Can anyone help me help my ds5 solidify his vowel sounds?

[ssexton]

My ds5.5 is learning to read, and understands blending and can read CVC words. However, he is frequently confused about the vowel sounds. He'll look at "mug" for example, and read "mag, mig, uh...mug." I want him to have a firmer mastery of these sounds and wonder if anyone can recommend some activities, games or something to help? We currently use Phonics Pathways and I just bought ETC 1 today for more reinforcement.

 

I'd appreciate any thoughts!

[Princess Peach]

We use/used Abeka and they use alphabet flashcards with pictures to teach the sounds. Each letter has a "chant". For example, when he sees the A flashcard, he would say: A says a as in apple, A says a, a, a. They have cards for long vowels, too, and all the consonants.

[TheCoffeeChick]

Make up a bingo board with only vowels in the squares and say the sounds of the letters for your ds to cover. Using some sort of treat (M&Ms, jellybeans, chocolate chips...) always makes the game more fun! ;)

[RachelFlores]

I did a lot of short vowel phonemic awareness games before I started direct reading instruction. I got the book, Phonemic Awareness in Young Children and while I didn't follow the program exactly I used a whole lot of the games. Then, we used phonics pathways too and I printed out and laminated the vowel word strip. EVERY day before we did our reading page dd would "read" the short vowel sounds to me. It started out hard, but got easier with practice. HTH

[ssexton]

Thanks so much for the ideas!! Wendy, I love the letter tiles idea. I have a bunch of scrabble tiles--I think I'll pull them out.

 

Princess Peach, I've been looking at Abeka materials. Have you used the blend ladders at all? I've been thinking about making some of my own. I think this child needs some extra reinforcement reading left to right.

 

I appreciate the ideas and encouragement. It's been awhile since teaching my older two to read, and I'm a bit rusty I guess! :)

[ElizabethB]

Teaching the syllabary might help, I'm using the syllabary with Webster's Speller with my son, the pattern of it helps, this is how it's coming:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208407

 

Also, here is a fun game that I like to play, it makes both real and nonsense words so it is really helpful getting students to sound things out from left to right. Plus, it's a really fun way to get in extra blending practice:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

 

Also, I would try to add in a bit of spelling to help solidify the sounds/spelling pattern, I find that spelling one word is about the equivalent of reading 8 or 10 words.

[threehomeschoolers]

I may be way off base for your particular problem, however my middle ds could not recognize vowels regardless of what program I used. A close friend suggested I have his eyes checked. He really was having problems seeing and needed glasses. (He was 6 at the time.) Within a month of getting his glasses, he progressed from no reading at all to late 1st grade ability. He could not see the differences in the vowel shapes which made it almost impossible for him to learn to read. I did have to pretty much start over and reintroduce all the vowels for him, but he is doing great now, with no glasses! FWIW, if you have a Wal-Mart close to you, the eye exam is inexpensive and the glasses were only$39 with a 1 year guarantee for any reason.