Find ss phonics resources for Reception, with worksheets, games and activities for teaching the ‘ss’ digraph. Pupils can practise recognising ‘ss’ in simple words, remembering that the two letters represent one /s/ sound, and using the digraph when reading and spelling.
These resources are ideal for introducing ‘ss’ during Phase 2 phonics, practising words that end in ‘ss’ or going back over the digraph with pupils who need more practice. Explore our full collection of Phase 2 phonics resources, or visit our main phonics resources page for resources covering Phases 1 to 5.
By the time pupils meet ‘ss’, they already know the single-letter grapheme ‘s’ and the /s/ sound. The ‘ss’ digraph introduces another way of writing that same sound. It is often found at the end of short words such as miss, mess and hiss.
Although ‘ss’ contains two letters, pupils only say one /s/ sound. Helping them spot the two letters together before they start blending makes it easier to read words containing the digraph accurately.
Our ss phonics resources give pupils plenty of opportunities to meet the digraph in words and use it in their own reading and spelling. Activities can be used to practise:
Use the activities in whichever way works best for your class: during the main phonics lesson, with a small group, as independent practice or for a quick revisit. They can be used alongside your school’s chosen systematic synthetic phonics programme.
Once ‘ss’ has been introduced, pupils can read words such as miss, mess, hiss and mass using the sounds they have learned so far. Encourage pupils to spot ‘ss’ at the end of the word, say /s/ once and blend the sounds together.
For spelling, pupils can listen carefully to each sound in a word before deciding which letters they need. Word-building activities and phoneme frames are useful here, particularly for reinforcing that the final /s/ sound in these words is written with ‘ss’.
Pupils already know that ‘s’ can represent /s/. When they meet ‘ss’, they are not learning a new sound, but another spelling for one they already know. At this stage, it is enough for pupils to become familiar with ‘ss’ in the words they are taught and to recognise the two letters as one digraph when reading.
Browse our complete collection of Phase 2 phonics resources for activities covering the sounds and digraphs taught throughout this phase. You can also explore our main phonics resources page for teaching materials across Phases 1 to 5.
Yes. ‘ss’ is a digraph because two letters work together to represent one /s/ sound. Pupils should say /s/ once when they see ‘ss’ in a word.
Both ‘s’ and ‘ss’ can represent the /s/ sound. In Phase 2, pupils learn to recognise ‘ss’ as a two-letter spelling that they will see at the end of simple words such as miss and mess.
Useful Phase 2 examples include miss, mess, hiss and mass. Choose words made up of sounds pupils already know so they can practise reading them using their phonics knowledge.
