Diphthong Sounds (oi, oy, ou, ow) — Drag Drop
Literacy · Grades 2–3 · 1 card
How to run it
Ask the student to say the word and name the spelling before each move — house, o-u — so both the sound and the pattern get produced. Because the set is small, use it as a check on the rule rather than as the place the rule is taught: a student who can place all five and say why has the position pattern, and one who cannot needs the full flashcard deck first.
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 'toy' and 'house'.
Read the words in a sentence, or spell them from dictation.
Matching IEP goal
Given decodable word cards, such as 'toy' and 'house', 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
A short drag-and-drop round using five of the diphthong words — toy, house, mouse, cow, brown — derived from the sixteen-word flashcard deck. The board is deliberately small, which makes it a good warm-up or a closing check rather than a full practice: five items moved and named is two minutes of work.
What to listen for
Watch whether the student reasons or guesses. Five items is few enough that guessing can produce a perfect score, so the explanation is the data — house has ou because the sound is in the middle. Notice house and mouse together, which share both the spelling and the rhyme and are easy to place correctly for the wrong reason.
Carrying it home
Sorting five words by their spelling pattern is a two-minute task on paper. The words are common enough that a family can find more in any book — house, town, boy and cow turn up on almost every page of an early reader, and spotting them is the whole activity.
What's in this activity
- toy
- house
- mouse
- cow
- brown
Questions
- How does this differ from the flashcards?
- It uses five of the sixteen words and asks the student to place them rather than read them. It is a check rather than a full practice.
- Is it free?
- Yes, no account needed.
- Which should I use first?
- The flashcard deck, which covers all four spellings with four examples each. Use this afterwards to check the position rule is holding.
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.