If it wasn't for vowels, learning to read would be a whole lot easier. Vowels change their sounds so often and have so many rules that learning them can be very frustrating. When teaching vowel sounds, work slowly and steadily so that students retain information and have a solid foundation for reading.
Short Vowels
Introduce vowels and consonants by reading the book, "The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants". Explain that vowels make more than one sound and that you will first be learning the short sounds. Hold up letter cards for a,e, i, o and u and have the class say the sounds each vowel makes. If you remember that song, "Who Let the Dogs Out?", you can sing this version with the class:
Teacher: Who let the a out?
Students: /a/! /a/! /a/!
Continue through all of the letters. Next ask students to listen for the vowel sounds in words. Say various short vowel words (such as "cat", "pig" and "get") and have the students tell you the vowel sounds and the letter that matches. Or ask them to give you a thumbs up if they hear a specific vowel sound in a word or a thumbs down if they don't. Have students practice short vowel sounds on worksheets or in writing words.
Long Vowels with Helper E
Introduce 'helper E'. Introduce the long vowel sounds on cards with the vowel and a 'helper e' (such as "a_e, i_e,o_e,e_e, u_e). Practice until they know all the sounds, then mix in the short vowel cards. Say words with both long and short sounds and have kids repeat the vowel sound, or raise their hands when they hear a particular sound. Then have students practice by completing worksheets, writing stories or sentences.
Long Vowels
Teach the children the rule "when two vowels go walking, the first one says its name". Even though there are exceptions for this rule, it's handy for teaching the vowel pairs ai, ay, ie, ee, ey, oa, oe and ue. Use cards with the pairs on them and have the students say the sounds, then mix in long vowels with helper e and then short vowels. Then practice reading words with the vowel pairs. Teach students to look for the vowel pairs in text and underline or highlight them (use highlighting tape in books). Students can do extra practice with worksheets, reading books and writing stories.
Other Vowel Digraphs
Teach students the sounds for ou, ow, igh, y, au, aw, ar, or, ir, er, ui, oy, oi and ew. Work with flashcards with the letters on them, then gradually mix in all the other vowel sounds, find online (or type in from books you have) stories and print them, then have students go through them and underline, circle or highlight whatever digraph(s) you're working on that day. Practice reading the stories together. Read the students lists of words and ask them to identify the digraphs included in each word.
Tags: vowel sounds, have students, short vowel, vowel pairs, cards with