English Language Education Section

Curriculum Development Institute

Education Bureau
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

12/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai,

Hong Kong

Published 2017

All rights reserved. The copyright of the materials in this

resource kit belongs to the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region.
Duplication of materials in this resource kit is restricted to non-
profit making educational purposes only. Otherwise, no part
of these materials may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without
the prior permission of the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region.

ISBN: 978-988-8370-31-3

1
 Preface

Part I Introduction
What is Phonics? 7
Why is Phonics taught? 8
• Effectiveness of Phonics
• Limitations of Phonics
When is Phonics taught? 11
How is Phonics taught? 12

Part II Understanding Phonics

Major Groups of Letter Sounds: Consonants and Vowels 19
Introduction of Consonants and Learning Activity 23
Introduction of Consonant Digraphs and Learning Activity 31
Introduction of Consonant Blends and Learning Activity 37
Introduction of Short Vowels and Learning Activity 45
Introduction of Long Vowels and Learning Activity 51
Introduction of Other Vowels (including schwa) and 57
Learning Activity
Introduction of Magic e and Learning Activity 65

2
Part III Resource Materials
Supplementary Materials for the Learning Activities 71
A List of Vowel Letter Sounds 103
Lists of Consonant Letter Sounds and Magic e 107
A List of English Letter Sounds 115

3
 Preface
Teaching Phonics at Primary Level is a resource kit produced
by the English Language Education Section, Curriculum
Development Institute, the Education Bureau, the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region, in support of the English
Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6)(CDC,2004). Materials
in this resource kit are mainly adapted from the learning and
teaching materials from the resource packages “Strategies and
Activities to Maximize Pleasurable Learning Experiences” and
“Phonics in Action” published in 2000 and 2002 respectively.
Aims
The resource kit aims to provide teachers with a quick
reference on what phonics is and how it can be used to
enhance English learning. It also provides additional materials
and ideas for teachers’ reference and adaptation for use in
teaching phonics in the primary English classroom.

4
Introduction

5
What is Phonics?
Phonics refers to a useful strategy in the learning and
teaching of reading. It includes the teaching of basic letter-
sound relationships and the application of such knowledge to
facilitate reading and spelling.

Is Phonics the same as Phonetics?

Phonics Phonetics
Studying the basic letter- Studying the 44 different
sound relationships sound units
Ways of teaching young Ways of writing down
learners how to pronounce pronunciation
words
Cutting up words into Using phonetic symbols such
pronunciation units as the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA) to represent
the pronunciation units

Phonics letters and sounds Using the IPA to represent the

pronunciation of a word

7
 Why is Phonics taught?
Phonics can help students
• recognise the relationships between letters/combinations of
letters and their sounds;
(Refer to p.9 for more details about phonological awareness.)

• pronounce known
words accurately;
• work out the sounds
of unfamiliar words;

• develop their
confidence and
proficiency in
reading; and
• improve their
spelling.

8
Phonological awareness is the understanding of the
relationships between letters or combinations of letters
and their sounds or sound units. It is the knowledge about
syllables, onsets, rimes and phonemes. Generally, it is easier
for children to develop an awareness of large units of sound
and progress to smaller units of sound.

Syllable
• a chunk of sounds
• contains a single vowel sound or a group of sounds with
only one vowel sound
Onset
• the opening unit of a word or syllable that comes before the
vowel sound
Rime
• the ending unit of a word or syllable that includes the vowel
and the following consonant sounds
Phoneme
• the smallest unit of speech sound
• a total of 44 phonemes (24 consonants and 20 vowels)

9
 Effectiveness of Phonics
Phonics can facilitate the development of the four language
skills. It helps students build up strategies for discriminating
sounds in listening and speaking, and use accurate spelling
in writing. It also helps them decode and encode words in
reading and spelling respectively at an early stage of learning.
Application of phonics knowledge helps young learners gain
proficiency, confidence and competence in reading aloud,
which in turn may help them develop an interest in reading
books in English.

Limitations of Phonics
Phonics is a useful tool to help students gain proficiency
in reading aloud and spelling. However, the letter-sound
relationships are irregular in many English words and phonics
rules do not always apply. Teachers need to help students
develop skills in reading for meaning.

10
When is Phonics taught?
Students can be taught phonics
H at an early age;
H when they can recognise some words through listening or
sight reading;
H when they need some enabling skills to carry out reading
aloud activities; and
H when they need to achieve accuracy in spelling.

11
 How is Phonics taught?

Do’s and Don’ts for Teaching Phonics

Do’s 3 Don’ts 7
• Incorporate phonics • Assign regular English
learning into the school- lessons for adopting/
based English Language implementing a
curriculum (e.g. General separate phonics
English Programme/ programme
Reading Workshops)
• Teach phonics out of
• Learn and teach phonics context or as a formal
in context system
• Focus on letter sounds • Cover too many letter
appropriate to the level sounds, which makes it
of students and provide difficult for students to
meaningful contexts retain what they have
for them to apply the learnt
knowledge and skills

12
 Curriculum planning

What is the 1. Arrange the sequence of letter

sequence of sounds you wish to teach so as
introducing the to ensure a good coverage of
letter sounds? the different letter-to-sound
correspondences
2. Introduce the consonant letters
first and then the vowels since
consonants usually have only one
sound for each letter
3. Focus on the consonants at the
beginning of words, then at the end
and finally in the middle
4. Focus on one way of reading and
writing each vowel sound at a time
since the vowel letters are more
complicated and there are several
ways in which they can be written

13
 How can I • Choose, as far as possible, single-
decide which syllable words from texts that
letter sounds students are familiar with, e.g.
to teach? textbooks or books used in Reading
Workshops, to work out an inventory
of letter sounds to be covered in
each school term/year

How many • Decide the number of letter sounds

letter sounds to teach considering the maturity
should I teach? and learning experience of the
students
• Incorporate phonics learning in the
school’s General English Programme
and Reading Workshops
What activities • Create word trees/trains/walls for
can I use to target letter sounds
introduce • Frame target letter sounds in big
and provide books
practice for the • Include short phonics learning
letter sounds? activities, e.g. letter-sound word
steps, bingo, board games and action
rhymes, frequently as part of the
English lessons

Word tree Word train

14
 Teaching strategies

Listening to letter sounds

• Use the single-syllable words chosen
from texts which students are familiar
with to introduce a particular letter
sound
• Provide opportunities for students to
hear and identify the focused sound
and to relate it to the letter(s), e.g. by
using pictures of familiar objects or
by framing the relevant letter(s) in the
words in a big book
• Help students make a collection of
words with the focused letter-to-sound
correspondence

Reading aloud
• Guide students to read aloud some of
the words focusing on the particular
letter sound
• Train students to say the first letter
sound loudly before moving on to the
other sounds in the same word
• Model the skills of blending which
involve running the letter sounds
together to make a word
A fat cat
• Get students to read aloud words with looking at a
the same phonological unit (e.g. 'at' in bat
'fat', 'cat') and apply this knowledge in
reading aloud unfamiliar words

15
 Practising phonics skills
• Provide opportunities for students to practise their
phonics skills in context and through games, rhymes
and other interesting activities
• Help students develop the strategy of analogy i.e.
applying their knowledge and skills to work out how to
read and spell an unfamiliar word by comparing it to
the words they have learnt

16
Understanding
Phonics

17
Major groups of letter sounds: Consonants*

Consonants
21 consonant letters
(b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z)

Consonants Consonant Consonant Blends
Digraphs

Initial Ending Initial Ending

Initial Ending
consonant consonant consonant consonant
consonants consonants
digraphs digraphs blends blends

• b • b • ch • ch • bl • ft
• c • c • ph • ck • cl • ld
• d • d • sh • gh • fl • lk
• f • f • th • ng • gl • lt
• g • g • wh • ph • pl • mp
• h • k • sh • sl • nd
• j • l • th • br • nk
• k • m • cr • nt
• l • n • dr • sk
• m • p • fr • st
• n • s • gr
• p • t • pr
• qu • v • tr
• r • x • sk
• s • z • sn
• t • sp
• v • st
• w • sw
• x
• y
• z

19
 Major groups of letter sounds: Vowels*
Vowels
5 vowel letters
(a, e, i, o, u)

Short vowels Long vowels Other vowels

ar, ir, oi,

short oo,
long oo, Schwa
or, ou

Magic e

Long a Long e Long i Long o Long u

a-e e-e i-e o-e u-e

* The major groups of letter sounds and the examples are selected for the
learning and teaching of phonics at the primary level.
Please note that the groups of letter sounds and the examples are
neither a prescribed nor an exhaustive list for students. Teachers may
use them as a reference when teaching phonics.

20
Consonants
A consonant sound is a speech sound produced by a stoppage
of breath.
Initial consonants
• Initial b
bad bird
bake book

• Initial c
Hard c Soft c
cake collect central circle
coin come cinema city

• Initial d • Initial f
dance door fall fourth
dark duck fun

• Initial g
Hard g Soft g
game good generous giant
garden guest George giraffe

• Initial h • Initial j
happy honey January job
high hungry jelly juice

23
 • Initial k • Initial l
kangaroo key lamp look
keep king letter loud

• Initial m • Initial n
mad moon name noise
month mum new nurse

• Initial p • Initial qu
pen pool quarter quick
picture purse queen quiet

• Initial r • Initial s
rain round see sister
rice rude sick sock

• Initial t • Initial v
tall tidy van violet
teach tomorrow vase voice

• Initial w • Initial x
walk wet xerox xylophone
weather witch

• Initial y • Initial z
year you zebra zip
yes yummy zero zoo

24
Ending consonants
• Ending b
crab rob
web rub

• Ending c
Hard c Soft c
disc magic dance once
Eric picnic nice practice

• Ending d • Ending f
bad read leaf of
food said loaf thief

• Ending g
Hard g Soft g
bag fog age orange
dog leg bridge page

• Ending k • Ending l
cook pork heel meal
like shark kneel pal

• Ending m • Ending n
farm ham an pain
game mum gun rain

25
 • Ending p
cheap map
lap shape

• Ending s
Voiced s Unvoiced s
has those bus
these was this
yes

• Ending t Ending v
bat it above move
boat kite five save

• Ending x • Ending z
box mix quiz
fox six

26
Learning Activity for Consonants
Guess and Create
A. Read the following riddle aloud. Do you know the answer to
this riddle?

Until I am measured,
I am not known.
Yet how you miss me,
When I have flown!
What am I?

The answer is:

B. Write the beginning letter of the answer here:
C. Read the following word steps describing a ball. Do you
notice anything special about the words in the word steps?

ball
big ball
Bob’s big ball
Borrow Bob’s big ball

27
 D. Work in groups of 5 and create another word steps. Add a
new word beginning with the same consonant sound of the
answer to the riddle in Part A. Remember that every word
added should make sense to the meaning of the whole
expression.
Letter-sound Word Steps –

Suggested answers
A. Time
B. T
C. All the words begin with the consonant sound "b".
D. Letter-sound Word Steps - T: "Tim took ten tests today."

28
Consonant Digraphs
A consonant digraph refers to a single sound which is
represented by two consonant letters.
Initial consonant digraphs

• Initial ch • Initial ph
chair cheese Philip photo
cheap China phone

• Initial sh
shall shelf
Shatin ship

• Initial th
Voiced th Unvoiced th
the there thank thin
them those thick third

• Initial wh
what which
where white

31
 Ending consonant digraphs

• Ending ch • Ending ck
catch match back pick
church sandwich neck rock

• Ending gh • Ending ng
laugh tough hang ring
rough long sung

• Ending ph • Ending sh
graph photograph cash fish
dish wish

• Ending th
birth teeth
mouth tooth

32
 Learning Activity for Consonant Digraphs
Consonant Digraphs Hunt
1. Work with a partner.
2. Get two pictures from your teacher,
one titled “At the Supermarket” and the
other “At School”.
3. You and your partner each choose a
picture that you would like to focus on.
4. Look at your picture carefully. Find four
items in the picture which are spelt with
consonant digraphs.
(e.g. At the Supermarket: “a shelf”; At
School: “some chairs”).
5. Write the words in the note sheet
provided.
6. Take turns to read aloud the words on
the note sheet.
7. Write the words read aloud by your partner in the note
sheet.
Note Sheet

I am at . My partner is at .
I can see He/She can see
• •
• •
• •
• •
there. there.

33
 Can you think of other items that can be found at school or the
supermarket beginning with a consonant digraph?

At the Supermarket:

At School:

(Refer to pp.71 and 73 for the two pictures.)

Suggested answers
At the Supermarket some shelves, a fish, some cheese, potato
chips, a tooth brush
At School some chairs, a piece of chalk, a Math
textbook, a whistle, a chart
Other items that can be Supermarket: shampoo, washing powder,
found at the supermarket toothpaste, cashier
& at school School: pencil sharpener, chess, class photo

34
Consonant Blends
A consonant blend refers to the blended sound represented by
two or three consonant letters.
Initial consonant blends

• Initial bl • Initial cl
black blow clap cloud
bleed blue class clown

• Initial fl • Initial gl
flag floor glad glove
flat fly glass glue

• Initial pl • Initial sl
place please slap slide
plane plus sleep slow

• Initial br • Initial cr
brain bright crab crowd
brave brown cream cry

37
 • Initial dr • Initial fr
draw drop free frog
dress dry friend front

• Initial gr • Initial pr
Grace grape praise prince
grandpa green pray prize

• Initial tr • Initial sk
train true skate skirt
tree try skin sky

• Initial sn • Initial sp
snake sneeze speak spider
snail snow spend sport

• Initial st • Initial sw
stand step sweep swim
star stop sweet swing

38
Ending consonant blends

• Ending ft • Ending ld
left lift cold hold
gold told

• Ending lk • Ending lt
milk silk felt melt

• Ending mp • Ending nd
camp jump and find
lamp pump send round

39
 • Ending nk • Ending nt
bank ink ant aunt
drink pink went hunt

• Ending sk • Ending st
ask desk fast first
task disk best August

40
Learning Activity for Consonant Blends
Phonics Bingo
1. Get a bingo card from your teacher.
2. Listen to your teacher reading aloud the consonant blends
one by one.
3. Circle the words which contain the consonant blends read
aloud by your teacher.
4. Shout out “Bingo!” if you have all words circled diagonally,
across a row or vertically in a column.

(Refer to pp.75 - 83 for the set of bingo cards.)

41
Short Vowels
A vowel sound is a speech sound made without audible
stopping of the breath.

Sound Letter Examples

Short a a cap rat
gas Sam

Sound Letter Examples

Short e e elephant ten
smell well
ea already health
head wealth

Sound Letter Examples

Short i i did hit
hill it
y body merry
loudly rainy

45
 Sound Letter Examples
Short o a wash what
watch
o doll god
fox shop

Sound Letter Examples

Short u u duck umbrella
summer up
o son won
ton
oo blood flood

46
Learning Activity for Short Vowels
Phonics Da Vinci

J Create an artwork displaying words containing the same

short vowel sound.
1. Decide on the short vowel sound to focus on.
2. Choose one of the objects below for creating an artwork for
display.
H a butterfly H a peacock H a windmill H the sun
H a palm H a fish H a caterpillar
3. Get a picture of the object you have chosen from your
teacher.
4. Write the short vowel sound in the centre/appropriate
space of the object.
5. Write the words containing the respective short vowel
sound on the other parts of the object.
6. Colour/decorate the picture after writing the words.
H You may use other objects to create the artwork.
(Refer to pp.85 - 97 for the templates.)

47
Long Vowels
A long vowel is a vowel that is pronounced the same as the
name of the letter.

Sound Letter Examples

Long a a-e bake made
face whale
ai brain snail
paint waist
ay bay pray
day tray

Sound Letter Examples

Long e e be me
he she
ea dream mean
leave please
ee beef sneeze
sheep three
e-e complete eve
delete these

51
 Sound Letter Examples
Long i ie die pie
lie tie
i-e bike side
prize smile
igh bright light
high sigh
y cry shy
fly why

Sound Letter Examples

Long o oa boat road
coach soap
oe hoe toe
o-e bone joke
home stone
ow blow show
grow throw

52
Sound Letter Examples
Long u ew dew new
few
ue duel Tuesday
fuel
u-e cube tube
cute tune

53
 Learning Activity for Long Vowels
Phonics Tic-Tac-Toe
Which word has a Read aloud the Which 2 words have
long “e” sound? following sentences the same “o” sound
and underline the as “bone”?
long vowel sounds.
maze too
meal Mary used the smoke
green oven to bake
shine the pumpkin toast rate
froze with cheese. home
Which word does Circle 2 words that Complete the poem
not belong with the have a long “i” sound. with words containing
others? long vowel sounds
that rhyme.
Today I didn’t go to

five iron As the dentist has

die pulled my wisdom
quick
rhyme nine Dear Bruce, please
buy me some
beef
Or I will be in a bad

M atc h t h e wo rd s Complete the long Circle the word that

that have the same vowel word pyramid contains a long “a”
long vowel sound. by adding words sound.
containing the long
vowel sound “e” spelt
idea• •radio in letters “ea”. mail
duty• •music eat black
easy alone
table• •iron

Suggested answers (from left to right)

1st row: “meal”; “Mary used the green oven to bake the pumpkin toast with cheese.”;
“smoke” & “home”
2nd row: “beef”; “iron” & “nine”; “school, tooth, food, mood” or any acceptable answers
3rd row: “idea & iron, duty & music, table & radio”; “seats, please” or any acceptable
answers; “mail”
54
Other Vowels

ar ir oi Short oo
H er H oi H oo
H ir H oy Hu
H ur
Long oo or ou
H ew H al H ou
H o H au H ow
H oo H aw
H ue H or
H u-e H ough

Schwa
• The schwa sound (‘a’, ‘er’ and ‘or’) is the most frequently
occurring vowel sound.
• It often appears in weak syllables, e.g. ago, postman.
• In connected speech,
unstressed words (e.g.
articles, prepositions)
are often reduced to
the schwa sound, e.g.
He bought a book for
his brother.

57
 Sound Letter Examples
ar ar are part
large shark

Sound Letter Examples

ir er her verb
term
ir birth shirt
dirt thirst
ur burn nurse
hurt turn

Sound Letter Examples

oi oi boil oil
noise point
oy boy Roy
joy toy

Sound Letter Examples

Short oo oo book good
cook look
u pudding pussy
push put

58
Sound Letter Examples
Long oo ew blew flew
drew grew
o do to
oo choose school
food zoo
ue blue Sue
glue true
u-e June rule
rude use

Sound Letter Examples

or al ball talk
call walk
au August caught
because taught
aw dawn paw
jaw saw
or born pork
more sport
ough bought ought
fought thought

59
 Sound Letter Examples
ou ou cloud mouth
house south
ow crowd owl
now town

Sound Letter Examples

Schwa a ago fireman
alone postman
er farmer summer
father water
or doctor Victor
motor

60
Learning Activity for Other Vowels
Go Get the Monster!
1. Form groups of 4.
2. Get a game board, 8 Other Vowel Cards, 4 place markers
and a dice from your teacher.
3. Put the place markers on START on the game board.
4. Place the Other Vowel Cards next to the game board.
5. Take turns throwing the dice and moving to the spaces
accordingly on the game board.
6. Read aloud the word shown on the place you have landed.
7. Decide which vowel sound (ar, ir, oi, or, ou, short oo,
long oo or schwa) the word contains by picking the
corresponding Other Vowel Card.
8. Show the card to your partners.
9. If you get the other vowel sound correct, you can stay in
the place you have landed. If you are wrong, go back to the
place of the previous round.
10. The first person
catching the
monster wins!

(Refer to pp.99 and 101 for the

game board and other vowel cards.)

61
Magic e
• The addition of the letter “e” after a vowel followed by a
consonant makes the letters “a”, “e”, “i”, “o”, “u” say their
own names.

• Long a • Long e
a-e e-e
age brave complete eve
bake made delete these

• Long i • Long o
i-e o-e
drive price broke note
life wine hope spoke

• Long u
u-e
cube tube
cute tune

65
 Learning Activity for Magic e

Careless Pete and Puzzled Grace

A. Pete has written a letter to his wife, Grace, from summer
camp. However, he is very careless and has made some
spelling mistakes. Grace feels very puzzled when she
receives the letter. Help Grace understand the letter by
finding out Pete’s spelling mistakes, circling them and
writing down the correct words. The first one has been done
for you as an example.

My dear wif , wife

How are you? I hop you're
well.
I'm having a very good tim at
summer camp. The weather
here is fin every day.
I have mad a nic kit in the shap
of a cut bird. I'll fly it with you
when I com hom.
Love,
Pete

66
B. Can you think of other examples of words with Magic e?

Suggested answers
Part A

My dear wife,
How are you? I hope you’re well.
I’m having a very good time at summer camp. The weather here is
fine every day.
I have made a nice kite in the shape of a cute bird. I’ll fly it with you
when I come home.
Love,
Pete

Part B
cage, plane, delete, complete, pipe, mile, coke, cone, tube

67
Resource Materials

69
 Consonant Digraphs Hunt

At the Supermarket

71
 Consonant Digraphs Hunt

At School

73
 Phonics Bingo

bl cl tr gl
br fl pl
cr dr fr gr

75
 Phonics Bingo

bl cl tr gl
br fl pl
cr dr fr gr

77
 Phonics Bingo

bl cl tr gl
br fl pl
cr dr fr gr

79
 Phonics Bingo

bl cl tr gl
br fl pl
cr dr fr gr

81
 Phonics Bingo

bl cl tr gl
dr fl pl
br cr fr gr

83
Phonics Da Vinci

85
Phonics Da Vinci

87
Phonics Da Vinci

89
Phonics Da Vinci

91
Phonics Da Vinci

93
Phonics Da Vinci

95
Phonics Da Vinci

97
 Go Get the Monster!

Game board

shirt
Start book food
sport
are oil

house
good
ago
part how father jar
school cloud
again
mouth joy
drew along
do
cook
bar
shark
blue
look
saw her
hurt noise
doctor

to
more birth

99
 Go Get the Monster!

Other Vowel Cards

Short oo Long oo
H oo H ew
H u H o ar
H oo
H ue
H u-e

ir oi or
H er H oi H al
H ir H oy H au
H ur H aw
H or
H ough

ou schwa
H ou H a
H ow H er
H or

101
 Vowel Letter Sounds
Short vowel letter sounds
Short a a apple Short i i ink
Short e e egg y only
ea head Short o a wash
o fox
Short u o son
u ugly
oo blood
ou young

Long vowel letter sounds

Long a a patient Long i ei height
a-e name i blind
ai aim ie tie
ay day i-e rice
ei weight igh high
y cry
Long e e me Long o o motor
ea eat oa boat
ee see oe toe
e-e eve o-e nose
ei-e receive ow snow
ie-e piece Long u ew new
u music
ue Tuesday
u-e cute
The lists of letter sounds on pp.103 - 117 are for teachers’ reference only.
Teachers should use the lists selectively according to students’ ability. They
are not prescribed lists for primary students.
103
 Vowel Letter Sounds
Other vowel letter sounds
ar ar arm
ir ear learn
er her
ir girl
or work
our journey
ur turn
oi oi coin
oy boy
Short oo oo good
u put
Long oo ew drew
o do
oe shoe
oo moon
ue blue
u-e rule
or al ball
au because
aw saw
or short
ough bought
ou ou loud
ow cow
schwa a ago
er water
or doctor
105
 Consonant Letter Sounds
Initial Ending
b bear crab
c (hard) care music
c (soft) cell once
d duck food
f find beef
g (hard) garden dig
g (soft) gentle large
h home
j jar
k keep think
l life girl
m must room
n number rain
p pick keep
qu quick
r rare
s (voiced) has
s (unvoiced) sale bus
t ticket hit
v visit twelve
w wet
x (the letter exit box
sound “ks”)
y yellow
z zoo quiz

107
 Consonant Letter Sounds
Consonant digraph letter sounds
Initial Medial Ending
ch choose exchange search
ch (the letter character echo stomach
sound “k”)
ch (the letter chef machine
sound “sh”)
sh share fashion rubbish
ck rock
gh (the letter laugh
sound “f”)
ph (the letter phone elephant graph
sound “f”)
sc (the letter science adolescent
sound “s” -
unvoiced)
th (voiced) this father with
th (unvoiced) think nothing earth
ng ring

109
 Consonant Letter Sounds
Consonant blend letter sounds
Initial Ending
bl blog
cl class
dw dwarf
fl flat
pl please
sl slim
br break
cr crime
dr draw
fr front
gl glad
gr great
pr pretty
tr trip
sc (the letter scan
sound “sk”)
sk skin ask
sm smart
sn snack
sp speak crisp
st stop last
sw switch
tw twist
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 Consonant Letter Sounds
Consonant blend letter sounds
Initial Ending Initial Ending
ft left fth fifth
ld gold lth health
lf shelf mpt prompt
lk milk sch(the school
lm film letter
sound
lp help “sk”)
lt belt scr screen
mp jump shr shrimp
nd mind spl splash
nk bank spr spray
nt aunt str street
ct collect thr throw
xt next thw thwart
chr(the Christmas
letter
sound
“cr”)

Magic e
cut cute
fat fate
not note
rid ride
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 English Letter Sounds
Letter Sound Examples
a short a am cat black
a short o wash what watch
a schwa uh ago away alone
a-e long a ate make name
ai long a aim rail train
al or always talk salt
ar ar arm start far
au or August caught taught
aw or saw paw claw
ay long a day May play
b b ball bird crab
c hard c (=k) car come music
c soft c (=s) cent cinema once
ch ch chair child which
d d door ride said
e short e egg tell bed
e long e eve me she
ea short e head health wealth
ea long e eat clean sea
ee long e see street tree
er schwa uh water father farmer
ew long oo drew flew grew
ew long u few new dew
f f fell after leaf
g hard g go again big
g soft g (=j) giant larger George
h h head here home
i short i into live hill
ie long i pie tie die
i-e long i five side kite
j j jam jelly January
k k keep take talk
l l like milk kneel
m m mother some ham
n n not under own
ng ng song sing bring
o short o off doll fox 115
 English Letter Sounds
Letter Sound Examples
o short u son won ton
oa long o boat coat road
o-e long o bone nose smoke
oi oi oink coin boil
oo short oo look book good
oo long oo moon school too
or or fork horse sport
ou ou loud about house
ow long o snow slow pillow
ow ou owl cow town
oy oi boy toy enjoy
p p picture open jump
ph f phone photo graph
qu qu queen quick quiet
r r round three friend
s s so sister bus
s z as was his
sh sh ship should fish
t t to late rabbit
th voiced th this they with
th unvoiced th thin thick teeth
u short oo put push pussy
u short u up but cup
ue long oo blue glue true
ue long u duel fuel Tuesday
u-e long oo use rule rude
u-e long u cube tune cute
v v van over give
w w walk awake work
wh w what where when
x x exit next box
y y yes year young
y short i only many happy
y long i cry why reply
z,zz z zero zoo buzz

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