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 oo vowel team (the long sound) — 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.
- boot
- broom
- cool
- food
- hoop
- moon
- pool
- roof
- room
- spoon
- too
- tooth
- zoo
Free decodable book: Decodable Vowel Team OO (Moon)
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 and Leo saw the moon. The moon is at the top.
Leo had food in a spoon. Mia had food in a spoon too.
Mia and Leo sat in a room. The room is cool.
Leo can hop in the pool. Mia can hop in the pool too.
Mia and Leo went to the zoo. The zoo is fun.
Leo got a big boot. Mia got a big boot too.
Moon food room boot zoo cool spoon tooth pool broom roof hoop.
Mia and Leo had a cool day at the zoo too.
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
oo vowel team (long, moon)
Read oo as long /ū/ as in moon
Word sort: oo (long vs short)
Sort oo words by whether they say the long moon sound or the short book sound