📖 ReadingLevel 1Lesson 3
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Consonant Digraphs — ch, sh, th, and wh

Lesson preview: the Mini Lesson and Vocabulary are open to everyone. Guided practice, exercises, the parent checklist and the printable PDF worksheet come with full access (free 7-day trial or membership).

What you will learn

  • 1Recognize that ch, sh, th, and wh are two letters that make one new sound
  • 2Read words beginning or ending with ch, sh, th, and wh correctly
  • 3Sort words by their digraph sound into the correct group
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Mini Lesson

You have learned to blend three sounds in CVC words. Today you will learn about digraphs — pairs of letters that team up to make one brand-new sound. Neither letter says its usual sound; together they make something new!

ch — the "chuh" sound

  • Sounds like: ch in chip, chat, bench, much
  • Say it: put your tongue behind your top teeth and push air out — ch!

sh — the "shh" sound

  • Sounds like: sh in ship, shop, fish, dash
  • Say it: put a finger to your lips like "shh!" — that is the sound.

th — the "thh" sound

  • Sounds like: th in this, that, thin, bath
  • Say it: put your tongue gently between your teeth and blow.

wh — the "wh" sound

  • Sounds like: wh in when, whip, which, where
  • In most accents it sounds like a regular /w/ — wh words are often question words!

Words to know

Digraph

Two letters that work together to make ONE new sound

e.g. ch, sh, th, wh

Consonant

A letter that is not a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)

e.g. b, c, d, f, g, h…

The four consonant digraphsFour colored tiles showing ch, sh, th, and wh, each with a simple icon and an example word.Two letters → one new soundchchairshshipththumbwhwhale
Four digraphs — each pair of letters makes one fresh sound.
A digraph is 2 letters joined to make 1 soundFour rows show each pair of letters (c + h, s + h, t + h, w + h) being joined by a bracket into a single sound shown coming out of a speaker.2 letters = 1 soundc+h"ch"/ch/s+h"sh"/sh/t+h"th"/th/w+h"wh"/w/Two letters — one fresh sound out of the speaker.
Each pair of letters joins into a single fresh sound.
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Ask yourself: "Do I see two letters together at the start or end of this word? What one sound do they make?"

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← Lesson 2: Blending CVC WordsLesson 4: Consonant Blends — bl, cr, st, tr, and pl →