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You have met vowel teams before, like ai in rain. Today Ben is reading a book about a stormy day, and he stops at the word cloud.
What do the o and the u do in cloud?
Diphthongs and complex vowels
Read and spell words containing diphthongs and complex vowel patterns (ow, ou, ew, ue, ie, aw, au) and words ending in -y as a vowel sound
What a learner can do afterwards
- Read words with variable vowel sounds (e.g. 'ow' in 'cow' vs 'snow')
- Decode words with diphthongs (e.g. 'cloud', 'blue', 'pie')
- Read words ending in -y pronounced as /ee/ or /igh/ (e.g. 'happy', 'my')
1 · Read
Some letter teams team up to make one new sound. Ow, ou, ew, ue, ie, aw, and au often do this.
Try it together
Ben reads the word 'cloud'. He blends the letters and hears one gliding /ow/ sound.
Watch out: ow can say two sounds. It says /ow/ in 'cow' but long o in 'snow'.
At the end of a word, y can be a vowel. It sounds like /ee/ in 'happy' or /igh/ in 'my'.
Diphthongs blend two letters into one sound, and a final y can say /ee/ or /igh/.
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
Learn first
This opens up
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.