So you’re child is all dome learning their short vowel reading lists and you’re wondering which lesson to teach next… the answer is: transition games! Now is time to break out the movable alphabet again and play a transition game that demonstrates the difference between how you sound out short vowel words and long vowel words.
1) Build the word “fad” with the moveable alphabet. Have your child sound it out and read it to you. Remember that vowels are in red and consonants are in blue.
2) Now add the letter ‘e’ to the end of the “fad”. It becomes “fade”.
3) Explain the difference to your child in the following way: “When you add ‘e’ to the end of this word, it makes the ‘a’ say its name. So instead of saying ‘a’ like apple, it says ‘a’ like ‘ape’. Now let’s sound out the word with the ‘e’ on the end…”
4) Keep practicing this rule with different words “fat” becomes “fate”, “can” becomes “cane”, and so on.
5) Follow the lesson sequence by having your child write down the new long vowel words. Read books that feature long vowels and play games that use them. The name of the game is reinforcement, reinforcement, reinforcement! J
Comments