Phase 7: consonant digraphs
The sounds this phase adds, the words that have to be learned by sight, and every everyday word a child who has been taught them can sound out.
The sounds this phase adds
- ch
- sh
- th
- ng
- nk
By the end of this phase a child has met 36 sounds altogether.
Words to learn by sight
These cannot be sounded out with the letters taught so far, so they are simply learned. Every phonics programme has a handful of them and this is ours.
- were
- there
- little
- one
- when
- out
What this phase buys
13 everyday words a child could not read before this phase and can read after it. This is the list worth practising, because the rest they already have.
long much such than that them then this with month thing think change
Everything they can read by the end of it
Every word in the first five hundred of English that a child who has been taught these sounds can work out for themselves. There are 197 of them, shortest first. This list is not written by hand: it is produced by running the words through the same check that decides whether a page of one of our books may use a word at all.
an as at by if in is it of on up and any ask bad bag bat bed big bin bit bog box bug bun bus but can cap cot cup cut dad dam den did dig din dog dot end fan fig fin fit fix fog fox fun gap get got had ham has hat hen him his hit hog hop hot hug hut its jam jet jog jug kit lad lap led leg let lit log lot mad man map mat men met mix mop mug nap net not nut off old pan pat peg pen pet pig pin pit pop pot pup put rag ram ran rat red rug run sad sat set sit six sun tag tan tap ten tin top try tug two van wag wax wet wig win yet also back buzz call city even find fizz from hand help hiss just kind kiss land last left list long many mess mind miss much must next only open stop such talk tell than that them then this want well went will with began money month often plant quick small spell still study thing think until animal change family second example sentence
The sight words above are not in this list, because they are not sounded out. Print this page and the two lists come out separately, which is how they should be practised.
How a book uses this
Nothing before its time
A book written for a child at phase 7 is checked word by word against this list. A draft that reaches for a sound from a later phase is sent back and written again, rather than shipped with a word the child will stall on.
Names are the exception
A story about a dragon called Ferdinand should not spend its whole allowance of tricky words on the name. Character names are exempt from the check and are the only thing that is.