e egg

This is the short sound of the vowel /e/

Watch the video, then draw the letter, saying the letter-sound and the key word “egg” as you draw the letter e (you can look at the practice sheet for reference for correct letter formation).

Common spellings of the /e/ sound: bed, ten, leg, men, pen

Advanced:

Advanced/rare spellings of the /e/ sound include 'ea' (head), 'ai' (said), 'ie' (friend)

Some people disagree that ‘egg’ is a good choice as a decodable word because of regional pronunciation differences and the phonetic influence of the letter 'g' on the vowel. So if in your neighbourhood you say/hear the e sound in ‘egg’ is the same as in ‘echo’, then you’re golden to use ‘egg’ as your decodable word.
If the e in egg and echo sound different to you (if you’re in Aukland or Philadelphia, for example) , you could try:

‘bed’ or ‘set’ - the /e/ sound in is the middle (not perfect for a beginner as it’s easier to hear sounds at the start or end of a word)
‘end’ - the /e/ sound is at the start, but has a difficult blend, and can’t be illustrated in a picture very easily
‘elephant’ - the /e/ sound is at the start, and easy to draw, but impossible to spell, so also not appropriate for beginners

o on

This is the short sound of the vowel /o/

Watch the video, then draw the letter o, saying the letter-sound and the key word “on” as you draw the letter (you can look at the practice sheet for reference for correct letter formation).

Common spellings of the /o/ sound: on, hot, dog, lot, got, frog, stop

Advanced:

‘a’ is a rare spellings of the /o/ sound, often following the letters w or qu in words like was, want, watch, qualify, and what

u up

The is the short sound of the vowel /u/

Watch the video, then draw the letter u, saying the letter-sound and the key word “up” as you draw the letter (you can look at the practice sheet for reference for correct letter formation).

Common spellings of the /u/ sound: up, bug, fun, run, sun, nut, jump

Advanced:

Super advanced spelling of the /u/ sound include:
- the spelling ‘ou’ like in ‘country’, ‘enough’, ‘young’, ‘touch’
- the spelling ‘o’ like in ‘love’, ‘some’, ‘honey’, ‘mother’, ‘son’
- the spelling ‘oo’ like in ‘flood’, ‘blood’

m mop

Here’s an extra /m/ video, in case you don’t love mud
(wait… what… who doesn’t love mud?)

/m/ is a loooong sound. Like the sounds of r, s, l, f, n, v, z, you can hold “mmm” for a long time. See how loooong your little learner can say “mmm”. It’s not “em” it’s just messy: “mmm”.

Below are extra practice sheets to practice sounds of this unit and the previous. Remember to always say the letter sound as you write it.

Advanced:

/m/ can also be spelled ‘mm’ (like in mommy)

or ‘me’ (like in some, come)

m mud

This is the consonant sound /m/

/m/ is a loooong sound. Like the sounds of r, s, l, f, n, v, z, you can hold “mmm” for a long time. See how loooong your little learner can say “mmm”. It’s not “em” it’s just delicious: “mmm”.

(There’s a practice sheet for reference for correct letter formation).

Advanced:

/m/ can also be spelled ‘mm’ (like in mommy)

or ‘me’ (like in some, come)

d dot

This is the consonant sound /d/

/d/ should be a really quick plosive sound, with a pop of air like the p. It’s the sound you hear when d is at the end of a word, like “sad”.

The quick sounds are also called stops: d, b, g, j, p, t, k. Put them at the end of word to hear how they sound: dad, jab, big, tap, pit, bulk. Notice how they can’t be long, like continuous sounds: m, s, l, r, f, n, v, z

Note: teach d and b at different times to avoid confusion

(There’s a practice sheet for reference for correct letter formation).

Advanced:

/d/ can also be spelled ‘dd’ (like in daddy)

blend s a n d

This is how you blend the sounds together to read a word.

Congratulations! You can read another word!