LumiraWhat is a 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.
o words (as in mother) — 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.
- cover
- front
- son
- sponge
- to
- ton
- too
- won
- wonder
Free decodable book: Decodable O (Mother)
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 sat at the front. Leo sat at the front too.
Leo is a son. Mia and Leo won a prize.
Mia had a sponge. Leo had a sponge too. Mia and Leo used the sponge to cover it.
Mia and Leo did wonder. They wonder and wonder. It was fun.
Front son ton won wonder sponge cover. 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
o says short u (mother, front)
Read o as short /u/ in a small set of words