The Vowel Coach

Category: Spelling

  • How to Teach Long Vowel E: Different Ways Vowel E Can Spell Its Name

    How to Teach Long Vowel E: Different Ways Vowel E Can Spell Its Name

    • In this post you will find:

    -long e spelling patterns

    -long e stories

    -long e songs

    -long e worksheets

    -long e activities

    Have you ever asked a small child the question, “What does a cat say?” or “What does a cow say?” Of course you have! It’s fun, and it’s pretty adorable to hear little kids meow or moo.

    Learning to identify letters and their sounds isn’t that much different from learning to identify an animal and reproducing the sound that the animal makes.

    Your child has a name, and your child has a way to spell that name. The same is true for letters. Because long vowels usually “spell” their name in a word, I prefer to ask kids to tell me if a letter is saying its name or saying its sound.

    How a vowel spells its name can be tricky. Just like the name Kayden might be spelled Kayden, Caden, Kadyn, or Cayden, there can be multiple ways for a vowel to spell its name in a word.

    Let’s look at how the Vowel E can spell its name!

    When I begin teaching Long Vowel E, I start with a video that shows a couple ways that Vowel E can spell its name:

    After this video, I let my students know that ee and ea are just two of the ways Vowel E can spell its name. I let them know that there are more including ey, and -y, ie and sometimes just e. I then have my students complete the long e sorting sheet in the Long Vowel E packet.

    Now it is time to dive deeper into different ways Vowel E can spell its name in a word. I teach long vowel E in this order:

    ee

    ea

    ey

    y

    Here are the steps I use to teach long vowel E:

    1. Listen to the song
    2. Read the word cards from the packet.
    3. Watch and read the story.
    4. Spell words for that skill using the fingers/boxes method.
    5. Play the memory game.
    6. Extend the fun with the extension activities.
    • Listen to the ee song.
    • Read the ee word cards from the Long E packet.
    • First, watch and listen to the ee story. Next, mute the story and replay it giving your student a chance to read the words.
    • Have your child spell some EE words using the sound counting and box method.

    example:

    • Play the EE memory game.
    • Extend the fun with BEE activities.

    Draw a bee:

    • Listen to the EA song.
    • Read the word cards from the Long E packet.
    • First, watch and listen to the EA story. Next, mute the story and replay it giving your student a chance to read the words.

    Bonus ee/ea story:

    • Have your child spell EA words using the sound counting and boxes method.

    Example:

    • Extend with eagle activities.

    How to draw an eagle:

    • Listen to the EY song.
    • Read the EY words from the Long E packet.
    • Listen to the ey/y story. Mute the story and play it again. Have your student read it if possible.
    • Have your student spell EY words using the sound counting and boxes method.
    • Play the EY memory game from the packet.
    • Let’s learn about turkeys!
    • Listen to the Y song
    • Read the word cards from the Long E packet.
    • Listen to the ey/y story. Mute the story and play it again. Have your student read it if possible.
    • Have your student spell -Y words using the sound counting and boxes method.
    • Play the -Y memory game.
    • Extend with BUNNY activities.
  • How to Teach Long Vowel A: Different Ways Vowel A Can Spell its Name

    How to Teach Long Vowel A: Different Ways Vowel A Can Spell its Name

    • In this post you will find:

    -long a words

    -long a spelling patterns

    -long a songs

    -long a stories

    -long a worksheets

    -long a extension ideas

    Long Vowel A Spelling Patterns:

    Every child has a name. Every child has a way to spell that name. Letters also have a name, and letters also have a way to spell that name.

    When I teach long vowel sounds I tell my students that when a vowel says its name in a word, the vowel almost always spells its name in the word.

    The tricky thing about vowels is that they have many ways to spell their names. For example, sometimes the letter Aa spells its name a-e. Other times it spells its name ay, ai or even eigh.

    I very rarely ask a child if a vowel is long or short. Instead I ask if the vowel says its name or says its sound.

    When I begin teaching long vowel A, I start with a video that shows some of the ways that A can spell its name.

    Long A video:

    After the video, I have my students sort words according to how long vowel A spells its name.

    Long A word sort:

    Now it is time to dive deeper into the different ways that the vowel A can spell its name.

    I teach long vowel a spelling patterns in this order:

    • a-e
    • ay
    • ai
    • eigh

    Here are the steps I follow to teach each way a vowel spells its name.

    1. Listen to the song.

    2. Read the word cards.

    3. Watch and read the story.

    4. Have your child spell some words using the fingers and boxes method.

    5. Play memory.

    6. Extend the fun with the extension activities.

    • Introduce a-e with a song.
    • Watch and listen to the a-e story then mute the video and read the story aloud

    • For each a-e word that you want to practice, have the student stretch the word and count how many sounds s/he can hear.
    • Make a box for each sound then have the student fill each box with the letter for the sound. Ask the child how we can make the letter A spell its name. In this case, we have a magic E. The letter E does not get a box because we cannot hear it.

    Play the a-e Memory Game

    When I teach a-e, my extension activities focus on the word CAKE.

    Listen/Read Biscuit Bakes a Cake

    Listen/Read Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes

    How to draw a cake:

    Cake Coloring Sheet:

    Is it cake or is it fake video:

    ay song:

    ai song:

    • Read the word cards from the Long A packet.
    • After your child listens to the story, replay it on mute and have your child read the words.

    ay (and ai) story:

    ay bonus story:

    ai bonus story:

    eigh story

    • Select words for the child to spell using the fingers and boxes method.
    • Play the memory game from the Long A packet.
    • ay: day
    • ai: rain
    • eigh: sleigh

    Extend with the word “day.”

    Days of the Week syllable song:

    Cookie’s Week

    Kids Try Birthday Food From Around the World.

    If you type “Happy Birthday (child’s name) song” into YouTube, you will more than likely find a song for your kid’s name!

    ai Extension: Rain

    How to draw Santa’s sleigh: