Reference
Phonics guide
Every speech sound the lessons use, with its friendly name and anchor words. Use it to check your own pronunciation before you model a sound for the class.
Short vowels
Say them clipped and quick — no /uh/ tacked on the end.
/ă/short aas in apple, at, cat
/ĕ/short eas in bed, egg, ten
/ĭ/short ias in sit, itch, in
/ŏ/short oas in hot, top, octopus
/ŭ/short uas in cup, up, bus
Long vowels
The vowel says its name.
/ā/long aas in cake, rain, play
/ē/long eas in feet, see, tree
/ī/long ias in bike, night, pie
/ō/long oas in boat, snow, go
/ū/long u (oo)as in moon, blue, flute
/yū/long u (yoo)as in cube, unit, few
R-controlled
The r takes over the vowel.
/ar/aras in car, star, farm
/er/eras in her, fern, term
/ir/iras in bird, girl, first
/ur/uras in fur, turn, hurt
/or/oras in for, corn, storm
/air/airas in chair, care, bear
/ear/earas in deer, hear, near
Other vowel teams
/aw/awas in saw, lawn, draw
/au/auas in haul, sauce, fault
/oi/oias in coin, boil, soil
/oy/oyas in boy, toy, joy
/ow/owas in cow, now, down
/ou/ouas in out, loud, cloud
/o͞o/long ooas in moon, soon, blue
/o͝o/short ooas in book, put, look
/ea/ea (long e)as in eat, seat, team
/ai/ai (long a)as in rain, paid, mail
/ay/ay (long a)as in play, day, say
/ə/schwaas in about, sofa, zebra
Consonants
Stop sounds (/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/) are a quick puff — never “puh”.
/b/bas in bat, bug
/d/das in dog, did
/f/fas in fish, fan
/g/gas in goat, gum
/h/has in hat, hop
/j/jas in jam, jet
/k/kas in kite, cat
/l/las in lion, lamp
/m/mas in moon, map
/n/nas in nose, net
/p/pas in pig, pot
/r/ras in rain, run
/s/sas in sun, sit
/t/tas in top, ten
/v/vas in van, vet
/w/was in wagon, win
/y/yas in yes, yarn
/z/zas in zebra, zip
Digraphs & blends
/ch/chas in chin, chop
/sh/shas in ship, shop
/th/th (unvoiced)as in thumb, thin
/th̸/th (voiced)as in this, that, the
/zh/zhas in treasure, measure, vision
/ng/ngas in ring, sing
/ŋk/ngkas in ink, bank, pink
/wh/whas in whale, when
/qu/qu (kw)as in queen, quick
/ks/ksas in box, fox, six
Glued sounds
Teach these as one chunk.
/all/allas in ball, call, tall
/ing/ingas in ring, king, sing
/ink/inkas in pink, think, drink
/ank/ankas in bank, thank, tank
/onk/onkas in honk
/unk/unkas in junk, trunk, skunk
/ang/angas in bang, rang, sang
/ong/ongas in song, long, strong
/ung/ungas in lung, sung, hung
Suffix endings
/ĕd/ĕdas in —
/ĭd/ĭdas in —
/shen/-tion (shun)as in action, station, motion
/chen/-tion (chun)as in question, suggestion
/zhen/-sion (zhun)as in vision, decision