Category: Vowels

The Schwa Sound

SchwaSymbolChairBe Aware of Schwa:

Schwa is often a light “uh” sound that can be made by any vowel. It is the most common sound in the English language. It is often very similar to a short u, but is softer and weaker.

In words with more than one syllable, one syllable is stressed or given more emphasis. Other syllables are unstressed, or unaccented. The schwa sound can occur in an unaccented syllable, so it is heard more often in words with more than one syllable. Notice that schwa can be present in words with consonant -le, open or closed syllables alike.

SchwaCard

Since the Schwa sound is more often found in words with more than one syllable, it is included at the end of the Phonics Pow Toolkit. (V.c) However, it is a good idea to introduce it earlier as Schwa can be found in some one syllable words like: the, a, was, and of.

The sled was a lot of fun.

Hear the Schwa sound in these one syllable words with the letter o: My son won a ton of money a month from the lottery. At the end of the Silent e section (III.a) there are activities with words that have the Schwa sound (some love gloves).

WATCH

Extra Attention to A Schwa

Any vowel can make the Schwa sound: zebra, open, pencil, lemon, and butter. But let’s give a little extra attention to the letter A, which can make the Schwa sound at the beginning (aware) and end (ninja) of some words. Play an online word search game with words where the letter a makes the Schwa sound at the beginning.

The letter a can make the Schwa sound at the end of some words like extra.

The letter a can also sometimes make the Schwa sound in the middle of words like: alphabet, amazon, elephant.

Practice words that have an A Schwa with a set of resources available at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers that includes a handout, worksheet, and nice dice practice. There is also a free Schwa Word Treasure game.

More Resources

PLAY A Schwa maze at English-Zone.com. Pizza! Pizza! printable schwa game from the literacy nest. Online Quiz at purposegames.

Note: read about short U & the schwa sound at the challengeoflearningUSEnglish

Bossy R Variations

Vowels can vary in the sounds they make. Here are some of the ways that Bossy R words can vary. First let’s look at what happens when words have both a Silent e and a Bossy R.

SilentevsBossyR

Silent e vs Bossy R

If you find a wire in your spare tire you will see that Silent e wins with -are & -ire. When we explore nature, it is Bossy R that wins with -ore & -ure.  A Silent e vs Bossy R words worksheet is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers Super Tutor Tools store.

The Bossy R Schwa

SchwaBossyR

Some words say “er” with different Bossy R spellings. “The pearl is worth a dollar.” In this phrase, all of these spellings make the “er” schwa sound. Try an online Bossy R Schwa word sort.

The -ear phonogram is quite tricky. You will learn (er) not to fear (long e/r) the bear (“air”) with a big heart (ar). WATCH: trigraphs song from english4abc and the ear video from stickyball.net.

EAR3

The -air sound (or phoneme) can be made with several spellings. Besides the ear in bear, AR can say arrow and ER can say error. Be warned that AR can also say OR when it is warm. IR can say a long e in words like spirit & mirror.

AIR

Multiple Meaning Words

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When working with Bossy R variations, you may notice that many of these words can be homophones. They sound exactly the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. “I have a pair of pears.”

You may also see homonyms or homographs, words that are spelled and sound the same but have different meanings. “I will park the car at the park.” In the phrase “There is a tear in my eye as I tear up the paper” the word tear is a hetronym. Hetronyms are a type of homograph that have the same spelling, but a different sound and meaning.

READ “A Bat Cannot Bat, a Stair cannot Stare” by Brian P Cleary, “Dear Deer” by Gene Barretta, “Eight Ate” and “The Dove Dove” by Marvin Terban.

PLAY Categorical Dominoes from Brian P Cleary to practice homophones.

Practice Schwa Bossy R with worksheets that can also be used as word sorts available at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers. A free copy of the Multiple Meaning Chart can be found there as well. PLAY a homophone Search-a-word puzzle.

Learn more at R is Very Controlling from ogforall.com

More Ways Vowels Can Be Long

Vowels can be long with the Silent e pattern, Vowel Teams, Open Syllables, and Tricky Y. Two more important long vowel patterns to learn are: i and o can be long when followed by two consonants, and open syllables in two syllable words with one middle consonant. These can be challenging, because in both cases, words may have either the long or short sound.

treasuremap

i and o can be long when followed by two consonants. Learn more at Find and Lift the Lost Gold.

See the video of this slideshow at the Vowels That Vary Wakelet Tutorial.

Open and Closed Syllables in Two Syllable Words with one middle consonant

TigerCamelWords

The first syllable in two syllable words with one middle consonant can be either long or short, so it is important to understand and practice these words too. Since more are long (60%) than short (40%), try the long vowel sound first to see if it is a recognizable word. If it is not, try it with the short vowel sound.

Strategy: Bē/gin with long, vĭ/sit short

The Tiger & Camel Words Soccer Game is available at Teachers Pay Teachers.

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Learn more at Long Vowel Patterns.

Vowels That Vary

One of the trickiest things about the English language is that vowels may sometimes look the same and make different sounds. There are even variations with short vowels. (II.b)

WATCH videos and PLAY online games to learn more at the vowels that vary tutorial at Wakelet.

Syllables that are closed are usually short, but when you fīnd and lĭft the gōld don’t get lŏst. The letters i and o followed by two consonants can be bōth – short or long.

AlikeO

And that is not all…did I mention that the letter a can say a short ŏ like in watch or in ball? The Sounds of A Worksheet/Word Sort is available at TeachersPayTeachers. Learn more about Short Vowel Variations.

Y at the end of a one syllable word, often says a long “I” as in fly. Learn more about Tricky Y.

We have met OO/OO, one of the diphthongs. Which might be a foot that is short, or a boot that is too long. How about OU, which can be very rough? More than six sounds can really be tough. i before e is weird too and can vary a lot. i before e, unless foreign scientist Keith leisurely seizes caffeine from feisty atheists.

More vowels that can vary are OW, EA, IE.  When you eat (ē) bread (ĕ ) with a steak (ā) , EA can also say a long a, isn’t that great?

2Sounds

R controlled vowels can vary a lot: AR can sound like ER, as in pillar or dollar. So can OR, when you start your motor. When there is an E before AR all bets are off. It might be ER when you learn, or maybe a long e that you hear. It can even be a polar bear on a chair. Learn more about the Bossy R Schwa sound and other variations.

Last, but not least of all, is the amazing schwa. Any vowel can make this lazy “uh” sound, so watch out for schwas all around!

SchwaCard

In two syllable words with one middle consonant, the first vowel may be closed and short or open and long depending on how they divide. Learn about these at more ways vowels can be long.

Guidelines can help you to figure out the many sounds you will discover all about. Learn more about the sequence followed by the Phonics Pow Toolkit.

Vowel Teams

Two letters that work together, some vowels work as a team. Two vowels can be a set in a seat and the first one likes to speak.

VowelTeamSpot&Dot

Vowel Teams (with the exception of diphthongs, which usually make new sounds) are often long, making the sound of the 1st vowel & the 2nd vowel is silent. This guideline is sometimes not reliable, however. There can be many exceptions. EA often makes the long E sound (eat), but sometimes a short E  (bread) or long A (steak). IE often makes the long I sound, but sometimes a long E sound (pie or thief).

AI-AYPhonemicAwareness

AY is often used at the end of a word or syllable, AI at the beginning or middle of a word or syllable. Practice this with the phonemic awareness activity above, an online word sort, and a wordsearch.

WATCH videos and PLAY online games at the Vowel Team tutorial at Wakelet

Some online games require flash, which is no longer supported after 12/31/2020. Learn more at The End of Flash.  

WATCH more videos at Kids vs Phonics: A (5:02), E (4:56), I (6:13) O (1:23) U (1:50).

Long Vowel Pattern Chart from This Reading Mama, & Long Vowel Pattern Chart from All About Learning Press (1 page, color)

SORTS Use the words & pictures from Vowel Digraph flashcards at Lanternfish ESL, Long Vowel Match-up from Liz’s Early Learning Spot,  AI/AY picture sort & OA/OW picture sort from 1st Grade & Fabulous (B&W), AI/AY words & pictures, OA/OW color pictures from the measured mom

ACTIVITY Vowel Team Clip Cards from Fairy Poppins (includes diphthongs)

PLAY Printable Change game from Adrian Bruce (OA/OW & IE/IGH), Long A Train game & Long E Get the Sheep to the Jeep game from themeasuredmom. Long O Oh no! Toad! game from Fun in 1st with Ms B.

AIAYgame

From the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers: Long A board game with AI & AY,  Long I Oh my! A fly! game & Long U Goose on the Loose game.

Some words have both vowel teams and consonant digraphs. Learn more at the Smooth Beach post. Vowel Teams (III.d in the sequence) are included in the Phonics Pow Toolkit.

Bossy R

Bossy R can change CAT into CART! Bossy R likes to be in charge, that is just how they roll. An R behind any vowel changes the sound.

The bird ate corn in the barn. It was her turn. Notice that ER, IR, and UR all have the same sound.

WATCH videos and PLAY online games at the Bossy R tutorial at Wakelet. WATCH Bossy R playlist at PhonicsPow Youtube Channel

Some online games require flash, which is no longer supported after 12/31/2020. Learn more at The End of Flash. 

LISTEN and play Bossy R words at Quizlet

SORT Bossy R flashcards from Lanternfish ESL with a: Bossy R Handout from mes-english.com as a sort mat.

READ Bossy R sentences from stickyball.net and r-controlled vowels Fluency Passages from razzledazzleclassroom. READ the book: “Bert’s Super Circus” by Lisa Charlesworth (Scholastic Phonics Tales)

PLAY Printable Go Fish game from themeasuredmom (6 pages, 9 per page, color)

birdinthedirt

Bossy R word sort and game, and Bossy R and Consonant Digraph Soccer Sort Game at the Super Tutor Tools Store at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Bossy R with Consonant Digraphs

Some words with Bossy R vowels also have a consonant digraph. Practice these words with activities at Shark Chart!

Bossy R Variations

Bossy R can vary sometimes. When Bossy R meets Silent e, Silent e wins sometimes: words with -are can say long a, Examples: care, share, flare. -ire can say long i, Examples: fire, tire, wire. But notice that OR wins: adore, bore, shore, snore & UR wins: nature, picture, treasure.

An e before ar can have many different sounds: long e (hear), “er”(learn), “air” (pear), & “ar” (heart)

Schwa Bossy R and Silent e vs. Bossy R at Teachers Pay Teachers.

 

Silent e

SilentE4

A letter e at the end of a word is silent and makes the vowel long. A vowel that is long says it’s name. Two E’s  are like twins and often stick together, as in tree, so the e may not always be at the end, like in seed. With the other vowels the silent e at the end is often separated by a consonant. Together or apart, Silent e often works just the same. (although sometimes ie makes a long E sound (see Vowels That Vary), and o_e can make a short U sound. (some love gloves)

SilentE3

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

Silente

WATCH more videos from Kids vs Phonics: A_E (2:11), EE (1:27), E_E (1:24) I_E (1:42), IE (1:47), O_E (2:17), U_E (1:56), UE (1:50)and at the Silent e playlist at the PhonicsPow Youtube channel

LISTEN and play at Quizlet

More Silent e Resources:

READ Long A sentences (plus all long vowels) from stickyball.net and BOOKS: “Nice Mice in the Rice” by Brian P Cleary “Here Comes Silent e!” by Anna Hays

SpaceRaceGame

PLAY printable games: The Silent E Freebie Set includes one of each type of resource from several different sets, all about Silent e. You get the Silent e information from the Phonics Fun Folders set, a game board from the Phonics Patterns Game Board Set, a page from the Spot and Dot Phonics Patterns set, and a Soccer Sort Game. (Soccer Sort Games are sold separately at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers). The Bee Hive Silent e game is also available at the Super Tutor Tools store.

weedseed

Often there is a consonant between the vowel and the e at the end, so they can be called split digraphs. But sometimes not. (tone, toe)

WEED SEED Two ee’s are like twins and like to stick together, so the e may not be at the end.

Some words have both a silent e vowel and a consonant digraph. Learn more at Chase the Sheep.

Silent e Variations

There are a few variations to learn at the end of the Silent e section (III.e) of the Phonics Pow Toolkit. There are worksheets and games to practice these in the toolkit, and there are sorts for these in the free word sort games download.

  1. In some words, Defender D can stop silent e from making the vowel long. (hūge bădge) You will see the letter g before e will often soft /j/ be in these words. WATCH -dge strategy from Sue’s Strategies.
  2. The letter c before e will often soft /s/ be. C = /s/ in the word families -ace and -ice. This is a good time to introduce hard or soft c and g. The letter s makes the sound of /s/ in some words with Silent e: base, case, vase, vise, and dose.  In other words with Silent e, the letter s makes the sound of /z/: phase, phrase, hose, nose, pose, rose, chose, those, cheese, these, rise, wise, use, and fuse. Learn more about the sounds of s and practice Silent e words with soft c, s=/s/ or /z/ & z=/z/ with an online word sort.
  3. Some words with the letter o that you might expect to have a long vowel sound do not. Instead, they make the schwa sound of “uh.” Learn more at some love gloves.
  4. A few more silent e exception words that make the short sound are: have, give, and gone.

There are more ways that vowels can be long:

Word Families

Word families are words that have the same endings, and therefore rhyme. With beginning readers, practice with word families that have a short vowel, and introduce word families with more advanced vowel patterns as they are learned. Free clip strips are a great way to do this.

WATCH videos and PLAY online games at a Word Families tutorial at Wakelet. Some online games require flash, which is no longer supported after 12/31/2020. Learn more at The End of Flash.  Youtube playlists for word families by Little Fox and ChorsiMedia (many short vowels, some others)

WordFamilyCards

Word Family Cards are modified from margedteachingposters for easier printing. (22 cards, 6 pages) Cut the end off of an envelope and slide the clue picture out. Students can make as many words with the same ending as they can think of, then slide the words out to see if they thought of all of them.

The Word Family Picture sorts from flyingintolearning.com can be used to provide pictures with clues. I like to use these with the Word Family Treasure game below.

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PLAY Printables: Word Family Treasure game (free!) and Roll a Word Family from the Super Tutor Tools Store at Teachers Pay Teachers

More Word Family Resources:

wordfamilies

The word families below have more advanced phonics patterns. As these patterns are learned while following the logical sequence of the Phonics Pow Toolkit, it can be helpful to intoduce them with word families that illustrate the pattern.

WordFamilyTable2

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, WATCH Short E & I Sounds from allaboutlearningpress (2:49) and practice with Short I & E picture sort from tchrgrl.

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: Sliding Beaver and  Hanging Monkeys from literactive (Flash). Cloudy Day, Vowel Popper and Vowel Ace at roomrecess.com (choose short vowels)

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.

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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.