1 Decodable Reading Passage
A short, decodable story embedding vowel team — ay words. Students read the passage then highlight all the target words.
It was a fine day down by the bay. Beth sat on the damp sand with a plan. She had a big lump of gray clay. "I will make a nice tray today," she said. Beth started to press and shape the wet clay.
Then, a stray dog ran up. He saw Beth and wanted to play. He got right in the way. He jumped and gave her a spray of sand.
Beth had to keep the dog off her clay. "No, you must stay back!" Beth said. "I say no!"
The dog did not run off. He just sat in the sand and looked at her. "I pray he does not step on it," Beth thought. She had to find a way to fix this.
Beth stood up. She grabbed a thick stick and lay it on the sand to make a line. "You can stay on that side of the stick," she told the dog. "Then we can play."
She tossed a small stick for the dog to fetch. The stray dog ran to get it. Beth sat back down to work. She let a ray of sun bake her new tray. It was a very good day by the bay.
This story is part of Level 4. Get every Level 4 illustrated mini-book in one print-ready file ($14) →
2 Vowel Team — AY Words
The words this story set practices, in the two groups used by the word sort.
Real Words (10)
bay, day, hay, jay, lay, may, pay, ray, say, way
Nonsense Words (6)
zay, vay, glay, snay, blay, chay
- Phrases to read
- play in the hay · a gray day · you may stay · clay on the tray · spray the way · the jay can say · lay it flat · a birthday today · a stray on the bay
- RAN chart words
- bay, lay, say, stay, spray
- Sight words
- the, is, a, and, to, was, it, she, he, they, said, have, with, you, are, be
3 AI and AY Picture Worksheets
AI and AY words to read, match and write, with pictures. Each PDF has its answer key on page 2.
Level 4 Word Work pack: all 120 vowel team worksheets in one file
The sheets above are free. The pack is every sheet for the long vowel teams, oo, au and aw, ar, or, er, ir and ur, oi and ou in order, a silent letters and review set and all the answer keys, ready to print.
Get the pack for $7 See every kind of sheetTeaching more than one level? All 6 levels, 600+ worksheets, for $19.
4 Story Worksheets
4 ready-to-print PDFs for this story's vowel team — ay words. Each one opens as its own file.
Word Sort
Cut-apart word cards to sort: Real Words or Nonsense Words. Answer key on page 2.
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📖 More Vowel Team — AY Stories
A new decodable story with the same vowel team — ay sounds — each comes with its own set of worksheets.
