Short Vowels

ShortVowels

CVC Words like DOG and CAT that have a Consonant Vowel Consonant pattern often make the short vowel sound.

CVCWordRoller

CVC Word Roller – free at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers, CVC Word Machine from homemade-preschool.com.

CVC Cards. Use CVC cards to sort by vowel sound, or for activities for phonological and phonemic awareness.

Closed Syllables. Closed syllables often make the short vowel sound. When a vowel is followed by at least one consonant, it is a closed syllable. An exception sometimes occur when the letters i and o are followed by two consonants. (find and lift the lost gold) A can make a short O sound sometimes. (watch the dog play squash with a ball)

Short i and e. It can be challenging to hear the difference between short i and e. LISTEN to contrast words and WATCH Short E & I Sounds from allaboutlearningpress (2:49). PRACTICE with an online word sort and a Short I & E picture sort from tchrgrl. Download a practice activity from allaboutlearningpress.com

Word Families. Practice with word families that have short vowels.

Short Vowel Variations. The final consonant of some words with short vowels can double. Learn more about Flossy Words and more short vowel variations.

WATCH videos and PLAY online games at a Short Vowels tutorial at Wakelet. Some online games require flash, which is no longer supported after 12/31/2020. Learn more at The End of Flash

PLAY more online games: Cloudy DayVowel Popper and Vowel Ace at roomrecess.com (choose short vowels) [archived: Literactive games no longer working as of 10/24. Sliding Beaver and  Hanging Monkeys]

READ short vowel sentences from stickyball.net, Beginner Books from Progressive Phonics. READ Books: “Gran on a Fan” by Kevin Bolger, “The Bug in the Jug Wants a Hug” by Brian P Cleary.

cvcwords

PLAY Printables at the ABCs of games for reading.

ShortLongVowelChart

Short and Long Vowels. Review the difference between short and long vowels. Use the short or long picture sorts from First Grade a la Carte or a pdf (source unknown) of Short & Long Pictures & Words. The Short and Long Vowel Chart is free at the Super Tutor Tool store.

WATCH videos and PLAY online games at the Short or Long Vowels Wakelet Tutorial.

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Hearing and manipulating the sounds in language are important skills for learning to read. Phonemic awareness and letter knowledge have been identified in several research studies as the two key indicators of how well children will master beginning reading skills during the first two years in school. (The Threads of Reading by Karen Tankersly at ascd.org)

Understanding Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Both are about the ability to hear & manipulate the sounds in language…

  • Phonological Awareness – in words & syllables
    • Phonemic Awareness – at the phoneme (individual sounds within words) level.

A Phonological and Phonemic Awareness tutorial at Wakelet includes videos to watch.

Printable Charts:

This chart runs top to bottom
Build a foundation of skills with increasing difficulty from bottom to top with this chart.

These Phonological and Phonemic Awareness charts are available free at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers Super Tutor store.

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More Resources

Phonological Interventions for Struggling Readers from Learning at the Primary Pond has this illustration of the progression of skills, and lots of ideas for activities for developing them.

Phonological Awareness at Dyslexia Help and readingresource.net provide helpful explanations.

ACTIVITIES

Use CVC picture cards to rhyme, say the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd sound, or listen for the difference between two.

Sightwords.com has great resources for phonological and phonemic awareness. Reading Universe has Skill Explainers for Rhyming, Phoneme Identification, Segmenting and Blending, and Phoneme Manipulation. More activities for phonemic awareness at Reading Rockets.

In phonological and phonemic awareness, the emphasis is on hearing sounds. The activities below can be helpful additions to a Phonics Kit.

Rhyming

crayonboxsort

Syllable Counting: clap or tap, or feel your mouth drop.

Compound Words

Syllable Manipulation: WordList (pdf) to blend, segment or delete syllables.

Identify initial sounds

Phoneme blending

Phoneme segmenting

Phoneme segmenting and manipulation

  • Word list for deleting and substituting from ontrackreading
  • Word Building and Substitution free from Super Tutor Tools at Teachers Pay Teachers. Start with a word, then change one sound at a time and identify the letter.

WordBuilding

PLAY Online games: Phonemic Awareness Symbaloo

Some online games require flash, which is no longer supported after 12/31/2020. There is a workaround with the Ruffle fix at The End of Flash. Clever Learner and others are working with the work-around on a laptop. Some more mobile friendly games are collected at this Symbaloo. More online games at these Symbaloo collections Abcya is free on pc only.

Archived-sadly, both Literactive and Professorgarfield seem to be no longer available.

At Professorgarfield: Rhyme-Meet the gang, Blending-Hayloft & Orson’s Waller, Categorize-Chicken Coop, Delete- Pumpkin Patch, Substitute-Lanolin’s Greenhouse. Beginning & Ending sounds- Fishing with Phonics.

At Literactive: Drums, Rhyming: Lovebirds and Fish, Initial sounds: Easel & Nine Squares,  Middle sounds: Sliding Beaver, Final sounds: Slides and Garden leaves. Odd one out: Laying Hens, Final: slides & garden leaves, Categorize: Laying Hens, Substitute: magic lantern.

Download a Chart with online games in the sequence to build phonological awareness skills.