Learning Center
reading
Make digraphs come to life
september 21, 2010
Getting your students to read digraphs (e.g., ch, sh, wh) can be difficult. Young readers tend to associate one letter per sound. However, multiple letters can work together to create a new sound. Here’s a fabulous strategy to get your readers to remember the ch, wh, th, and sh sounds—teach them the Hh Brothers story. Check out the poster by Project Read and other great literacy tools at their website.
Once upon a time there were four brothers who were called the “Hh” Brothers. They were Ch, Wh, Th, and Sh. Let’s meet them.
“Ch” thought he was an engineer of a train. So he traveled around his house making a train noise.
“Wh” was the brother who thought he could whistle, but he didn’t really know how. All that came out of his lips was air.
“Th” was the naughty brother. He was always sticking his tongue out and making a sound.
“Sh” was the brother who was worried about all his other brothers. He thought they would get into trouble with all the noise they made. He was constantly reminding them to be quiet by making his sound.