Lumira

Phonics

Every phonics pattern, with a word list and a free decodable book

79 patterns across 13 families — each with the words, the full text of an original decodable reader, and how to teach it.

Pick the pattern a reader is stuck on. Every page has a word list drawn from real text, a complete free decodable book that practises the pattern in sentences, and a short teaching sequence. Nothing here needs an account.

Consonant blend

In a consonant blend, two consonants sit side by side and both sounds are still heard. Blends trip up a lot of readers because the sounds run together quickly — the fix is slowing down and stretching each sound in turn, not memorising the pair as a unit.

Consonant digraph

In a digraph, two letters work together to make a single new sound that neither letter makes on its own. Readers need to be taught explicitly that the pair is one sound, or they will try to blend two.

Diphthong

A diphthong is a vowel sound that glides from one position to another inside a single syllable — your mouth moves as you say it. They are best taught as one unit rather than as two separate vowel sounds.

R-controlled vowel

When a vowel is followed by r, the r changes the vowel sound entirely — it is neither long nor short. These are sometimes called bossy-r vowels, and they need to be taught as their own category rather than as vowel-plus-r.

Schwa

The schwa is the lazy, unstressed vowel sound at the heart of many English words. It is the most common vowel sound in the language and the one that makes spelling feel unpredictable, so hearing it deliberately is worth practising.

Short vowel

Short vowel sounds are the foundation of decoding. Once a reader can hear and write the five short vowels inside simple consonant-vowel-consonant words, most of the early reading code opens up.

Silent letter

Some English words keep a letter that is no longer pronounced, usually for historical reasons. Readers need to recognise the pair on sight so they do not try to sound out a letter that is not there.

Soft consonant

Some consonants take a second, softer sound in particular positions — usually before e, i or y. Teaching the rule explicitly turns a source of guessing into something predictable.

Spelling pattern

Some spelling patterns do not fit a tidy category but appear often enough to be worth teaching directly rather than leaving a reader to guess.

Split vowel (magic e)

A silent e at the end of a word reaches back over one consonant and makes the vowel say its own name. It is one of the highest-value patterns in English because it changes the meaning of so many short words.

Syllable pattern

Syllable patterns tell a reader where to break a longer word so it can be decoded in chunks. They are the bridge between reading short words and reading multisyllabic ones.

Vowel team

In a vowel team, two or more letters combine to spell one vowel sound. English has many of them and several spell more than one sound, so each team needs explicit teaching and plenty of practice in real words.

Word family

Word families group words that share the same ending sound and spelling. Because only the first letter changes, they are one of the fastest ways for a beginning reader to go from decoding single sounds to reading whole words with confidence.

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