I thought learning long vowels is supposed to be easier than short vowel sounds?

[Mandylubug]

So, we are using Phonics Pathways and we have done MUCH work on short vowel sounds. We started long vowel A today and WOW did it not go over well with either girl. They just do not get it. AT ALL. What is funny is they were able to write the words from dictation by the end of the lesson and spell them correctly but not reading them correctly.

 

for example they will read "tap" correctly but will read "tape" as "tip"... they are putting the short "i" sound EACH time even right after I tell them "tape" and have them read it again they still read "tip". There is only one other page of review for the long A before we move on to another vowel... and I am just dumbfounded to why they don't understand. I ask them what is the letter name, they will say "a" correctly but then when it comes to reading the words it totally flies over their heads.

 

Any tricks? Any good games?

[clarkacademy]

When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking. My 11 yewar old still recites this when he reads.

[Mandylubug]

When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking. My 11 yewar old still recites this when he reads.

 

I will try that phrase as well; thanks.

[Julie Smith]

We finally got long vowels down only to forget short. I swear they are having trouble with the word cat but don't slow down with seaweed. :banghead:

 

That is where we are at right now with Youngest. It seems he only has room in his head for long or short vowel sounds.

 

Then the confusion sets in and he just guesses at the sound in the middle. He would guess any vowel sound at all.

 

So I took a step back and am doing ETC level 1.

[Mandylubug]

That is where we are at right now with Youngest. It seems he only has room in his head for long or short vowel sounds.

 

Then the confusion sets in and he just guesses at the sound in the middle. He would guess any vowel sound at all.

 

So I took a step back and am doing ETC level 1.

 

we are using ETC 2 right now as well. We do two pages a day and it definitely doesn't match up to PP but it hasn't been an issue yet. However, I wonder if that could cause them confusion?! I wonder when ETC introduces long vowels....off to research lol.

 

eta: I see where Long Vowels start in book 3.. so we are nearly there. We will keep trudging through then... I have found that we introduce new reading skills with Phonics Pathways but ETC really cements it for them. And they are currently working through initial and ending blends that I don't want to fly through.

[beaners]

Would it be worthwhile to head for the library and pick up a few readers that focus on long vowels? In our house when I'm reading easy books out loud, I pause at certain words that we are working on and let my beginning readers tackle them. Personally I wouldn't keep going if we hadn't mastered the current topic, but I haven't used the programs you are doing.

[Mandylubug]

Would it be worthwhile to head for the library and pick up a few readers that focus on long vowels? In our house when I'm reading easy books out loud, I pause at certain words that we are working on and let my beginning readers tackle them. Personally I wouldn't keep going if we hadn't mastered the current topic, but I haven't used the programs you are doing.

 

oh, I agree. I will not let them move to the next long vowel until we learn long a first. We do have some easy readers and I have pointed out the words we covered today.

[mommymonster]

My son *loves* using the Electric Company on youtube.com to reinforce phonics rules. You might want to check out Electric Company's "Silent E" songs... they really helped my son with the concept, and they're pretty catchy.

[Mandylubug]

My son *loves* using the Electric Company on youtube.com to reinforce phonics rules. You might want to check out Electric Company's "Silent E" songs... they really helped my son with the concept, and they're pretty catchy.

 

 

Thank you for that! My girls enjoyed that very much. We may start our day tomorrow watching that again

[PachiSusan]

I taught Melissa that the long vowel sounds like the letter's name. We also introduced silent "e" as a partner letter that makes the vowel long, so if she sees vowel blank e, she knows to make it a long sound.

[gardenschool]

Have to say I don't agree with teaching the "when two vowels go a walking" rule, as it has SOOOOO many exceptions, I would think it would be very confusing. I teach each phonogram with its potential sounds, and all the sounds at once, with the most common sound first. For example, "ea" can say long e, short e, or long a. "ou" and say long 'ow', long o, long u or short u. We have flashcards from Spalding (writing road to reading) that work well for us. I just introduce one or two new cards at a time, and make sure to review old ones.

[Ellie]

When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking. My 11 yewar old still recites this when he reads.

 

That rule only works sometimes, and often only when the second vowel is a silent e. Think of oi, eigh, ui, ou, ea (in words like "break"), And then there are words like "have."

[Ellie]

I never heard that long vowels were easier to learn than short vowels. :001_huh:

 

If this is just the first day, I'd say just make sure you followed the instructions, and see what happens tomorrow.

[StartingOver]

What helped with my kids was to write the words under each other, and use a different color for the E on the end or in a vowel blend to bring their attention to it. I wrote them on the white board in blue, leaving red for the E or second vowel. Reminding them that the E makes the other vowel say it's name.

 

rat kit cap

rate kite cape

 

Nothing else clicked for them !

[lamppost]

Try having them underline the vowel, make the sound the vowel makes in the word, THEN read the whole word.

 

So,

 

1. Underline a and e in tape

2. Say, "a" aloud (long vowel sound)

3. Say "tape".

[skeeterbug]

Silent e is a ninja has worked great for us. The e reaches over and pinches the vowel making him say his name.

 

That is a perfect, perfect, perfect way for my 5yo to remember this! I am so going to use it with him! I can just see him doing ninja punches every time we come across a long vowel! ;)

 

I'm on my ipad and can't remember how to do the ninja smilie! Someone help me out!

[Dahliarw]

I taught kindergarten before kids. When we taught silent e, we taught it as "bossy e" who tells the vowel to say it's own name. To help the kids learn, we had letters they wore around their necks and made words. So the kids wearing "m", "a", and "d" would stand next to each other and we'd read it as "mad". Then the child with "e" on would come along, tell the "a" to say it's name, join the end of the word and we'd read it as "made". Repeat with different simple words that change with "bossy e". In a homeschool setting you probably can't do it exactly that way, but you could do something similar with letter tiles. Your child would have the most fun being "bossy e" and telling the vowel to say it's name and then moving the e to the end of the word, etc.

[mommymonster]

Thank you for that! My girls enjoyed that very much. We may start our day tomorrow watching that again

 

You know, even though we have listened to James Inglehart's "Silent E" song for the past year, my son still requests it almost daily.

 

We use OPGTR, which is amazing because it is thorough and a solid program. My son, however, finds it a bit dry. To make reading lessons more exciting, we read the OPGTR lesson and then search for an Electric Company video to support the lesson. Any lesson that does not have a corresponding rule results in us watching Inglehart or "Silent E is a Ninja." Oh, yes, ninjas and reading! :ph34r: <-- I think that looks like a ninja.

[ElizabethB]

You're probably already watching this thread, but answered here:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/452650-stuck-with-phonics-help/

[MistyMountain]

It took a while for this to click with dd. It just took time to work itself out by encountering the words over and over in reading. She remembered the rule about silent E but it took a while to transfer to her reading to where she recognize it right away. I did do exercises where we added silent E and it changed the sound but it didn't really help much. DS is now doing the same thing.

[merry gardens]

for example they will read "tap" correctly but will read "tape" as "tip"... they are putting the short "i" sound EACH time even right after I tell them "tape" and have them read it again they still read "tip". There is only one other page of review for the long A before we move on to another vowel... and I am just dumbfounded to why they don't understand. I ask them what is the letter name, they will say "a" correctly but then when it comes to reading the words it totally flies over their heads.

 

Any tricks? Any good games?

Are you sure your child can distinguish the short i sound from the long a sound? Those two vowel sounds are actually very close to each other, and some people have difficulties distinguishing similar sounds. Try having your child touch his/her jaw while saying, "ay i ay i ay i". The jaw should move up a little to make the short i sound, while the long a sound is lower but the tongue moves up inside the mouth just a bit which some can feel through a slight jaw movement, (but not as close together as it is for the short i sound.) :001_tt2: The tongue stays in the mouth, but it is placed in slightly different positions to produce different vowel sounds.

 

Once your child can go back and forth easily, then try saying "ay" and "i" switching them around a bit in different orders (like A A i then i i A) and see if your child is able to follow along and repeat after you. If your child is not able to distinguish the different sounds, you could do some additional work with phonemic awareness. If that happens, post the problem again over in the special needs/learning challenges board and people will likely offer you further assistance. :001_smile: