Consonant Digraph Sounds (sh, ch, th, wh) — Spelling
Literacy · Grades 1–2 · 16 cards
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Say the word, ask which two letters make that sound, then build it. The middle question is the whole activity — a child who can answer it will spell the word, and a child who cannot will guess at the vowel and get the digraph wrong too. Sort the sixteen by digraph as you go, so the student meets four sh words in a row rather than a mixed list.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and wait 3 seconds for the student to read it.Log as correct
- Point to itPoint to the letter pattern that matters, or tap under each sound.Log as cued
- Sound it outSay the first sound together, then let the student blend the rest.Log as cued
- ModelRead it, tapping each sound; the student reads it after you.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer cards and start with the patterns the student already reads, such as 'ship' and 'shell'.
Read the words in a sentence, or spell them from dictation.
Matching IEP goal
Given decodable word cards, such as 'ship' and 'shell', Student will read the target pattern accurately in 8 of 10 words across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
The sixteen digraph words — ship, shell, fish, wash, chip, chair, beach, lunch, thin, think, bath, tooth, whale, wheel, when, white — as a spelling task. Derived from the flashcard deck, and it addresses the specific confusion that digraphs create in writing: a child who hears one sound has to produce two letters, and the pair is not predictable from the sound alone.
What to listen for
Watch for the digraph split across a syllable boundary in the longer words. Lunch and beach put the digraph at the end where children often write only one letter, and wash is the one most often spelled with an s alone. Notice whether the vowel or the digraph is the error — they are different problems and easy to conflate when the whole word is wrong.
Carrying it home
Ask for the two letters rather than the whole word. What two letters make the sound at the start of ship is a question that fits in a car and targets exactly the thing.
What's in this activity
- ship
- shell
- fish
- wash
- chip
- chair
- beach
- lunch
- thin
- think
- bath
- tooth
- whale
- wheel
- when
- white
Questions
- Is this the same as the flashcard deck?
- Same sixteen words, built from letters instead of read from a card. It suits students working on digraphs in spelling as well as in reading or speech.
- Is it free?
- Yes, no account or card needed.
- Why is 'wash' spelled with sh when it sounds like it could be s?
- Because it is a genuine /sh/ sound at the end. Hearing the difference between wash and was is a useful contrast to draw directly, since the spelling follows the sound here.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.