wh and ph

 These two digraphs are not quite as common as others we have learned, and a bit trickier to remember in our spelling.  We learned that wh, a digraph that spells the /w/ sound, is found at the beginning of words, like "which" and "when." The ph digraph spells the /f/ sound and can be found in the beginning, middle, or end of words, such as "phone" and "graph."

Games to Practice WH, PH, and Digraph Review

This fun balloon pop challenge asks you to match the correct picture to the given ph word - click here.

Practice with a wh and ph digraph sort - click here to play.

Decodable Text 

The poem, "Phil Can Read!" reinforces the ph digraph. Click here to read online

Heart Words

When spelling could, would, and should, think "O U Lucky Duck!" to help you remember the tricky -ould part that we need to know by heart.

would       could        should          walk       talk         they        their

CH digraph

 This cheery, charming digraph can be found at the beginning, middle, or end of words, as demonstrated in this rather cheesy video:

Or check out this cute "showdown" comparing the sh and ch digraphs:

Home Practice Lesson

Follow along with this video by ELL with Ms. Darla, or try on your own with a family member using the information below.

Games to Practice CH

Help Little Mo the zebra grow her garden by unscrambling and correctly spelling these ch words here

In this memory match game, read the ch word and try to find its matching picture - click here

Decodable Text Online

"Mr. Sanchez and the Kickball Champ" has plenty of opportunities to practice ch words in addition to other phonic patterns. Click here to read.

Heart Words to Practice 

they    their    walk     talk    she    we    goes    were

Check out "Heart Word Magic" (some of the above words have videos to help you learn them, along with many other heart words we have or will be practicing). Click here!

TH Digraph -- Voiced and Unvoiced

 This week we worked with the two sounds of TH -- voiced (like in "this") and unvoiced (like in "thumb." Many high frequency words that we are trying to master are spelled with th, so it is a particularly useful pattern to practice spelling.

We know that voiced th tends to be at the beginning of a word (or middle, which we'll get into with multisyllabic words later), but unvoiced th can be at the beginning or end.

Enjoy these videos to review voiced and unvoiced th and the words this pattern can spell!

TH Home Practice Run-Throughs

Thank you to ELL With Ms. Darla who has created these helpful practice videos on Youtube. You can grab a pencil and paper, or whiteboard and marker to follow along.

Practice Games!

Read these words aloud to decide whether they are "voiced" (ticklish/vibrating) or "unvoiced" (whispery) th words, and sort them accordingly: Voiced and Unvoiced TH Sort

Can you unscramble the letters to make each unvoiced th word? This is great practice for putting sounds in the correct order: TH Unscramble

Decodable Book

"This and That" has plenty of voiced and unvoiced th practice opportunities -- click here to read it online.

Heart Words to Practice

their      they     were      goes      says