Vowels
Diphthongs
A diphthong is a vowel sound that slides from one position to another inside a single syllable, as in “coin”, “boy”, “out” and “cow”. Your mouth moves while you say it, which is what separates a diphthong from a vowel team that holds one steady sound.
oi and oy are the same sound in different positions, and so are ou and ow. Teaching each pair together, with the position rule, saves teaching four separate things.
Patterns and example words
Every word below is from the word list Cody generates from, not a hand-picked sample. The count is how many words in that list carry the pattern.
oi
512 wordspoint pointed pointing points join joined joining joins choice choicer choices choicest voice voiced voices voicing avoid avoided avoiding avoids oil oiled oiling oils
oy
502 wordsenjoy enjoyed enjoying enjoys boy boys employee employees employ employed employing employs destroy destroyed destroying destroys employment employments employer employers unemployment toy toyed toying
ou as in south
1,427 wordsour ours about out house housed houses housing around without hour hours sound sounded sounding sounds account accounted accounting accounts outside outsides amount amounted
ow as in plow
825 wordsnow how down however allow allowed allowing allows power powered powering powers town towns crowd crowded crowding crowds powerful flower flowered flowering flowers somehow
au
1,995 wordsbecause cause caused causes causing pause paused pauses pausing author authored authors launch launched launches launching audience audiences fault faulted faulting faults astronaut astronauts
aw
518 wordssaw law laws draw drawing drawings drawn draws lawyer lawyers withdraw withdrawing withdrawn withdraws awful raw awfulness awkwardness bawl claw dawn drawl fawn flaw
Curricula that teach this
Cody generates material against the scope and sequence you already teach. This skill appears in Custom Pattern Selection, Reading Simplified: 1st Grade Pathway, Reading Simplified: 2nd Grade & Up Pathway, Reading Simplified: Kindergarten Pathway, Slant System, UFLI Inspired.
Make a decodable story for this skill
Cody generates stories, word lists and worksheets constrained to the patterns a student has already been taught, so practice on diphthongs does not smuggle in something they have not met yet.