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Teach A Child To Read!

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Lesson 3: First Digraphs

Once your child is able to sound through basic words with beginning sounds (see Lesson 1 and Lesson 2) you are ready to start adding new phonics rules. It is important to remember to follow the lessons in the order we have developed. The logic will become clear as you work through the program.

The four common consonant digraphs we will introduce next are:
Ch, Sh, Th and Ph.

We like to explain to younger children that when these letters get together, they are not just sitting next to each other. It's more like a marriage: When two people get married, they become a whole new family. In the same way, when C and H get together, they aren't just 'c' (hard c sound) and 'h' (h sound). They are now a couple, and say 'ch' (as in chop).

When s and h get together, they say 'sh' as in shop.

When t and h get together, they say 'th' as in thank you or 'th' as in the.

When p and h get together, they say 'f' as in phone.

Once your child can recognize the ch, sh, th and ph combinations, practice reading words and creating word families that use short vowels and these digraphs. Some words you can start with are chap, chop, chin, etc.

We suggest you make up the words and let the child read them. Your student knows a lot of words that have more advanced phonics rules that have not been studied yet, and they may become confused if you try to explain the different rules that apply. We suggest you stick with words that follow the rules learned so far.

As with every rule, introduce one combination, practice it by itself, then in simple words. Once your student knows all four sounds and can read words with the letters at the beginning (ship) and at the end (catch), go back and review all the basic letter sounds from lesson 1.

The amount of time and number of lessons it takes your child to become proficient with these sounds depends entirely on the child. Take your time, make sure they are able to articulate the proper sounds for each letter and blend. On the other hand, you don't want to bore your student. Once they have gained proficiency in sounding through words with basic letters and blends, a quick review at the beginning of each lesson is enough, and usually takes only a minute or two.

Do not move on until your child is ready. Of course, you may be shocked at how quickly your student catches on and is ready to move on!

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