples:

• 1 Page
• 1 Bus
• 1 Lunch
• I Raise,
• I Brush,
• I Push,
• 2 Pages
• 2 Buses
• 2 Lunches
• He Raises
• He Brushes
• He Pushes

Rule #3 

If a word ends in a vowel sound (like the word Tree) or a voiced consonant (like the word Game), then when you add an ‘S’, continue the voicing throughout the entire word, and it should become a voiced ZZZZ. 

Examples:

• 1 Tree,
• 1 Day,
• 1 Shoe,
• I Fly,
• 1 Game,
• 1 Head,
• 1 Train,
• 1 Song,
• 2 Treezzzz (correctly spelled Trees)
• 2 Days
• 2 Shoes
• He Flies
• 2 Games
• 2 Heads
• 2 Trains
• 2 Songs

Some common words where S’s are pronounced as Z’s

• IS
• HIS
• AS
• WAS
• THESE
• THOSE
• EASY
• BECAUSE

Paragraph Practice 

If you have a color printer, notice that all voiced S/Z sounds are in the color Red to

help you remember to add voicing. 

Another zippy, zappy, crazy day comes to a close. As we zoom up to Joe’s

snooze zone, Zoe Jones of Zodiac Zoo plays with her zipper. 

Last week, Jim’s brothers were picked to represent their country in the Olympic

Games. Two of the brothers were swimmers, while the other two were long

distance runners. All of the brothers wore glasses. These athletes worked hard

at qualifying for the games and were hoping to come home with prizes. Since

the brothers go to the same university, they often take the same courses. This

makes studying easier and gives them more time to do other things. 

On Thursday, I had a very lazy day. I woke up early and first squeezed oranges

into juice. I then got dressed and watched the sunrise come up over the

mountains. It was so beautiful that I took many pictures with my camera and I

used three rolls of film. After drinking two cups of coffee, I got dressed, left the

house, and walked three miles home.