Phonics element

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Examples

Consonant sounds

single consonant letters

b d f h j k l m n p r t v w
c g s qu x z

Short vowel sounds

single vowel letters

a (at, sad, catch), e (get, shell), i (in, bit, sprint), o (on, hot, shock), u (up, bug, bump)

Consonant sounds

two consonant letters (digraphs)

ch (chew), sh (shop), th (think), th (voiced) (then), ph (phase), wh (whale), tch (patch)

Blended consonant sounds

two or three consonant letters (consonant cluster)

bl (black), cl (clip), fl (flag), gl (glad), pl (plug), sl (slim), br (broom), cr (creep), dr (drag), fr (free), gr (grin), pr (prod), tr (trap), sc (scar), sk (sky), sm (smell), sn (snail), sp (spit), st (star), sw (swim), tw (twig), scr (scrap), spl (split), spr (spray), str (stripe)

Consonant sounds

double letters

rabbit, puddle, parrot, kitten, copper, dinner, hammer, gaggle

Long vowel sound

Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe)

e.g. came, bike, note, scene, use

Long vowel sound

two vowel letters positioned next to each other (VV)

ai (train), ea (team), ee (seed), oa (boat), ay (say), ey (money), oo (tool), oo (look)

Long ‘e’ sound (final sound) and long ‘I’ sound (only vowel sound)

the letter ‘y’ (acts as a vowel)

funny, any, tinycry, shy, try

Long vowel sound

consonant – vowel

e (me), i (silent), a(basin), o(rotate)

Two vowel sounds pronounced glided together

Dipthong (two adjacent vowel letters)

ow (now, town, crowd)

ou (loud, shout, hour)

 oy (boy, toy, loyal)

 oi (coin, voice, choice)

/s/ (soft ‘c’) and /j/ (soft ‘g’)

‘c’ and ‘g’

cent, city, cycle, face

giant, gem, page, gentle

silent consonant (not corresponding to any sound)

wr, kn, ps, mn, gn, -mb, -ck, -lk

R controlled vowel patterns -the ‘r’ affects pronunciation of the vowel; not classified as short or long

ar (arm, dark)
er (fern, term, cover)
ir (bird, girl, dirt)
or (born, fork, sort)
ur (fur, surf, hurt)

/aw/ sound

‘au’ or ‘aw’

au (pause, sauce)
aw (raw, crawl, yawn)

/ew/ sound

‘ew’ or ‘ue’

ew (new, flew, screw)
ue (blue, true, rescue)