Vowel teams are found in a lot of words! Because of this, it is important for teachers to spend a fair amount of time teaching these sounds. It can be difficult to keep this topic engaging and exciting, but luckily there are SEVERAL great resources available! Take a look at a few of these resources below!

First off, what are vowel teams?

Vowel teams are two or more consecutive letters that represent one long vowel sound. Examples of vowel teams:

• ai
• ay
• ea
• ee
• ey
• ie
• oa
• oe
• oo
• ue
• ui
• au
• ou
• oi
• oy
• ow
• igh

The common core standard that applies to vowel teams in 2nd grade are:

1.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.B
Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams

Engaging Vowel Teams Resources

Vowel Teams Songs & Games

Songs and games never fail to engage little learners! Here are a few teacher and student loved choices.

When Two Vowels Go Walking-Jack Hartmann Vowel Teams Song

The Double Letter Vowel Song-Best Phonics

Vowel Team Game Collection

Wordwall.net features over 60 interactive games that work on reading vowel teams and are sound specific!

Splash & Learn Vowel Team Games

For this site, educators will need to create a free account as well as logins for their students. They can then assign certain reading (and math) skills to students based on individual needs. What an easy and fun way to differentiate!

Lucky Little Learners Resources

If you need engaging vowel teams activities, then Lucky Little Learners has got you covered! Not only are these activities super kid friendly and included meaningful learning exercises, they are also available in printable AND digital format! Check out these amazing resources below!

Phonics Day by Day

This massive resource includes a week's work of activities for each of 52 different sound patterns, including vowel team words!

There are other benefits of this resource as well:

• No Prep-print and go for the week!

• They are scaffolded with increased complexity throughout the week

• The sounds can be arranged in any order to match whatever curriculum is being used!

Read more about how Phonics Day by Day can give you the tools you need to ensure your students are reviewing phonics every day all year long! Bonus: Click here to try a week of Phonics Day by Day free.

Phonics Centers

Centers are a great way for students to practice independent working skills and with the Phonics Centers resource, teachers can pick and choose which skills their students are working on. The centers include over 40 centers and include activities for all of the long vowel teams, variant vowels and diphthongs. These centers are arranged by skill rather than a seasonal or holiday theme.

Take a sneak peek at these kid friendly and engaging phonics center activities!

1st & 2nd Grade Phonics Toothy

Toothy is HANDS DOWN a favorite activity for students! If you are new to Toothy, start here at All Things Toothy on the blog.

Students will love drawing in those teeth while getting their much needed vowel teams practice! Does this sound intriguing? If so, try Phonics Toothy FREE Here: Free Phonics Toothy Games

Phonics Mats: 1st & 2nd Grade

Another great way to practice phonics skills is through Phonics Mats. This resource works great in small group, whole group, as morning work or a station. Students will get multiple benefits from Phonics Mats. First, they will get fluency practice from reading the passage. They will get sound work from highlighting the targeted sound words and writing them in alphabetical order. Last, they will practice sounding out the picture words and coloring those that contain the targeted sound.

Read more about Phonics Mats and try them for FREE here: Free Phonics Worksheets.

Phonics Posters

Instead of a word wall, try a sound wall! This could take the form of a vowel team chart, poster, or individual sound cards. Using a classroom sound wall (with pictures of how to form the sounds) is backed by the science of reading! In the Sound Wall resource bundle, phonics posters are also included. These posters highlight the targeted sound and list words using the sound. Here is a post that will walk you through a lesson on vowel teams using the sound wall.

Learn more about the Sound Wall and Phonics Posters here: Let's Talk About the Classroom Sound Wall.

How to Teach Other 2nd Grade Phonics Skills

Is it time to teach a different phonics pattern? Check out these posts!

• Silent Letters
• Short Vowels
• Short Vowel Digraphs
• Long Vowels
• Vowel Teams
• Teaching Vowel Teams
• Diphthongs
• Inflected Endings
• Syllable Patterns/Multisyllabic Words
• Contractions
• Hard & Soft C/G