Vowels
Vowel teams
A vowel team is two vowels working together for one sound, as in “rain”, “boat”, “seed” and “pie”. They are the point where sounding out stops being reliable on its own, because the same team can say more than one thing: ea is different in “eat”, “bread” and “break”.
Teach the most common sound first and hold the alternatives back. A reader who has three possible sounds for ea before they are fluent with one will guess rather than decode.
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.
ai
1,783 wordssaid again paid against train trained training trains remain remained remaining remains wait waited waiting waits main available detail detailed detailing details raise raised
ay
1,284 wordssay saying sayings way ways day days may play played playing plays always pay paying pays away today stay stayed staying stays maybe yesterday
ea as in eat
1,536 wordsmean meaning means leave leaves leaving each reads increase increased increases increasing leading leads reason reasoned reasoning reasons least speak speaking speaks deal dealing
ee
2,359 wordsbeen see seeing seen sees need needed needing needs between feel feeling feelings feels meet meeting meetings meets week weeks seem seemed seeming seems
oa
640 wordsapproach approached approaches approaching road roads board boarded boarding boards goal goals boat boated boating boats broad broader broadest coach coached coaches coaching load
oe
589 wordsgoes radioed heroes undergoes potatoes doe foe toe avocadoes echoed flamingoes hoe mangoes mosquitoes phoenixes superheroes tiptoe tiptoed tiptoeing tiptoes toes tomatoes tornadoes volcanoes
ie as in thief
2,735 wordscompanies countries families studied studies believe believed believes believing cities partied parties storied stories histories policies activities carried carries communities qualities opportunities industries field
igh
437 wordsright high higher highest highs might night nights light lighted lightest lighting lights fight fighting fights highly slightly flight flights tonight sight sighted sighting
1 syllable vowel team
4,573 wordsbeen you their they our does said say says goes would knew know known knows thought thoughts saw see seen sees out good year
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 vowel teams does not smuggle in something they have not met yet.