Stretchy Teams: ai, ee, igh and oa
🎯 Today's mission briefing
We are learning that some vowel sounds are spelled with a team of letters — ai, ee, igh and oa — and to read words that use them.
You'll know you've got it when:
- I can say ONE stretched sound when I see ai, ee, igh or oa
- I can hunt for a vowel team inside a word before I start sounding it out
- I can read words like 'rain', 'feet', 'night' and 'coat' all by myself, and hear how they are different from 'ran', 'fed', 'net' and 'cot'
The letter that isn't spare
Connects to what your guest already knows and makes them curious. Activating prior knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of new learning.
Helper, write 'ran' and 'rain' one above the other, then read aloud: Two words. Say them with me — ran... rain. Different words, aren't they? A man RAN. The RAIN fell. Now look at them. (Point.) r-a-n. r-a-i-n. Nearly the same — but 'rain' has one extra letter tucked in the middle. So here's the question, and it's a real one: is that little i spare? Is it just sitting there doing nothing? (Let them answer.) No. Nothing in a word is spare. That i has done something you're about to learn: it has grabbed the a and STRETCHED it. Two letters, holding hands, making one long sound. You already know teams — you met sh and ch and th last unit. Today you meet the teams that live in the MIDDLE of words and stretch the vowel right out.