Unit 1

Reading longer words

Read words with ai, ee, oa, ar, or and er, and split long words into short parts you can already read.

1. Read

   Long words are short parts

   Kabir walks into the hall and sees a word above his peg. It is a long one. Raincoat. It has eight letters. His tummy does a little flip.

   Then he looks again. He sees rain. He sees coat. Rain, coat. Raincoat!

   The long word was never one big problem. It was two small, easy ones, stuck together.

   

   Letters that work as a team

   Some sounds are written with two letters. You already know a lot of letter sounds. Now meet six pairs that show up in many longer words.

   

   Vowel teams. Two vowels sit together and make one sound. Most of the time the first one says its name.

   • ai says "ay": rain, tail, paint.
   • ee says "ee": feet, seed, sleep.
   • oa says "oh": boat, coat, goat.

   Vowel + r. When an r comes after a vowel, it changes the vowel's sound. The two letters make one sound together.

   • ar says "ar": car, farm, market.
   • or says "or": fork, corn, corner.
   • er says "er": her, fern, sister.

   Do not sound out the vowel and the r one at a time. Read the pair as one sound: f-ar-m, not f-a-r-m.

   What is a syllable?

   Clap as you say rabbit. Rab (clap) bit (clap). Two claps. Each clap is one syllable, a beat inside a word.

   Every syllable has one vowel sound in it. A vowel team or a vowel + r counts as one vowel sound.

   Word	Claps	Parts
   sun	1	sun
   rabbit	2	rab · bit
   farmer	2	far · mer
   butterfly	3	but · ter · fly

   If you speak Hindi, you do this already. कमल (kamal, a lotus) has two beats: ka and mal.

   How to read a long word

   1. Look for the parts. Find the vowel sounds. Look for a small word you know, such as rain in raincoat.
   2. Split the word between the parts. When two letters in the middle are not a team, split between them: rab·bit, bas·ket, pic·nic.
   3. Read each part on its own.
   4. Slide the parts together, then ask: is this a word I know?

   Example. The word is market.

   • Look: I see ar in the middle. That is one sound.
   • Split: mar · ket.
   • Read the parts: "mar", "ket".
   • Slide them: market. Yes! A place where people sell vegetables.

   Example. The word is sleepy.

   • Look: ee is a team. It says "ee".
   • Split: sleep · y.
   • Read the parts: "sleep", "y".
   • Slide them: sleepy.

   Be careful!

   • Split the sounds, not the letters. The pair ar in farm is one sound. Never cut it in half (fa·rm is wrong).
   • One vowel sound is one syllable. Rain has two vowel letters but only one vowel sound, so it is one beat.
   • Check your answer. If the word you made does not sound like a real word, split it a different way and try again.

   Try it: Find three long words on a food packet, a street sign or a book. Split each one into parts with a pencil line. Clap it. Do the claps match the parts?

   For the grown-up helping

   Let your child be the one to find the parts; you point and wait. If they stumble, ask "What small part can you see?" rather than saying the word. Put your finger over half a word to make it smaller. Reading a whole word one letter at a time is normal at first, and it will speed up. If your child splits a word in a different place from this page (for example pa·per), that is fine as long as they end up reading the whole word correctly.

2. Lab

   The word splitter

   Cut eight long words into their parts by tapping the gaps between letters. Say each word out loud, one part at a time.

   Your goals

   • Split all eight words into the right parts.
   • Keep vowel teams and vowel + r pairs together, never cut through them.

   🔒 The interactive lab opens once you register. Register to do this.

3. Activity

   Word-part cards

   Your child builds long words from part cards, then splits long words found at home. About 15 minutes.

   You'll need

   • Paper or thin card
   • A marker or thick pencil
   • Scissors (for the grown-up)

   Steps

   1. The grown-up writes these parts on separate pieces of paper, one part per piece: rain, coat, sun, set, pic, nic, far, mer, mar, ket, sleep, y, cor, ner, week, end. Cut them apart.
   2. Mix the pieces up on the table. Ask your child to find two pieces that make a word. Join them side by side and read each part, then slide them together: rain-coat, raincoat.
   3. Make as many words as you can. Say the word aloud, and ask 'Which part has a vowel team or a vowel + r?' (rain has ai, far has ar, sleep has ee, cor has or).
   4. Now go the other way. Write one new long word on paper, for example painter, basket or boating. Your child draws a line between the parts, claps the beats, and reads the parts and then the whole word.
   5. Go on a word hunt around the home. Find three long words on packets, books or signs. Your child splits each word with a pencil line and reads it.

   Safety

   • The grown-up does all the cutting. Keep small paper pieces away from babies and toddlers.

   🔒 Keeping a log of the activity is for registered learners. Register to do this.

4. Quick check

   Long words check

   Six questions about long words and their parts.

   1. 1.Join the two parts. What word do they make?

      

      Answer with a word or phrase

   2. 2.Which word has the vowel team ai?

      • tail
      • tell
      • tall

      Choose one

   3. 3.Which words have a vowel + r pair (ar, or or er)?

      • farm
      • cat
      • corn
      • fern
      • boat

      Choose all that apply

   4. 4.How many syllables (beats) are in the word butterfly?

      Answer with a number

   5. 5.Which is the best way to split rabbit into parts?

      • rab | bit
      • ra | bbit
      • rabb | it

      Choose one

   6. 6.Match each word to the letters that make its middle sound.

      • boat
      • feet
      • rain

      Match each to: ee · ai · oa

   7. 7.Put the steps for reading a long word in order.

      • Read each part on its own
      • Slide the parts together
      • Look for the parts
      • Split the word between the parts

      Put these in order

   🔒 Answering and checking are for registered learners. Register to do this.

5. Quick check

   New puzzles

   Words you have not seen in the reading. Use what you know about parts.

   1. 1.How many syllables (beats) are in the word tomorrow?

      Answer with a number

   2. 2.Which is the best way to split carpet into parts?

      • car | pet
      • ca | rpet
      • carp | et

      Choose one

   3. 3.Here are three made-up words. Which one rhymes with deep?

      • greep
      • graip
      • groap

      Choose one

   4. 4.Which words are made by joining two shorter words you know?

      • sunset
      • rabbit
      • raincoat
      • farmer

      Choose all that apply

   5. 5.Which word has a vowel team AND a vowel + r pair?

      • painter
      • market
      • floating

      Choose one

   🔒 Answering and checking are for registered learners. Register to do this.

6. Activity

   Tell it back

   Your child explains how they read a long word they have not seen before. Three minutes.

   Steps

   1. Write a long word your child has probably not met, such as farmyard, painting or sailboat. Ask 'Can you read this one? How will you do it?'
   2. Let your child try. Don't give hints at first. If they are stuck, ask 'Can you see a small part you know?'
   3. Afterwards ask 'What would you tell a friend who was scared of a long word?' Write down what your child says, in their words.

   🔒 Keeping a log of the activity is for registered learners. Register to do this.