Digraph activities and IEP goals

By the IEP Atlas editorial teamLast updated November 1, 2026

Short answer

Digraph activities teach that two letters can make one sound, as in sh, ch, th, wh and ck. Teach one digraph at a time with a keyword, have students tap one sound for the pair, build and spell words in sound boxes, and contrast digraphs with single letters. A digraph IEP goal counts words read correctly out of a set of unpracticed digraph words.

A consonant digraph is two letters that spell one sound. The s and h in "ship" do not say /s/ and /h/; together they say /sh/. Students who read "s-hip" or "sip" have not yet learned that the pair works as a unit.

That is the key idea to teach, and it is the opposite of what students just learned with blends, where every letter keeps its sound. For blends, see consonant blend activities. For the full sequence, see the phonics interventions pillar guide.

Which digraphs to teach, and in what order

Digraph	Sound	Keyword	Practice words
sh	/sh/	ship	shop, shed, fish, rush, dash, shin
ch	/ch/	chin	chip, chop, much, rich, chat, such
th (unvoiced)	/th/ as in thin	thumb	thin, math, bath, moth, with, thud
th (voiced)	/th/ as in this	this	that, them, then, this, than
wh	/w/	whale	when, whip, which, whiz
ck	/k/	duck	back, sock, kick, luck, neck, pack

Teach sh first; it is easy to hear and has no second sound. Teach ck as "the /k/ sound at the end of a short-vowel word," and spell it that way: back, not bak. Later, add tch (catch) and dge (badge), and ph (phone) for older students.

For th, teach both sounds but do not drill the difference hard. Put a hand on the throat: the voiced th in "this" buzzes, the unvoiced th in "thin" does not. Most students self-correct once they say the word.

Five digraph activities

Activity 1: Two letters, one sound (3 minutes)

Write "ship" in sound boxes, with sh in the first box, i in the second and p in the third. Three boxes, four letters. The student taps three times and says three sounds. Do the same with "chop," "math" and "duck." Tapping one sound for two letters is the whole lesson in a gesture.

Activity 2: Digraph or not (4 minutes)

Mix words with single letters and digraphs: sip, ship, cop, chop, tin, thin, sock, sick. The student reads each and points to the part that makes one sound.

Activity 3: Sound box spelling (6 minutes)

Say a word. The student says it, taps the sounds, then writes one sound per box. The digraph goes in a single box.

Words: shut, chin, moth, when, deck, shell
Sentence: "Beth got a fish and chips."

Activity 4: Swap the digraph (4 minutes)

With tiles, change only the digraph: ship, chip, whip. shop, chop. path, pack. math, mash, match. The student reads each word aloud. This forces attention to the first or last two letters.

Activity 5: Digraph word sort (4 minutes)

Give 15 cards with sh, ch and th words. The student reads each card and sorts it. Add 2 or 3 blend cards (slip, crab) that belong in a "not a digraph" pile.

How to correct digraph errors

Says each letter ("/s/ /h/ /i/ /p/"): Cover the i and p. "These two letters are a team. They say /sh/." Uncover and blend.
Uses the wrong digraph ("chip" for ship): Point to the first two letters. "Which team is this?" The student checks the keyword card if needed.
Writes "k" or "c" for ck: "Short vowel, /k/ at the end. What do we use?" Have the student fix it and reread.

Digraph IEP goals

A digraphs IEP goal should name the digraphs, the kind of words (real, nonsense, in text) and a count out of a set number.

Given 20 unpracticed short-vowel words with sh, ch, th, wh and ck, the student will read 18 of 20 correctly, up from 8 of 20, on 3 consecutive weekly probes. Template: read words with consonant digraphs.
Given 10 dictated words with sh, ch, th and ck, the student will spell the digraph correctly in 9 of 10 words across 3 consecutive weekly probes.
Given 20 unpracticed words ending in ff, ll, ss, zz or ck, the student will read 17 of 20 correctly on 3 consecutive weekly probes. Template: words ending in ff, ll, ss, zz, ck.

For more goal wording at each phonics stage, see phonics IEP goal examples. Paste the draft into the goal checker.

Worked example: a goal line for one 1st grader

Theo is a fictional 1st grader with a reading IEP. He reads 18 of 20 CVC words but reads "sh" as /s/ and "ch" as /k/. On three probes of 20 digraph words, he scores 6, 5 and 8. His baseline is the median, 6 of 20.

The team sets the goal at 18 of 20 in 12 weeks. That means a goal line rising 1 word per week: 6 at week 0, 12 at week 6, 18 at week 12. Each Friday's probe is plotted against that line.

Week	Goal line	Theo's probe
0	6	6
2	8	7
4	10	8
6	12	9
8	14	14
10	16	17
12	18	18

At week 6, three probes in a row were below the line. The team looked at the errors: Theo was still writing "s" for sh. They added sound box spelling every day. By week 8 he was back on the line. This is the decision a goal line is for. A common rule is to make a change when several points in a row fall below it.^[1] The numbers here are illustrations, not norms. The four-point rule guide explains this decision rule.

Common mistakes

Weak: Teaching digraphs as "s plus h." Better: Teach the pair as one sound, with one tap and one sound box.
Weak: Introducing sh, ch and th on the same day. Better: Teach one digraph, practice it for 2 or 3 days, then add the next and contrast.
Weak: Practicing digraphs only at the start of words. Better: Include final digraphs: fish, much, bath, sock.
Weak: A goal that says "will identify digraphs." Better: "Will read 18 of 20 unpracticed digraph words," which can be counted.
Weak: Skipping spelling. Better: Dictate digraph words daily; spelling errors often show the confusion first.

Templates and tools

The phonics decoding goals page has 80 templates, including words ending in tch and dge and -ng and -nk endings. Use the accuracy data sheet for weekly probes. Next steps in most sequences are silent-e activities and teaching CVC words for students who still need a CVC review.

Frequently asked questions

Is ck a digraph?

Yes. The c and k together spell one sound, /k/. It appears right after a short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word, as in back, sock and duck. Teach it as a spelling rule as well as a reading pattern.

Should I teach both sounds of th?

Yes, but briefly. Show that the th in this buzzes and the th in thin does not. Most students say the right one once they read a real word. Spend more time on reading th words than on the voicing difference.

How many digraph words should a probe include?

Twenty unpracticed words is a common size. It gives enough items to show change from week to week and takes about 2 minutes. Include each digraph you have taught and mix initial and final positions.

Use it in IEP Atlas

Sources

Decision Rules for Analyzing Academic Progress Monitoring Data, National Center on Intensive Intervention
Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade, What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.