The digraph ‘ou’
                              


 

the sun comes out ~ from behind the cloud

The digraph 'ou' is taught in the same way as 'ar',
following Units 1 to 4 above.

Notes

For house and mouse, teach: “And E at the end, for no reason at all.”  Say this as a refrain each time children write the E at the end of the word. There is a reason for the E, of course, but it’s too complicated to explain just now. The ‘for no reason at all’ is necessary because it stops children puzzling and thinking they’ve not understood something. And the refrain is great because it helps them remember the E!

When you teach found, pound and ground for the first time, children may have difficulty noticing the ‘n’ sound.  The lines each side of the ou are useful here because they draw attention to the fact that there are two letters after the ou. You could anticipate this difficulty by saying the word particularly clearly and exaggerating the ‘n’ sound.  Another thing that works well is to ask the child to write in the last letter of the word first. This is easy to hear. You can then think about the sound that goes in the gap.

Short easy sentences

As well as your own sentences, you might like to try some of these.