Bringing Phonics to Life: Consonant Digraphs

Before my Orton Gillingham training, I didn't think my students needed to know the technical vocabulary of phonics. Boy was I wrong. "When you know better, you do better".

Consonant digraphs can be a really fun phonics concept to teach! First, let's talk about the what.

What is a consonant digraphs?

A consonant digraph is 2 consonants working together to make 1 new sound. Digraphs can be found at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of words.

There are many consonant digraphs, but start teaching your students the most common first. In our scope and sequence we start with <sh>, then move on to <ch>, <th>, and <wh>. We save <ph> for later, because although it is on the list for the 5 most common digraphs, it's not THAT common in early decodable readers.

When should you teach consonant digraphs?

Digraphs fit perfectly after teaching open and closed syllables! At this point, students are usually working on blending 2 and 3 letter words. The beauty of digraphs is that you're adding another letter, so the words are getting longer, BUT your students still only have to remember 2-3 sounds. You may have noticed the jump to consonant blends has been tricky for some of your kids because their working memory isn't strong enough yet to hold that many sounds in their brains (but we'll get to that in next week's post). You won't have that problem with consonant digraphs, especially if you teach each digraph explicitly. So let's talk about how to do that!

How Do I Bring Phonics To Life With Consonant Digraphs?

Paint!

Who doesn't like to paint? Use paint to show how 2 different colors mix together to make a brand new color. Then connect that concept to 2 consonants "mixing together" to make a brand new sound!

You can make this easy on yourself. Paper plates for your palette, Q-tips for your brush and index cards for your canvas. Have your students paint 2 circles of different colors, then connect them by mixing the colors together. Let that dry. Go back later with a sharpie marker and write the 2 letters in the outside paint splotches, and the digraph in the middle. 

Visuals!

Your students won't soon forget how fun it was to paint digraphs, but you can remind them of the activity with this consonant digraph poster for your classroom! Just click the image below to get your own copy to print.

Hand Motions!

Making phonics multisensory is not only fun, but it helps make stronger connections in the brain. Below you'll find an image of an easy hand motion you can use with consonant digraphs. Every time you go over this concept you can say, "digraphs are 2 consonants (hold up 2 fingers), that make 1 sound (cross your fingers together)". You can even use this hand motion as a nonverbal cue to draw your readers attention to a digraph in a word if they make an error.

Fun Practice!

You might think a word list is boring, but if you do, you're doing it wrong. This is your chance to bring out the special reading tools.

• highlighters
• gel pens
• scented markers
• invisible ink
• witches fingers for tracking
• googly eye rings for tracking (we call these our Reading Buddies)
• tiny cars to "race" under the words
• finger flashlights to read in the dark

Make it fun! Make it exciting! Make reading the same word list multiple times feel like the best accomplishment known to man! I won't lie to you, sometimes we take a break and do a happy dance after we've finished a section. This is especially important if you've got a group with energy to expend.

Can someone just put all of this together for me?

Done!

If you are looking for a unit on consonant digraphs that is already created for you... you're in luck! Our "Digital Science of Reading Phonics Lessons" have everything that you need to teach your students about <sh>, <ch>, <th>, <wh>, and <ph>. Just pull up the digital lessons on your smartboard, print off the coordinating materials for each lesson, and you are set!

These lessons are HIGHLY engaging and include the following for each concept:

Digital lessons... decodable word lists... student encoding pages with teacher guides... & decodable readers... Ready to go!

 To grab your bundle of lessons, click on the link of your choosing below!

Note: The Teachers Pay Teachers bundle does not include digraph <ph>, the bundle on our website does.

Our lessons can supplement any curriculum, but if you already have lessons that you love and just need some fun and games, check out our "Set & Forget" centers for consonant digraphs (click the image below)