Kids usually learn consonant digraphs in kindergarten. What are consonant digraphs? A consonant digraph is composed of two consonant letters that make one sound. For example, sh as in ship, th as in math and ch as in chop are all consonant digraphs. In this post, I offer consonant digraphs worksheets that contain interleaving. In interleaved lessons, kids retain learning better. When working with struggling readers, interleaving is essential.

Here is the sh consonant digraphs worksheets:

sh Lessons

Here are the th consonant digraphs worksheets:

th Lessons

Lastly, here are the ch consonant digraphs worksheets:

ch Lessons

Consonant digraphs worksheets with interleaving

All of the above worksheets contain interleaving. This means, concepts are mixed so students cannot simply guess. If you use a worksheet with all sh words (ship, cash, shell, dash…etc.), the student will know to say the sh sound every time. In sum, she’ll guess. However, if you select a worksheet with some words that do not contain sh, the student will have to analyze each word.

Use interleaving in all phonics lessons

You can use the above lessons as a sample for all future lessons. Students should never simply read wordlists with all one word type. I’ve worked with many struggling readers who brought home Wordlist with all one word type: mail, tail, fail, rain. They seem to master the list temporarily. Then, when a new were tight is introduced, they forget all old knowledge. Interleaving allows kids to:

1. Become phonetic analysts-they develop very strong decoding skills.
2. Practice old knowledge- they never become weak in old phonics sounds or exhibit “regression.”
3. Independent readers—like a cryptographer, they can crack the code anywhere. Their skills are NOT context dependent.

Reading Elephant printable phonics books use interleaving

If your students are working on consonant digraphs, reading elephant offers a consonant digraphs book series. For free samples check out A Wish, The Stuck Truck and The King Can Sing.  Reading Elephant books introduce sounds in the following order:

sh as in wish

th as in bath

th as in then

ch as in chop

_tch as in batch

_ck as in deck

_ing as in king

_ng as in long

_ang as in sang

wh_ as in when

Check out our special bundle offer that includes over 70 phonics books.