Long o as in old; sentences · Common irregular words; sentences · oo as in good food

Our new sound: /ʊ/   written oo

Almost the same as oooo, but shorter and looser. Lips a little round, but relaxed, and your tongue drops a little — the oo in 'book' and 'good'.

Check yourself: Say 'food', then 'good'. Feel your lips RELAX on the second one, and notice it is shorter.

Watch for: /uː/. Arabic has long and short u, but they are the same vowel held for different lengths — this one is a different vowel, not a shorter one, and that is the thing to teach.

Read these · 40 words

◆ marks a word that does NOT follow today's pattern — Blumenfeld boxes these on the page. Teach it by heart; do not let the class sound it out and lose faith in the rule.

Read the sentences

• "Hold my hand," she said.
• He was lost.
• He sold his home.
• I know what he told her.
• In winter it is cold most of the time.
• Bob sold his gold ring.
• Dad sold his boat.
• It had cost him a lot of money.

Write what you hear

Say the word, have them repeat it, count the sounds on fingers, THEN write. The count is what stops a child writing the first letter and guessing the rest.