Teaching the digraph ch is always so much fun and unlocks a whole new world for our young learners. But it's essential to do it intentionally and explicitly. Using a synthetic phonics approach based on the science of reading, I'll help you teach ch words more effectively than ever! Below, you'll find a list of words with ch sound as well as an array of teaching tips, activities, and resources to set you up for success.
I love teaching to ch digraph to students. After spending so much time listening for sounds in words, young children are always shocked to realise there are these "hidden" sounds in the English language.
Once students learn the ch digraph, they start to notice it everywhere! It's the gateway to teaching more complex language skills and is a huge help to kids struggling to decode and encode these new words. Like anything, it's essential to teach this new skill consistently and systematically to make sure students understand it really well. I've got plenty of resources to help with that, so keep reading!
What is the ch sound?
The ch is a digraph, meaning it's a blend of two letters that make one distinct sound. It's commonly found in English words of Greek origin, which doesn't mean a lot to 1st graders but can be helpful to us as teachers and for older kids.
You might be surprised to learn that the ch can actually be represented as a trigraph, too! In words like kitchen or ketchup, the tch makes the same sound as the ch. The tricky part is that your students must learn when to add this silent t and when to skip it.
Additionally, the ch sound can be in any word position. We can see it at the beginning of a word (chocolate, cheetah), at the end (beach, couch) or at the end of a syllable in the middle of the word (teacher, inchworm).
Tip: You'll want to clarify that words with the ch sound are not part of a blend. Consonant blends (gr, sl) make two distinct sounds, while digraphs (and trigraphs) make one.
Examples of Words with -ch Sound
When introducing ch words, start with one-syllable words and use sound boxes to emphasise that the ch sound goes into one box. The more repetition that students get with this, the faster they'll understand.
- arch
- chap
- chat
- chess
- chick
- chill
- chin
- chip
- chop
- inch
- much
- rich
- bench
- bunch
- chest
Words with -tch Trigraph
In these common words, the t joins the ch to make the /ch/ sound:
- catch
- clutch
- ditch
- fetch
- hopscotch
- patch
- pitch
- snatch
- stitch
- watch
Teaching the Ch Sound
If you want resources to help you teach the ch sound easier than ever, be sure to visit The Hive!
It contains all of my word lists, activities, resources, games, and more. There are also interactive classroom apps that you can use in whole group to build words, decode them, and so much more. Here are just a few of our digital learning tools that can help you to teach the ch sound to your kids!
Word Builder
Beedle
Four in a Roll
Tic Tac Toe
Decodable Sentences
Roll a Silly Sentence
The Hive is also a robust, intuitive digital teaching platform and can make it so much easier to stay organised and incorporate evidence-based, interactive learning moments into your day.
Get your free 14 day trial of The Hive here!
To keep track of these ch words, be sure to grab my decodable word lists. They include all of the common consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th, etc) and are sorted by the number of different sounds in the words, so they're fantastic for orthographic mapping!
Start with the shorter words then move onto longer words as students get the hang of things. These word lists are handy for developing a spelling list or having plenty of sample words for your lesson.
I also have two comprehensive resources for your lesson plans: my consonant digraph slideshow that introduces consonant digraphs ch sh th wh in depth...
... or my ch sound slideshow, which focuses specifically on this new sound - the ch phoneme.
Both PowerPoints explain the concepts and offer lots of interactive practice to build your students' comfort with these skills. Plus, they can be linked to your daily schedule in The Hive for easy access at any time!
Activities for Teaching the Ch Sound
Below, you'll find just a sample of the many ch sound and consonant digraph spelling games and activities available in The Hive (or in my shop)! Use to reinforce the ch phoneme in small groups, during literacy centers, as morning starters and more!
I've separated activities into two groups:
- Activities for consonant digraphs including 'ch' (most appropriate for Kindergarten and First Grade)
- Activities for the ch phoneme (most appropriate for Second Grade and beyond)
1. Ch Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade
Read the Room
These read the room activities are ideal for kindergarten students who really need to get up and move! As students hunt for the words around the room, they must match them to the images on the paper. They're a fun twist on simple worksheets and kids love them!
Phonics Puzzles
Kids LOVE solving these Phonics Puzzles with consonant digraph words.
Hidden Words
Another fun activity where students won't even realise that they're learning! They need to find the hidden decodable words with consonant digraphs.
Phonics Review Pages
Want to test your students' knowledge? This set includes 30+ phonics review pages to practise the consonant digraphs. There are 7 different activities, and they can be used for homework, in-class work, or as a formative assessment.
Build a Flower
I love using these flower cards for building phonemic awareness and phonics skills! The petals contain pictures of decodable consonant digraph words. Students match the pictures with the decodable words on the flowers.
Since this activity practises several different consonant digraphs, you can use it again and again. Great for K-1st!
Digraph Directed Drawings
These step-by-step directed drawings scaffold students throughout the encoding process and give them a chance to be creative, too!
Phonics Hexagons
These consonant digraph hexagons provide students with picture prompts. They need to write the decodable words on a mini whiteboard or piece of paper.
Swap the Sound
This is a great phonemic awareness activity, where students must swap one sound to create a new word.
Decodable Sentences
These consonant digraph decodable sentence mats are a great way to work with consonant digraph words in the context of sentences.
Another option is to use decodable sentence pyramids, which are great for building fluency as students gradually add additional words until they've read the complete sentence.
Foldable Decodable Words
These task cards can be folded so that students must first decode the word, then unfold to check if they were correct.
More Kindergarten and First Grade activities for consonant digraph ch...
- Missing Sound Task Cards - If you want to strengthen your students' phonemic awareness skills, these task cards are a great choice. They must figure out the missing sound, which might be a medial vowel, a digraph, or something else. They're a great way to keep those listening skills sharp!
- Word Building Cards - These word building cards are a fun way to help students practice sounding out and spelling words with digraphs! They start with the image of a common word, then they identify the individual sounds to spell it out. Fantastic for independent practice!
- Clown Toss - Elementary kids learn really well when they get a chance to use different senses and motions, which makes these Clown Toss boards a great choice. Students match the words from the cards with the pictures on the board and take turns to make it more fun!
2. Activities for Teaching the CH Digraph & TCH Trigraph
Editable Fluency Texts
These editable, decodable fluency texts embed authentic practice decoding ch and tch sounds in kid-friendly stories!
There are three levels to support your early readers in their decoding process and clear success criteria to help them understand what you're looking for. Practising these words on a sentence level can be much more meaningful as students really get to see them in context.
Decodable Sentences
The great thing about these simple sentences is that students must read several to match them with the right picture. These decodable sentence activities are self-correcting because the sentences must make sense with the picture.
Word Sort
Like the game above, this word sort practises the same skill but feels like a fun matching game. But, you can offer it with the written word or with just the picture cards.
The version with the words is a great scaffold to help your students understand which words have the tch, and they can really test their skills by using just the pictures or just the words!
Clip Cards
These clip cards include a picture of a word, then two spelling versions: one with the ch spelling and one with the tch. Students have to clip which spelling is correct.
Bingo
This bingo game specifically focuses on sorting ch and tch sound words, so it hones in on that subtle but important difference! See the Ch sound bingo here.
More Phonics Resources
There are plenty more phonics resources available on the blog or in The Hive, including more activities to teach words with the ch sound, other digraphs, consonant blends, and so much more. Happy Teaching!
