quit queen quack quick
quiz quins quest quiet
squid squeal squirrel
In English writing, the letter ‘q’ is always followed by the letter ‘u’. In the first instance, teach the grapheme ‘qu’ as if it was one sound unit
of /kw/ when really it is two sounds of /k/+/w/. Treating ‘qu’ as /kw/ is helpful for both early reading and spelling purposes. Ask the learner
to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? In ‘quiet’ the letter ‘i’ and letter ‘e’
need to be sounded out separately and the ‘i’ sounded out in its long version as /igh/.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘qu’ as he/she says /kw/ as if it was one sound.
qu
qu
Draw pictures from the word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘qu’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘qu’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the
words. Put the grapheme ‘qu’ on one dash. Edit (check) the word whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 1 of 19
out our ouch shout pouch
mouth south cloud proud
sound found hound mound
mountain
fountain
ground
Model how to say the sound /ou/ as in ‘mouth’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’
and say the target words? Tweak the pronunciation of the ‘ai’ in ‘mountain’ and ‘fountain’ to be closer to /u/ (schwa effect).
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ou’ as he/she says the phoneme /ou/.
ou
The words ‘our’ and ‘hour’ are pronounced the same but have different meanings. We return to our house. What hour of the day is it?
The words ‘your’ and ‘four’ have the same grapheme ‘our’ but they are pronounced as /or/. The ‘ou’ in ‘you’ is pronounced /oo/ as in
‘moon’. When is your birthday? Will you be four or five?
our
your
hour
four
you
Draw pictures from the /ou/ word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘ou’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘ou’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the
words. Put the grapheme ‘ou’ on one dash. Edit (check) each word whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 2 of 19
owl bow cow now how
row howl down town
gown drown brown crown
trowel
frowning
towel
The grapheme ‘ow’ has two main sounds as in ‘owl’ and ‘snow’. For this version model the sound /ou/ as in ‘mouth’. Ask the learner to say
all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Tweak the pronunciation of the ‘e’ in
‘towel’ and ‘trowel’ to be closer to /u/ (schwa effect).
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ow’ as he/she says the phoneme /ou/.
ow
Trace the letters whilst saying the words.
how
now
brown
cow
Draw pictures from the ‘ow’ word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘ow’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘ow’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the
words. Put the grapheme ‘ow’ on one dash. Edit (check) each word by sounding out and blending whilst finger-tracking under the
graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 3 of 19
out shout foul owl now fowl
mouth crouch down brown
sound ground growl howling
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Note the
homophones ‘foul’ and ‘fowl’. Remind the learner that words can sound the same but have different meanings. The different spelling can
indicate the meaning.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the graphemes ‘ou’, or ‘ow’, as he/she says the phoneme /ou/.
ou
ow
Draw a picture from the ‘ou’ words above and label:
Draw a picture from the ‘ow’ words above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘ou-ow’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘ou-ow’. Use the back of the folded-up part to
practise spelling and writing words in the lists above. Start with saying the two sound words above very slowly. The learner identifies the
sounds all-through-the-spoken-word and draws a dash for each sound identified and then writes down the corresponding letter shapes.
Write ‘ou’ or ‘ow’ on one dash. Edit the words whilst finger-tracking underneath. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 4 of 19
own row bow owl row bow
slow grow crow brow frown
shown flown
growl howling
(away)
Remind the learner that the grapheme ‘ow’ can be pronounced /oa/ or /ou/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all
the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Note the homophones ‘row’ and ‘row’, ‘bow’ and ‘bow’. Remind the
learner that words can have the same spellings but have different meanings. As the spelling is the same in these homophone examples, the
reader would need to know the context for pronouncing the words correctly according to their meanings. The learner holds the pencil with
‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ow’, as he/she says the sound /oa/ for the first row and /ou/ for the second row.
ow
ow
Draw a picture from the /oa/ phoneme word examples
above and label:
Draw a picture from the /ou/ phoneme word examples
above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘ow-ow’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘ow-ow’. Use the back of the folded-up part to
practise spelling and writing words in the lists above. Start with saying the two sound words above very slowly. The learner identifies the
sounds all-through-the-spoken-word and draws a dash for each sound identified and then writes down the corresponding letter shapes.
Write ‘ow’ on one dash. Edit the words whilst finger-tracking underneath. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 5 of 19
oil coin foil join coil soil
boils joint point ‘oink’ spoil
‘boing’
avoid android
ointment joined pointed
noise of a spring bouncing
The sound /oi/ is represented by two graphemes ‘oi’ and ‘oy’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines.
Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Note that ‘ed’ in ‘joined’ is pronounced /d/ and the ‘e’ in ‘pointed’ is pronounced closer to /u/
‘pointud’ (schwa effect).
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘oi’ as he/she says the phoneme /oi/.
oi
oi
Draw pictures from the ‘oi’ word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘oi’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘oi’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the
words. Put the grapheme ‘oi’ on one dash. Edit (check) each word whilst finger-tracking beneath the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 6 of 19
boy toy coy joy enjoy
‘ship ahoy’ decoy destroy
ploy royal oyster employer
loyalty
royalty
annoyed
The sound /oi/ is represented by two graphemes ‘oi’ and ‘oy’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines.
Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? The ‘ed’ in ‘annoyed’ is pronounced /d/. Note the schwa /u/ effect in ‘royal’, ‘oyster’,
‘employer’, ‘loyalty’, ‘royalty’ and ‘annoyed’. In ‘decoy’ the ‘e’ is pronounced /ee/. In ‘destroy’ the ‘e’ is pronounced closer to /i/ ‘distroy’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘oy’ as he/she says the phoneme /oi/.
oy
oy
Draw pictures from the ‘oy’ word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘oy’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘oy’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the
words. Put the grapheme ‘oy’ on one dash. Edit (check) each word whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 7 of 19
oil coin foil soil boy toy joy
boil join spoil enjoy
annoy
android destroy royal
avoid
Model how to say the sound /oi/ as in ‘coin’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then
‘hear’ the target words independently? Note that, generally, the grapheme ‘oi’ is used when /oi/ is the first or middle sound whilst the
grapheme ‘oy’ is used when /oi/ is the end sound of the root word. Tweak the pronunciations of ‘destroy’ to ‘distroy’ and ‘royal’ to ‘royul’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the graphemes ‘oi’ or ‘oy’ for the phoneme /oi/.
oi
oy
Draw a picture from the ‘oi’ words above and label:
Draw a picture from the ‘oy’ words above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘oi-oy’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘oi-oy’. Use the back of the folded-up part to
practise spelling and writing words in the lists above. Start with saying the two sound words above very slowly. The learner identifies the
sounds all-through-the-spoken-word and draws a dash for each sound identified and then writes down the corresponding letter shapes.
Write ‘oi’ or ‘oy’ on one dash. Edit the words whilst finger-tracking underneath. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 8 of 19
cue hues duel muesli rescue
argue due overdue avenue
value venue undue pursued
statue
rescued
Tuesday
queue
The grapheme ‘ue’ in the word examples above really represents two sounds /y/+/oo/. In these words, however, it is helpful to treat ‘ue’ as if
it was one sound denoted as /ue/ (or /yoo/) for both reading and spelling purposes. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-thewords in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Pronounce the ‘o’ in ‘overdue’ as /oa/ and tweak the pronunciation of
‘er’ to /u/ (schwa effect). The grapheme ‘que’ in ‘queue’ represents the /k/ sound (taught in unit 11) so ‘queue’ sounds the same as ‘cue’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’, writes the grapheme ‘ue’ and says /ue/ (yoo) and /oo/ - see /oo/ words below.
ue
These are regular common words where the ‘ue’ grapheme represents the /oo/ sound. Draw these to the attention of the learner.
blue
glue
true
clue
Sue
Draw pictures from the ‘ue’ word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘ue’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘ue’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the
words. Remember to treat the /ue/ (/y/+/oo/) sounds as if they are one unit therefore put the grapheme ‘ue’ on one dash. Edit (check) each
word whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 9 of 19
cue hue fuel blue glue true
argue rescue clue Sue issue
Tuesday statue tissue accrue
Remind the learner that the grapheme ‘ue’ can be pronounced /ue/ (yoo) or /oo/. The reader needs to be flexible when saying the sounds in
an unknown word. Try /ue/ (yoo) first and if that does not make sense of the word, try /oo/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Most people would pronounce the ‘ss’ in ‘issue’
and ‘tissue’ as a /sh/ sound.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’, writes the grapheme ‘ue’, and says the sounds /ue/ (yoo) and then /oo/.
ue
ue
Draw a picture from the /ue/ (yoo) phoneme word
examples above and label:
Draw a picture from the /oo/ phoneme word examples
above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘ue-ue’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘ue-ue’. Use the back of the folded-up part to
practise spelling and writing words in the lists above. Start with saying the simpler words above very slowly. The learner identifies the
sounds all-through-the-spoken-word and draws a dash for each sound identified and then writes down the corresponding letter shapes.
Write ‘ue’ on one dash for both groups of words. Edit the words whilst finger tracking beneath. At first beginners may only manage the
shortest words.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 10 of 19
her kerb herbs
verb herd term
perky perfect
hermit permit
stern thermal
serve swerve
sister mixer
perfect perform
hopper slipper
jumper joker
thermometer
temper perhaps
The ‘er’ grapheme can represent a distinct sound as in ‘term’ or it can represent a less-distinct sound closer to /u/ (schwa effect) as in
‘sister’. When reading, it is easy to sound out the ‘er’ grapheme in any word as the stronger /er/ sound and then tweak the pronunciation to
/u/ where necessary. Spelling is not so easy and the speller needs to have some knowledge of the words to be spelt. Ask the learner to say
all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘er’ as he/she says /er/.
er
The words below are slightly tricky but very useful for early reading and writing. Draw attention to the tricky parts.
other
mother
brother
father
sister
love dove above shove
some come done
Remember these words where the letter ‘o’ represents the /u/ sound and the end consonant sound is represented by digraphs:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘er’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘er’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the
words. Put the grapheme ‘er’ on one dash. Edit (check) each word by sounding out and blending whilst finger-tracking under the
graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 11 of 19
arm car far jar afar cart art park
farm dark part bark harm mark
tart yard hard lark harp charm
chart shark sharp start stark alarm
garden
market
argue
sparkling
Model how to say the sound /ar/ as in ‘arm’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’
and say the target words? Tweak pronunciation where necessary.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ar’ as he/she says /ar/.
ar
The ‘a’ in ‘father’ is pronounced as /ar/. In some accents, words like ‘path’, ‘grass’ and ‘bath’ are pronounced with the /ar/ sound - “parth”.
father
rather
lather
are
Draw pictures from the /ar/ word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘ar’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘ar’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the
words. Put the grapheme ‘ar’ on one dash. Edit (check) each word by sounding out and blending whilst finger-tracking under the
graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 12 of 19
give have live serve shelve
carve starve twelve sleeves
swerve evolve revolve move
valve active motive groove
In English, the grapheme ‘ve’ represents the sound /v/ when this is the last sound of the root word. Note that the ‘o’ in ‘move’ represents
the /oo/ sound. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ve’ as he/she says /v/.
ve
Revise these words where the letter ‘o’ represents the /u/ sound.
love
dove
glove
above
shove
Draw pictures from the ‘ve’ word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘-ve’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘-ve’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the words. Put the grapheme ‘ve’ and other digraphs each on
one dash. Edit (check) each word whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 13 of 19
fence mince dance pence
force voice choice fleeces
prince chance trance palace
pounce bounces advanced
In these words, the grapheme ‘ce’ respresents the sound /s/. This is often referred to as ‘soft c’ (letter name - ‘see’). In plural words such as
‘fleeces’ the ‘e’ is pronounced as an /u/ (schwa effect). Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she
‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ce’ as he/she says /s/.
ce
These are very unusual words and it is helpful to learn them together. They are pronounced ‘wons’ and ‘won’. Tell the learner to imagine a
‘w’ at the beginning of the words when reading them. Trace over and copy.
once
one
Draw pictures from the word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘-ce’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘-ce’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the words. Put the grapheme ‘ce’ and other digraphs each on
one dash. Edit (check) each word by sounding out and blending whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 14 of 19
sunset
fuss pass fence
soft soil glass ass prince
slippers dressing palaces
The learner now knows three ways of representing the sound /s/. Spellings never begin with double ‘ss’. Pronounce the ‘e’ as /u/ (schwa
effect) in plural words like ‘palaces’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say
the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and practises writing the graphemes ‘s’, ‘ss’ and ‘ce’ whilst saying /s/.
s
ce
Draw a picture from words in the left
column above and label:
ss
Draw a picture from words in the middle
column above and label:
Draw a picture from words in the right
column above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘s-ss-ce’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘s-ss-ce’. Use the back of the folded-up part to
practise spelling and writing. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the words. Edit each word whilst finger-tracking under
the graphemes. Write ‘ss’ and ‘ce’ on one dash as appropriate.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 15 of 19
forge hinge large barge
twinge
damage
garages
packages baggage savage
manage rummaged cabbage
In these words, the grapheme ‘ge’ respresents the sound /j/. This is often referred to as ‘soft g’ (letter name - ‘jee’). No word ending with the
sound /j/ is ever spelt with the letter ‘j’. In plural words such as ‘packages’ the ‘e’ is pronounced as an /u/ (schwa effect). Tweak the
pronunciation of ‘-age’ according to regional accent. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she
‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ge’ as he/she says /j/.
ge
ge
Draw pictures from the word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘-ge’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘-ge’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the words. Put the grapheme ‘ge’ and other digraphs each on
one dash. Edit (check) each word by sounding out and blending whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 16 of 19
jet jut jog jam hinge
large
jump just jolly damage savage
jester jaguar garage manage
Words which end with the sound /j/ never end with the letter ‘j’. Words which begin with the sound /j/ can start with the letter ‘j’ or letter
‘g’ followed by letter ‘e’, ‘i’ or ‘y’. This will be taught later (in unit 6). Pronounce the letter ‘u’ in ‘jaguar’ in its long version /ue/ (yoo). Ask
the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘j’, or grapheme ‘ge’, as he/she says the phoneme /j/.
j
ge
Draw a picture from the ‘j’ words above and label:
Draw a picture from the ‘-ge’ words above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘j-ge’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘j-ge’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing words in the lists above. Start with saying the three sound words above very slowly. The learner identifies the sounds
all-through-the-spoken-word and draws a dash for each sound identified and then writes down the corresponding letter shapes. Write ‘ge’ on
one dash. Edit the words whilst finger-tracking underneath. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 17 of 19
sense tense horse morse
gorse house mouse louse
expense
intense
grouse
nurses
purses
immense
In these words, the grapheme ‘se’ respresents the sound /s/. In plural words such as ‘nurses’ the ‘e’ is pronounced as an /u/ (schwa effect).
Pronounce the ‘ur’ in ‘nurses’ and ‘purses’ as the ‘er’ in ‘herbs’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines.
Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘se’ as he/she says the phoneme /s/.
se
Teach that the plural of ‘mouse’ is ‘mice’ and the plural of ‘louse’ is ‘lice’. Revise the spelling pattern of ‘your’ and ‘four’ and note that you
can see this same pattern in ‘of course’ (‘our’ taught in unit 7). Trace over whilst saying the words.
mouse mice
louse
lice
your four
of course
Draw pictures from the word examples above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘-se’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘-se’. Use the back of the folded-up part to practise
spelling and writing. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound in the words. Put the grapheme ‘se’ and other digraphs each on
one dash. Edit (check) each word whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 18 of 19
yes yet my by sunny
shy cry rainy
yellow
yesterday try dry happily
The left column provides word examples of the letter ‘y’ representing a consonant phoneme. The other two columns provide word examples
where the letter ‘y’ represents vowel phonemes. The ‘y’ in the words in the right column is pronounced as a sound between an /i/ and an
/ee/. The letter ‘y’ is pronounced as the long sound /igh/ in the middle column. The interchangeable relationship between the letters and
sounds of ‘i’ and ‘y’ in The Alphabetic Code should be noted. In unit 9, letter ‘y’ is also taught as code for /i/. Ask the learner to say all the
sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and
log under’ and practises writing the letter ‘y’ whilst remembering that it represents the sounds as in the key words of ‘yes, my mummy’.
y
Remember that when the letter ‘y’ appears at the end of a word, it is not going to represent
its consonant sound. When reading the end of a word, try the /igh/ or the /i-ee/ sounds.
Draw a picture from words in the left
column above and label:
Draw a picture from words in the middle
column above and label:
Draw a picture from words in the right
column above and label:
Fold this page up to the bottom of the first ‘y-y-y’ box to hide the words but to reveal the ‘y-y-y’. Use the back of the folded-up part to
practise spelling and writing. At first beginners may only manage the shortest words. Say the words slowly and put a dash for each sound
in the words. Edit (check) each word by sounding out and blending whilst finger-tracking under the graphemes.
Copyright 2007 Debbie Hepplewhite
Unit 5 - Sheet 19 of 19