Vowel Teams Teaching Resources
Explore vowel teams worksheets and vowel digraphs games, activities and more — all created by teachers for teachers like you!
Aligned with both the TEKS ELAR and Common Core ELA curriculums, the resources in this collection were designed with your lesson plans — and your students — in mind. Best of all, each digital and printable resource has undergone a thorough review by the expert teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure it's classroom-ready.
New to teaching this section of the curriculum? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a vowel teams definition you can use with your students.
What Is a Vowel Team? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Introducing vowel teams to your class for the first time? Here's a simple definition to explain their meaning.
Vowel teams are groups of two or more vowels that work together to make a specific sound. These vowels work just like a sports team or a team of superheroes, joining forces to create new sounds.
You may also hear these called vowel digraphs.
Vowel Digraphs vs. Vowel Diphthongs
If a vowel team is the same thing as a vowel digraph, does that mean it's the same as a vowel diphthong too?
The short answer is not necessarily!
The longer answer? Digraphs and diphthongs don't just have the "di" prefix in common. They're also both names for combinations of vowels found in words.
In fact, a diphthong is a type of digraph!
But these two building blocks of the English language have some key differences that are worth visiting before you dive into teaching vowel teams!
Here are their key differences.
Vowel Digraphs
When two vowels that are side-by-side in a word work together to represent a single, specific sound or phoneme, it's called a "vowel digraph" or a "vowel team."
When it comes to vowel teams or digraphs:
- Both vowels are pronounced, but they create a single, unified sound.
- They often represent long vowel sounds, short vowel sounds or other specific vowel sounds.
Examples:
- "ai" in "rain" (pronounced as a long "a" sound)
- "oa" in "boat" (pronounced as a long "o" sound)
Vowel Diphthongs
Vowel diphthongs are pairs of adjacent vowels combine to produce what's called a glide or a blending of two distinct vowel sounds within a single syllable.
When it comes to vowel diphthongs:
- The pronunciation starts with the sound of the first vowel and glides into the sound of the second vowel without a clear break between them.
- They often create a unique sound that's different from the individual vowel sounds.
Examples:
- "oi" in "coin" (pronounced as a blend of "o" and "i," not as separate sounds)
- "ou" in "cloud" (pronounced as a blend of "a" and "u," not as separate sounds)
Common Vowel Teams to Teach Your Students
We have already touched on some of vowel digraphs or teams, but if you need a handy list of examples to share with your students, we've got you covered! Here are some of the more common vowel teams we teach our students, plus some examples of words with each team!
ai
- This vowel team makes the long "a" sound.
- Examples include rain, train, pain, sail and mail
ea
- This vowel team can represent different sounds — including the long "e" and short "e" sounds — depending on the word.
- Examples with the long "e" sound include eat, sea, team and read.
- Examples with the short "e" sound include bread, head, and thread.
ee
- The "ee" vowel team produces the long "e" sound.
- Examples: tree, bee, see, meet
ie
- This vowel digraph can make the long "i" sound.
- Examples of the "ie" team include pie, tie and lie.
oa
- The "oa" vowel digraph typically makes the long "o" sound.
- Examples in this vowel team include boat, toast and road.
oi
- The "oi" vowel team creates the "oy" sound.
- Examples include coin and voice.
The vowel team "oi" is commonly found in words like noise and poise.
ue
- This vowel team often makes the long "u" sound.
- Examples include blue and clue.
oo
- The "oo" vowel team can produce two different but distinct sounds — the long "u" sound and the short "oo" sound.
- Examples with the long "u" sound include moon, soon and spoon.
- Examples with the short "oo" sound include book, look and cook.
au
- The "au" vowel team typically makes the "aw" sound.
- Examples include autumn, cause and pause.
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Diphthong Vowel Teams Mini-Book Pack
Learn and practice the different diphthong vowel teams with this set of mini activity books.
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Diphthong Vowel Teams Journal
Help students remember and record words and examples of different diphthong vowel teams during your phonics lessons.
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Diphthong Vowel Team Sound Wall Cards
Use these diphthong vowel team cards as visuals on a sound wall or as flashcards during your phonics lessons.
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Diphthong Vowel Teams Teaching Slides
Teach your students about diphthongs with this set of 23 teaching slides.
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Vowel Team Dominoes - AI and AY
Decode words with vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds using this set of 26 dominoes.
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Vowel Team Dominoes - EE, EA, and EY
Decode words with ee, ea, and ey vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds using this set of 26 dominoes.
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Vowel Teams Sort OA, OW, and OE
Decode words with "oa", "oe", or "ow" long "o" vowel teams using 18 picture cards with sorting mats.
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Vowel Teams Sort EE, EA, and EY
Decode words with EE, EA, or EY long "e" vowel teams using 18 picture cards with sorting mats.
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OA Long Vowel Teams Bingo Game
Practice decoding words with OA vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds with this BINGO game for up to 18 players.
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IE Vowel Team Bingo
Practice decoding words that use the IE vowel team with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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EE Vowel Team Bingo
Practice decoding words that use the EE vowel team convention with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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EA Vowel Team Bingo Game
Practice decoding words that include the EA long /e/ vowel team sound with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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Vowel Teams Picture Puzzle
Practice decoding words with long vowel team conventions with this 15 piece picture puzzle.
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'AI' Diphthong Vowel Team Board Game
Decode words with the ai long vowel team in this word card board game.
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OA Vowel Team Board Game
Practice decoding words with the oa vowel team in this board game.
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'EA' Vowel Team Board Game
Decode words with the ea long vowel team in this printable board game.
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Diphthong Vowel Team 'AY' Bingo
Practice decoding words that include the AY long /a/ vowel team sound with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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Diphthong Vowel Team 'AI' Bingo
Practice decoding words that use the AI vowel team convention with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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'AY' Diphthong Vowel Team Board Game
Decode words with the ay long vowel team in this board game.
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Football Vowel Teams Worksheets
Practice reading and spelling words using vowel teams with a set of fun Football themed phonics worksheets.
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R-Controlled Vowel Posters
Supplement your phonics curriculum with an R-controlled vowel poster display.
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Google Interactive R-Controlled Vowel Word Building Activity
Build an engaging literacy center or station activity around r-controlled vowels with a Google Slides Interactive Activity.
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This or That! PowerPoint Game - Vowel Teams
An active PowerPoint game to practice decoding words with vowel teams.
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Building Sundaes Game - Vowel Teams (OA, OW, OE, and EY)
Decode words with OA, OW, OE, and EY long vowel teams by crafting cute desserts!
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Building Sundaes Game - Vowel Teams (AI, AY, EE, and EA)
Decode words with ay, ai, ea, and ee long vowel teams by crafting cute desserts!
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IE Vowel Team Board Game
Practice decoding words with the ie vowel team in this board game.
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Four In A Row Vowel Teams Game — EE, EA, and EY
Decode words with EE, EA, and EY vowel teams representing the long 'e' vowel sound.
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Vowel Digraphs Poster Pack
A poster showing words and pictures for various vowel blends.
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Vowel Digraph Bingo
30 different bingo cards using vowel digraph graphemes.