LumiraWhat is a 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.
The ee vowel team — word list
Every word below appears in the decodable book on this page, so a reader who practises the list will meet the same words again in context.
- bee
- deep
- feet
- free
- green
- keep
- see
- three
- tree
Free decodable book: Decodable Vowel Team EE
This is an original Lumira decodable reader, written so that a child can sound out nearly every word using patterns they have already been taught. The full text is below — read it here, or open it in the app to read it together with the words highlighting as you speak.
Mia can see a bee. Leo can see it too. Mia and Leo see the bee.
Leo sat up a tree. Mia sat up a tree too. Mia and Leo like the tree.
Mia and Leo ran free and free. They did not stop.
Leo got wet feet. Mia got wet feet too. Mia and Leo keep their feet in the sun.
Mia did keep a green hat. Leo did keep a green hat too.
See bee tree free feet deep keep three green. Mia and Leo like them all.
How to teach it
- Say the sound on its own first, several times, before showing any letters.
- Show the spelling and name it explicitly — tell the reader what it says rather than asking them to work it out.
- Blend two or three words from the list together, out loud, slowly.
- Read the decodable book above, where the pattern repeats in real sentences.
- Come back to it two or three days later. Cumulative review is what makes it stick.
Lessons that practise this pattern
Build words: ee vowel team
Read ee as one long e sound in the middle or end of words
Word sort: ea vs ee
Sort words that say long e by their spelling pattern
Word sort: ee, oa, ai
Sort words by their vowel team spelling pattern