1. Diphthongs au, aw, ew *vowel teams ow

Diphthongs-When two vowels come together to make a unique sound.

/oo/ as in boo/chew/blue/fruit: oo, -ew, -ue, ui

/ ȯ / /au/ as in cause/jaw: au, -aw

some other diphthongs

/oo/ as in look: oo

/oi/ as in point or boy: oi, -oy

/ou/ as in ouch/cow: ou, ow

Do you notice that the spelling for /oo/ sound shows -ew?

The dash in front of ew means it comes at the end of a syllable.

A syllable is an individual segment (a piece) of the word, it is the sound which is formed by opening and closing the mouth to form vowels. *You count syllables by how many vowels you hear. Some syllables have 2 vowels that make one sound like in the word: meat.

Here are some examples:

chew (1 syllable)

threw (1 syllable)

flew (1 syllable)

new (1 syllable) new

interview (3 syllables) (in-ter-view)

nephew (2 syllables) (ne-phew)

view (1 syllable)

Drag and Drop

Choose the word that is spelled correctly: ​

Placeholder

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

few

fue

flew

feu

foo

Dropdown

Choose the word that is spelled correctly: ​

Select answer

​Is it au or aw???

​When you hear the /ȯ/ sound at the beginning or middle of a syllable then it is usually au.

If you hear the /ȯ/ sound at the end of a syllable or word then it is is usually going to be aw.

Let's look at some examples on the next slide.

​AU

aunt

August

fraud

pause

** because

​Read the words aloud. Where do you hear the /ȯ/ sound?

beginning, middle or end

​AW

saw

draw

claw

seesaw

jaw

​Seems simple enough, right? Let's do a few practice words and then I'll tell you another rule you need to learn.

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• bilau

• bylaw

• bylau

• bilaw

Drag and Drop

choose the missing diphthong:

withdr​

Placeholder

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

aw

au

a

ah

The next rule...

When the / ȯ / sound is followed by just an n or just an l, it is usually spelled with aw.

pawn lawn

shawl brawl

Of course, there are always a few exceptions...

/ ȯ/ is spelled aw outside of these circumstances as in the word family hawk, gawk and squawk.

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• lawn

• laun

• lahn

• lane

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• becawze

• because

• becuz

• beecause

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• strau

• straw

• strwa

• strraw

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• chew

• chue

• cheww

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• huck

• ack

• hawk

• hauk

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• draw

• drau

• drawe

• dra

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• daughter

• dawter

• dawder

• dauter

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• fallt

• fault

• fawlt

• falled

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• threw

• throu

• thow

• throo

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• cawt

• caught

• caugt

• cot

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• lanch

• lawntch

• launch

• lauch

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• awnt

• aunt

• aunte

• ante

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• yarne

• yaun

• yawn

• yawin

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that is spelled correctly

• authur

• author

• awthor

• awther