When I begin teaching the long Vowel U sound, I start with a video that shows a few ways that long Vowel U can spell its name:
After watching and discussing the long vowel u song, students can complete a long vowel u sorting activity. This long vowel u worksheet below can be found in my Long Vowel Packet linked below.
Listen to the long vowel u song: u-e
Read long vowel u-e words from my Long Vowel Packet or your own list.
Listen to the long vowel u story. (u-e)
Mute the story and allow your child to read it.
Bonus u-e story:
Spell Long vowel u (u-e )words using finger counting and sound box method.
Play the u-e memory game from the Long Vowel Packet.
Extend with MULE.
Listen to the ue song.
Read the ue words from the Long Vowel Packet.
Listen to the ue story.
Mute the ue story and allow your child a chance to read it.
Spell ue words using the finger counting and sound box method.
Play the ue memory game.
Extend with GLUE.
Listen to the ew song.
Read the ew words from the packet.
I do not have a story for ew.
Spell ew words using the finger counting and sound box method.
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:
Listen to the song
Read the word cards from the packet.
Watch and read the story.
Spell words for that skill using the fingers/boxes method.
Play the memory game.
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.
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 itsname 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. Watchand 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!
Vowels are to words what bones are to our bodies. They are the foundation for reading success.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate sounds. Vowel sounds are important for accurate reading and accurate spelling, but they are also tricky because they sound very similar to each other. For many students, the ability to identify and manipulate vowel sounds stalls their progress as readers and writers.
Why are vowels so important?
1. Every syllable in every word has to have at least one vowel. This is the one spelling rule that is very difficult to find rule breakers for. Examples:
ev-er-green
ab-ra-ca-dab-ra
Mi-chi-gan
2. Many spelling rules are vowel dependent.
Examples:
Usetch after a short vowel and ch after a long vowel
In 1 syllable words use sc before a, o, and u, and use sk before i and e.
Use dge after a short vowel and ge after a long vowel or any other sound.
3. Word families and common chunks usually start with a vowel.
Examples:
an, ed, it, op, un
4. Diphthongs start with a vowel.
Examples:
au, ew, oi,
5. The name of every letter in the alphabet has a vowel sound in it. When you spell the name of the letter you usually need a vowel to spell the sound.
Examples:
The name B in “because” is spelled “be.”
The name M in “December” is spelled “em.”
The name K in “okay” is spelled “kay.”
The name R in “park” is spelled “ar.”
6. Long vowel sounds can be spelled in more than one way.
Examples:
Long A= ai, ay, eigh, a-e
Long I= igh, i-e, ie, eye, -y, I
7. Vowel rules get repeated.
Examples:
Magic e helps a, e, i, o, and u say their names.
If two vowels are next to each other, the first one usually says its name
Today I am going to share the 6 steps I use to teach kids short vowel sounds. Think of each step as an ingredient in a recipe that can be personalized to match the needs of each student. Add more or less of an ingredient as needed. I teach vowels in the order A (long and short), E (long and short), I (long and short) and so on. I meet with students in 30 minute or 1 hour increments. How many steps we get through at a meeting varies from child to child.
Here are my 6 steps for how to teach short vowel sounds:
I currently tutor kids in grades K-5 online in 1:1 and small group settings. We do not have shared books, so I rely heavily on a number of great free videos on YouTube.
When I teach short vowel sounds to new readers or review short vowel sounds with more experienced kids, I always begin with a song.
Short A song:
Short E song:
Short I song:
Short O song:
Short U song:
2: Sort
When I teach short vowel sounds, my second step is a sorting activity. When sorting pictures or words, I have the child listen to me say a word slowly and then repeat it back to me. I prefer to ask my students “Does the letter say its name or does it say its sound” rather than “Is it the long sound or the short sound.”
3: Read
When I teach short vowel sounds, I want my kids to practice reading words with those sounds. Like I said, I work with kids online, and we do not have shared books to work form. Luckily, YouTube is a great source for free material.
I like to let my students watch the short vowel sound story for the letter we are working on first. After that, I mute the sound and then replay the story or click through the story slowly and give the child a chance to read the words. My students love these videos.
Short A Story:
Short E Story:
Short I Story:
Short O Story:
Short U Story:
4. Spell
When I am teaching short vowel sounds, I want to provide my students an opportunity to spell words with that sound. For each word, I stretch the sounds out slowly and listen to the child do the same. I have the child count how many sounds she/he hears in the word. Then I draw a box for each sound and have the child add (or trace) the letter he or she hears as we sound it out again.
Short A Words: cat, man, tap, land
Short E Words: net, bed, leg, vest
Short I Words: sit, lid, pin, tip
Short O Words: hot, mop, spot, job
Short U Words: run, cub, shut, hug
5. Play
Another activity I use when I teach short vowel sounds (or any skill) is a memory game. I’ve never come across a kids who did not want to play a memory game! I usually use pictures for the first few memory games but quickly move on to words.
6. Sketch
My last step when teaching short vowel sounds involves a little art. Most kids enjoy following along with the videos.
