It’s important for our young readers to understand that phonemes (sounds) can be represented by multiple spelling patterns.  Teaching students the spelling patterns for different sounds is critical for accurate decoding and encoding. When the /k/ sound is at the end of a word it can be spelled with either the letter “k”  or the letters “ck”. When the final /k/ sound is preceded by a vowel team or a diphthong (e.g. ou) it is spelled with a “k”. For example, the words “break”, “beak”, “seek” and “soak” all have a long vowel sound before the final /k/ sound and therefore is /k/ is spelled “k”.  When the final /k/ sound is preceded by a short vowel, the sound is