Word Knowledge B

Beginning Readers

Your student is learning the basics of how to read. You will help them understand the individual sounds and letters in written language. The four units below each contain a sequence of reading skills for your student to learn. Start with the first unit “One sound from two consonants”, and continue through the units in order. If a reading skill in the unit is too easy, that’s ok! You can move at a faster pace until you find a reading skill that needs some extra practice.

Remember to take breaks between worksheets or other activities, and have fun!

Just Getting Started?
Follow the ‘s for your first steps

Follow these model lesson plans for a full tutoring session

Long /i/

Tutor Lesson
Student Lesson

Long /i/

Tutor Lesson – Bilingual

 Click “One Sound from two consonants” below to get started with Academic support activities

When we read one sound made of two consonants, it is called a “digraph”. For example, in the question Where is the chicken? Notice the four digraphs marked in bold.

The first 4 digraphs in the list below — ch, sh, th, and wh — are also called “the h brothers”.

Digraph: ch

Digraph: sh

Digraph: th

Digraph: wh

Digraph: ck

Digraph: ng

The letters s, l, and r are often combined or blended with other consonants at the beginning of words.

Initial S-blends

Initial L-blends

Initial R-blends

We read many words with a long vowel sound when the word ends with the spelling pattern vowel-consonant-silent e (VCe). We also call this spelling pattern “the bossy e” because when the e shows up, the other vowel sound changes.

Long vowel /a/

Long vowel /i/

Long vowel /o/

Long vowel /u/

The letters l, n, and others are often combined or blended with other consonants at the end of words.

Final N-blends

Additional final blends

Try the following tips and activities for further enrichment:

  • I Spy the Sound: a fun way to build phonics skills and phonemic awareness. In this variation of the classic game, ‘I Spy’, ask your child to spy words that begin with a certain sound, rather than a letter. For example, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with mmm.”
  • When practicing reading skills, you should always give your student the chance to try to find the answer themselves. If they aren’t ready for that, start offering them small clues that will lead to the right answer. For example, if a student says “cat” instead of “cut”, ask them to “slide through each sound” or “drive through the sounds” out loud: c – u – t.
  • Personalize phonics skills by using your student’s name as an example! Review the sounds in their name, and come up with a list of other words that share each sound.
  • Before reading a story, look at pictures or videos about the content or location of the story to make it come to life.
  • Ask students to write a review, or a single sentence, describing what they just read.
  • When you find a book that your student loves, look for other books with the same author or genre to try reading that, too.
  • Ask your student to practice reading out loud.
  • Read out loud to your student. For younger students, make it interactive and silly!
  • Echo reading: ask your student to imitate you as you read. Choose a paragraph, story, or even script with lots of different types of expression, such as whispering, speaking loudly, dramatic pauses, or silly voices.
  • Act out a scene together with as much drama as you can, while reading from a script.