Consonant clusters are groups of consonants that appear together in a word without any vowels between them. For example, we can begin with the basic CVC word of fog. Then, by adding the consonant cluster of "fr", we get a new word, frog.
Fog → Frog → Frogs
Practice reading the consonant cluster words below and listen to the audio files to see if you read them correctly.
Digraphs are when two letters make one sound together. For example, the pair of c and h make the sound CH and the pair of p and h make the sound of PH. For this lesson, we will cover more examples of digraphs with consonant and vowel teams.
The letters c and h make the sound Ch
Chair, Chalk, Chin, Bench
The letters s and h make the sound Sh, almost like you're shushing someone to be quiet
Shell, Fish, Brush, Sheet
The combination of the letters t and h can either sound soft or hard.
Soft th: Think, Thin, Thick
Hard th: This, That, Them,The
The letters p and h together make the sound F, like in the word phone.
The letters w and h together make the sound W, like in the word whale or H like in the word whole. If w and h are followed by an O, then it makes the sound /H/
The letters n and g together make the sound Ng, like in the word sing.
The letters g and h together can make the F sound, like in the word laugh. Or, it can sound Like a g, like in the word ghost.
The letters q and u together make the sound Kw, like in the word queen.
The letters k and n together make the sound N, like in the word knee.
The letters w and r together make the sound R, like in the word write.
The combination of the letters A and I make the sound of A
The combination of the letters A and Y simply make the sound of the letter A
The letters E and A together can make the long E sound, like in the word eat. Or, it can make the short E sound, like in the word bread.
The letters E and E together make the long E sound, like in the word see.
The letters O and A together make the long O sound, like in the word boat.
The letters U and E together make the long U sound, like in the word blue.
The letters OY and OI together make the sound /oi/, like in the words toy and coin.
The letters O and U together can make the /ow/ sound, like in the word out. Or, it can make the /oo/ sound, like in the word soup.
These examples of digraphs may feel overwhelming, but knowing them is essential in learning how to read and write words! Keep practing!