Vowel Teams

Vowel Teams is the next syllable type to introduce.  This page will focus on: ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, and oe.  

What is a vowel team?  
Simply, it's two vowels that are next to each other that work together to make one vowel sound.  Even though there are more vowel teams to introduce later, these will be our focus since they are considered regular vowel teams.  They are regular because the sound they produce is a typical vowel sound.  Specifically, a long vowel sound.  The other vowel teams that will be taught a bit later are considered irregular vowel teams because the sound they produce is its own unique sound.

How to teach these vowel teams?
Do not teach these vowel teams all in one day.  I would first group the vowel teams together by sound.  

ai and ay = long a

ee and ea = long e

oa and oe = long o

I typically will teach ai and ay first.  Take one or two days to teach ai and then move to ay.  Continue with the long e vowel teams in the same manner and then the long o vowel teams.  As always, do some practice activities but most importantly practice reading words, sentences, and/or stories with these vowel teams.  Also, be sure to have your student practice spelling words with these phonics patterns through dictation.  Spelling naturally lags behind reading, so be sure to spiral review previous phonics patterns as well.  Below you will find info and resources for each vowel team.

Need help remembering what sound the vowel team makes?
Some like to say: When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.  It may be helpful to point out that the first vowel in the team decides the sound.

C    L    O    V    E    R

So far the syllable types that have been taught in this sequence are:

C - Closed Syllables

L - not taught yet

O - Open Syllables

V - Vowel Teams

E - Vowel Consonant Silent E (V_E)

R - not formally taught yet

In order to mark the syllable type for Vowel Teams you simply mark a V under the vowels.  V can signify Vowel but I also like to think of it as two arms joining or pointing to the two vowels.

Spelling:  How do I know when to use ee and when to use ea if the rule is the same for both vowel teams?
Unfortunately, there is no magic rule to be able to tell the difference.  However, the more exposure a student has to seeing and reading these types of words the easier it will be to know if the word uses ee or ea.  Some may say that a lot of eating and drinking words use ea.  This is helpful but not 100% reliable.  When your student is deciding between ee and ea it, is best to let them know which one is correct so they can make sure to learn it the correct way.