Free printable · Sound: oa / ow
oa and ow Decodable Story – The Boat on the Coast (Free Printable)
A short decodable story that practises the oa / ow sound, plus a matching handwriting sheet. Every word can be sounded out by a child who has learned vowel teams, apart from a few common tricky words.
Download the free PDF (2 pages, A4)Prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use.
For parents
- Read the story together three times this week. Your child colours a star each time.
- Point to each word as they read. oa and ow (as in snow) both say the long o sound. Note: ow can also say ow as in cow, which comes later.
- Hunt for the oa / ow words and write six of them in the boxes.
- Finish with the tracing sheet: trace the grey words, then write each one on its own.
For teachers
- Fits a systematic synthetic phonics sequence at Set 3 · Vowel teams, after teaching the oa and ow spellings of the long o sound. Suits Year 1.
- Tracing sheet uses the NSW / ACT Foundation handwriting style.
- 65 words, 11 different oa / ow words, short sentences.
- Use for small-group reading, repeated reading for fluency, or homework.
- Photocopy freely for your class.
oa / ow words in this story
- boat
- rows
- coast
- blows
- floats
- groans
- throws
- down
- oar
- shows
- coat
Tricky words used
- has
- a
- he
- the
- to
- his
- is
Common words that can't be fully sounded out yet. Practise them by sight.
More Vowel teams printables
Practise oa / ow with Digby
In Wombat Words, your child reads stories like this one aloud and Digby follows along, then they trace the tricky words in their school's handwriting style. You get a report showing which sounds they've mastered.