Year 1Vowel teams
ai words
The letters a and i work together to make the long /ai/ sound.
ai/ā/ as in train
Words with ai
Tap a word to see its sounds and hear it.
ai in the middle
Read ai in a sentence.
Every sentence is checked against the sound.
- 1Paint the tail of the snail.
- 2Rain fell on the train.
- 3We wait in the rain.
- 4The paint is on my nails.
How to teach ai
- Introduce the vowel digraph. Explain that a vowel digraph is two vowels that work together to make one sound.
- Model saying the target phoneme three times.
- Students repeat.
- Check articulation and correct mouth placement.
- Identify the phoneme in the example words.
- Explain the spelling generalisation: We usually use ai in the middle of words (e.g. rain, train, paint). At the end of a word or syllable, we usually use ay instead (e.g. play, day, tray).
Decodable stories with ai.
From the Phonicspal library. Sign up free to read them.
Make a whole ai lesson.
Slides, words and sentences, matched to the sounds your class has learned.