Free printable · Sound: ai / ay
ai and ay Decodable Story – The Train in the Rain (Free Printable)
A short decodable story that practises the ai / ay 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. ai and ay make the same sound. ay usually comes at the end of a word (day), ai in the middle (rain).
- Hunt for the ai / ay 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 ai and ay spellings of the long a sound. Suits Year 1.
- Tracing sheet uses the VIC / WA / NT Beginners handwriting style.
- 67 words, 11 different ai / ay words, short sentences.
- Use for small-group reading, repeated reading for fluency, or homework.
- Photocopy freely for your class.
ai / ay words in this story
- waits
- day
- rain
- train
- plays
- snail
- sways
- rails
- hay
- hooray
- play
Tricky words used
- the
- his
- is
- a
- day
- he
- to
- they
Common words that can't be fully sounded out yet. Practise them by sight.
More Vowel teams printables
Practise ai / ay 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.