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You know the sound each letter makes. Now Max is reading a book about a chick. He stops at the word chip.
Max sees c and h sitting together at the start. What do those two letters do?
Consonant Digraphs
Read and spell words containing consonant digraphs and less common consonant spellings (ch, sh, th, ck, tch, ng, ph, wh, k for /k/)
What a learner can do afterwards
- Read words with consonant digraphs (e.g. 'shop', 'chip', 'that')
- Identify the sound made by ph (/f/) and wh (/w/) in words
- Spell words ending in -ck (e.g. 'duck') and -tch (e.g. 'match')
1 · Read
Some letters team up. Two letters together can make one sound.
Try it together
Max reads the word chip. He sees c and h together. They make one sound: /ch/.
Good to know
Ph looks strange, but it says /f/, like in photo. Wh says /w/, like in whale.
Good to know
Words with a short vowel sound often end in ck for /k/, like duck. They often end in tch for /ch/, like match.
t and h say /th/, like that. n and g end words to say /ng/, like ring. c and k say /k/, like duck. p and h say /f/, like photo. w and h say /w/, like whale. tch says /ch/, like match. After a short vowel, /k/ at the end often uses ck and /ch/ at the end often uses tch, but rich, which, much and such use ch.
Two letters can team up to make one sound, like sh, ch, or ck.
2 · Watch
3 · Play
Take it off screen
Print a worksheetA4 with an answer key page for grown-ups. No screen, no internet.
Where it sits
Then practise
24 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.