Vowel Digraphs
Read and spell words containing common vowel digraphs (ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, oe, oo, oi, oy) including where a digraph can represent more than one sound
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Teaching Table · Reviewed guide
Set out your lesson
“A vowel digraph is two vowel letters that work together. ai can say /ā/ in rain, ee can say /ē/ in tree, and oa can say /ō/ in boat. The same digraph can have more than one sound: oo in book is not the same as oo in moon.”
Bring to the table
- Ready digraph cards: ai, ee, oa, oo
- Ready word cards: rain, tree, boat, book, moon
- Paper and marker for one spelling try
Full guide and materials
- Ready digraph cards: ai, ee, oa, oo
- Ready word cards: rain, tree, boat, book, moon
- Paper and marker for one spelling try
- Step 1. Lay out ai, ee, oa, and oo cards with the matching words rain, tree, boat, book, and moon already written. Stay on this supplied set only.
- Step 2. Point to ai in rain and blend the word. Repeat with ee in tree and oa in boat.
- Step 3. Show book and moon. Both use oo, but book has the short oo sound and moon has the long oo sound. Sort the two cards under “book sound” and “moon sound.”
- Step 4. Mix rain, tree, boat, book, and moon. Have your child point to the vowel digraph, say the vowel sound, and read each word.
- Step 5. Spell one word from the set, such as boat, using the oa card as a reminder if needed.
- Quick check. Success means your child reads rain or boat while pointing to the vowel pair, and correctly sorts book and moon as two different oo sounds.
Worked example. tree → ee says /ē/. boat → oa says /ō/. book and moon both show oo, but they do not sound the same.
Optional challenge. Add ready cards day and coin if you have them. Read day (ay) and coin (oi) and say which letters make the special vowel sound in each.
What to notice. Save a parent note with the words read and a line such as “book and moon both use oo but sound different.”
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Teaching approaches
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1 approach
A vowel digraph is two vowel letters that work together. ai can say /ā/ in rain, ee can say /ē/ in tree, and oa can say /ō/ in boat. The same digraph can have more than one sound: oo in book is not the same as oo in moon.
Spend about 15 minutes reading five supplied vowel-digraph words and sorting the two oo sounds.
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Learning resources
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Check understanding
- Read words with vowel digraphs (e.g. 'tree', 'boat', 'rain', 'coin')
- Distinguish between different sounds for the same digraph (e.g. 'oo' in 'book' vs 'moon')
- Spell words using common vowel digraph patterns
“When your child reads a word like 'rain', 'boat', or 'moon', can they recognise the vowel pair that makes a special sound and read the whole word correctly?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Procedural
- Subject
- English
- Domain
- Phonics & Word Reading
- Age range
- Ages 4–7
Standards