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 short 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.
- book
- brook
- cook
- foot
- good
- hook
- look
- shook
- stood
- too
- took
- wood
- wool
Free decodable book: Decodable Vowel Team OO (Book)
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 had a good book. Leo had a good book too.
Leo can look at the book. Mia can look at the book too.
Mia and Leo stood on the wood. The wood is good.
Leo took a hook. Mia took a hook too. Mia and Leo took a look.
Mia can cook. Leo can cook too. Mia and Leo can cook.
A brook is good for a look. Mia and Leo stood at the brook.
Book look foot wood good cook hook took shook brook wool stood.
Mia and Leo had a good look at the brook. They like it.
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 (short, book)
Read oo as short /ʊ/ as in book — same spelling, different sound
Word sort: oo (long vs short)
Sort oo words by whether they say the long moon sound or the short book sound