Phoneme #20 of 64
The /ī/ sound, as in the sentence “I went to the store.”
One of the 64 sounds taught in the Once early-reading curriculum. Tap the video to hear it pronounced.
- Curriculum
- /ī/
- IPA
- /aɪ/
- Spelling
- i
Pronunciation
Hear how to pronounce /ī/
Recorded by the Once curriculum team. More pronunciation videos on the Once YouTube channel.
About this sound
The letter I as a word
In the curriculum
Once teaches /ī/ in cycle 20, alongside related sounds and decodable reading practice. The sequence is research-backed: students learn the most common sound-spelling correspondences first so they can read as many words as possible, as early as possible.
IPA notation
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, this sound is written as /aɪ/. Linguists, speech therapists, and language learners use IPA to describe the exact sound a letter or letter-combination produces, independent of how it's spelled.
What you're hearing
The letter I standing on its own as the first-person pronoun. It's always capitalized and always reads as the long-I sound /aɪ/.
Why phonemes matter
Phonemes are the building blocks of reading. Once a child can reliably produce each sound and blend them together, they can decode words they've never seen before. That's the foundation of fluent reading.
Curriculum
Teach every sound, in sequence
The Once curriculum combines all 64 phonemes with stories, coaching, and 1:1 instruction — everything your child needs to become a fluent reader.