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New
Year 6

Recognising the different sounds made by the letter strings 'ough' and 'au'

I can recognise when words might be spelt with the letter strings 'ough' and 'au'.

New
New
Year 6

Recognising the different sounds made by the letter strings 'ough' and 'au'

I can recognise when words might be spelt with the letter strings 'ough' and 'au'.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The 'ough' spelling can make a variety of sounds.
  2. The 'au' spelling can make a variety of sounds.
  3. When you hear one of these sounds, the word might contain the 'ough' or 'au' spelling.
  4. The pronunciation of the 'au' letter string may vary depending on accent.
  5. How to spell the curriculum words: amateur and sacrifice.

Keywords

  • Letter string - a group of letters that are written together in a word

  • Phoneme - the smallest unit of sound that can change a word's meaning

  • Digraph - two letters that represent one sound

Common misconception

Pupils might think that all words with the letter strings 'ough' and 'au' are pronounced the same way.

Show pupils that these letter strings can sound different depending on the word they are in. Explore different words and talk about which sounds are the most and least common.

Take time to discuss the words in this lesson as there may be unfamiliar vocabulary. Pupils need to understand the meaning of words if they are expected to be able to spell them. Take note of your children's accents, particularly in learning cycle 2.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Identify the spellings that contain the 'or' sound.
Correct answer: warm
laugh
Correct answer: naughty
tower
Correct answer: thought
Q2.
Match the 'or' sound spellings to the correct words.
Correct Answer:door,oor

oor

Correct Answer:morning,or

or

Correct Answer:jigsaw,aw

aw

Correct Answer:pause,au

au

Correct Answer:thought,ough

ough

Q3.
Which sentences are in the past tense?
I buy a pint of milk.
Correct answer: I bought a pint of milk.
I think it is my friend's birthday today.
Correct answer: I thought it was my friend's birthday today.
Q4.
Match the words to the number of phonemes they contain.
Correct Answer:walking,5

5

Correct Answer:more,2

2

Correct Answer:bought,3

3

Q5.
Which of the following words are homophones?
play
Correct answer: pause
plane
Correct answer: paws
Q6.
Choose the correct spelling of the word in bold in the following sentence: 'I like to jror in my sketchbook.'
dror
drawer
Correct answer: draw
droor

6 Questions

Q1.
Identify the words containing the 'ough' letter string.
Correct answer: tough
outdoor
scuffle
Correct answer: nought
story
Q2.
Match the words to the sound that the ‘ough’ letter string is making.
Correct Answer:brought,or

or

Correct Answer:through,oo

oo

Correct Answer:dough,oa

oa

Q3.
Match the words to the sound that the ‘au’ letter string is making.
Correct Answer:haunt,or

or

Correct Answer:vault,o

o

Correct Answer:aunt,ar or a

ar or a

Q4.
Choose the correct spelling of the word in bold in the following sentence: 'You need to crawl throw the tunnel.'
throo
threw
thruogh
Correct answer: through
Q5.
Choose the correct spelling of the word in bold in the following sentence: 'There were rumours that the house was hawnted.'
hornted
Correct answer: haunted
houghnted
horented
Q6.
Write the correct spelling of the word in bold in the following sentence: 'I hope you are wearing enuff layers.'
Correct Answer: enough

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