Phonemes:
the sounds that make up our words

Want to make sure you are pronouncing the sounds precisely? Follow the links below to hear recordings of the exact sound that should correspond to each symbol, letter, or letter combination in Once's instructional content.
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In each circle below, you'll see two cards with symbols on them. The symbols on the left (held by the snake) are what students will see at that stage of the curriculum. The symbols on the right (on an easel) are the symbols that the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) uses to represent that sound.
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In the early stages of Once’s instructional content, we represent sounds with symbols in a specialized orthography that helps beginning readers (pre-kindergarten students through early elementary grades) learn letter-sound correspondence more quickly. By the middle stages of our program, the specialized orthography is phased out and replaced by letters in a serif font.

Our program teaches letters in the order below to enable students to read many words as soon as possible, not waiting until students have learned all of the letters and sounds before getting to read authentic texts. This builds a strong foundation for independent and fluent reading. It is not a problem if your school uses a curriculum that is also based on the Science of Reading but introduces letters in a slightly different order.

Phonemes: the sounds that make up our words

Recordings of Each Sound

This sound is /ă/, as in the word 'trap.'

This sound is /m/, as in the word 'mine.'

This sound is /t/, as in the word ‘tie.'

This sound is /ē/, as in the word ‘fleece.'

This sound is /s/, as in the word ‘sigh.'

This sound is /ĭ/, as in the word ‘kit.'

This sound is /f/, as in the word ‘find.'

This sound is /d/, as in the word ‘dash.'

This sound is /r/, as in the word 'risk.'

This sound is /th/, as in the word 'that.'

This sound is /ŏ/, as in the word 'lot.'

This sound is /g/, as in the word 'guy.'

This sound is /l/, as in the word 'lie.'

This sound is /h/, as in the word 'high.'

This sound is /ŭ/, as in the word 'strut.'

This sound is /k/, as in the word 'car.'

This sound is /b/, as in the word 'bug.'

This sound is /n/, as in the word 'never.'

This sound is /sh/, as in the word 'shy.'

This word is /ī/, as in the sentence, ‘I went to the store.’

This sound is /ā/, as in the word 'face.'

This sound is /k/, as in the word 'kind.'

This sound is /v/, as in the word 'vine.'

This sound is /ō/, as in the word 'goat.'

This sound is /w/, as in the word 'wave.'

This sound is /ch/, as in the word 'cheer.'

This sound is /ŏr/, as in the word 'car.'

This sound is /ər/, as in the word 'letter.'

This sound is /ĕ/, as in the word 'dress.'

This sound is /j/, as in the word 'jump.'

This sound is /p/, as in the word 'pack.'

This sound is /ī/, as in the word 'price.'

This sound is /ĭŋ/, as in the word 'sing.'

This sound is /y/, as in the word 'yes.'

This sound is /ks/, as in the word 'expect.'

This sound is /kw/, as in the word 'quick.'

This sound is /z/, as in the word 'zebra.'

This sound is /ū/, as in the word 'use.'

This sound is /ē/, as in the word 'keep.'

This sound is /ē/, as in the word 'each.'

This sound is /ē/, as in the word 'company.'

This sound is /ē/, as in the word 'money.'

This sound is /ā/, as in the word 'pain.'

This sound is /ā/, as in the word 'ray.'

This sound is /ōr/, as in the word 'chore.'

This sound is /w/, as in the word 'when.'

This sound is /ăʊ/, as in the word 'round.'

This sound is /ər/, as in the word 'bird.'

This sound is /ər/, as in the word 'nurse.'

This sound is /ōl/, as in the word 'fold.'

This sound is /ī/, as in the word 'fight.'

This sound is /ŏ/, as in the word 'author.'

This sound is /ŏ/, as in the word 'awkward.'

This sound is /ŏl/, as in the word 'alright.'

This sound is /ꝏ/, as in the word 'cool.'

This sound is /f/, as in the word 'photo.'

This sound is /ō/, as in the word 'boat.'

This sound is /ō/, as in the word 'snow.'

This sound is /r/, as in the word 'write.'

This sound is /ōē/, as in the word 'joy.'

This sound is /ōē/, as in the word 'choice.'

This sound is /n/, as in the word 'knight.'

This sound is /ꝏ/, as in the word 'blue.'

This sound is /ꝏ/, as in the word 'crew.'

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Phonemes:
the sounds that make up our words

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