Teach Your Child About Long Vowels with These Free Resources
Please enjoy these free resources to help you teach your child about long vowels! Once children have mastered learning short vowels, it’s time to start introducing long vowels. Long vowels are probably the trickiest part of our English language because of the variety of spelling patterns and words that don’t adhere to the rules. To keep things simple, I have made flashcards of only the most common spelling patterns for each long vowel and included a box for the additional and less common spelling patterns.
About These Flashcards
- Print from a Chrome Browser to make sure the margins are correct, and make sure “fit to page” is not selected. You may have problems getting the correct margins if you use the Edge browser.
- Print on card stock and laminate.
Tips and Tricks for Using My Long Vowels Flashcards
- When you start using these flashcards, focus first on the the picture and the word. Once your child is familiar with the picture and word, then you can start talking about the rule that makes the vowel long. (For example, if you have a silent e at the end of the word, it makes the short vowel long or if two vowels go out walking, the first one does the talking.)
- These flashcards are almost like a cheat sheet for parents so that when you’re reading together, you can point out the spelling patterns for long vowels. Learning about long vowels while reading quality literature is what will really solidify your child’s understanding of long vowels.
- When your child is stumbling over a long vowel word, make sure you tell them it’s a long vowel and point out the spelling pattern. (Say, “the a in the word cake makes a long a sound because of the silent e at the end of the word,” or say, “the i in the word light makes a long i sound because when the letters igh are together it makes a long i sound.”)
- When children are first learning the alphabet, it’s VERY important that they learn one letter for each sound and learn it to mastery. But when children start learning about the more complex sounds, I have found that they really only need to be introduced.
Tips and Tricks for Using My Long Vowels Video
- Start watching when your child knows one sound for each letter of the alphabet (including short vowels) really really really well.
- As your child is introduced to the video, repeat some of the things that are said so they hear your voice along with the video. Say the chant along with the video and comment where appropriate. (“What is Ophelia eating? What color are the shoes?”)
- This video is almost like a cheat sheet for parents so that when you’re reading together, you can point out the spelling patterns for long vowels. Learning about long vowels while reading quality literature is what will really solidify your child’s understanding of long vowels.
For More Information
- For a simple overview for how to teach your child to read, check out my blog: Teach Your Child to Read in 5 Simple Steps, and for a more in depth look at teaching reading, check out my: Teach Your Child to Read Blog Series.
- Check out my Free Reading Resources page to access all of the flashcards, posters, and video digital downloads you’ll need to teach your child how to read.
Follow These 5 Simple Steps to Teach Your Child How to Read:
I created these resources to help any parent (or teacher) teach their child/children to read in a fun and back to basics kind of way. If you follow these steps and fill learning time with lots of love and cuddles, your child will learn how to read easily and naturally just like my own five children did.
- Language Rich Environment: Use oral language at the child’s level (Get down on the floor and play together!) and help them memorize vocabulary words. (Tell them the names of things!)
- Phonemic Awareness: Teach one sound for each letter of the alphabet. (Start with short vowels and the hard c and g.)
- Phonics: Tap out sounds in three letter words to teach how sounds come together to form words.
- More Complex Phonemic Awareness: Introduce long vowels, digraphs, other vowel sounds, and other consonant sounds.
- Reading Comprehension Strategies: Use quality literature to interact with books and ask questions before, during, and after reading to make sure your child is understanding what you’re reading.
Start young! It’s better to do a little bit over a long period of time rather than try to cram it all in before preschool or kindergarten starts. Read more about how to teach your child to read in my blog: Teach Your Child to Read in 5 Simple Steps.
Teach Your Child to Read Blog Series
For a more in depth look at teaching your child to read, follow my blog series. In this series, I divide learning how to read into nine layers that build off from each other to create strong and confident readers. In each blog, you’ll find additional resources and information that will give you a deep understanding for how children learn how to read.
- #1-Oral Language Development Lays the Foundation for Learning to Read
- #2-How Engage Your Baby or Young Child with Reading
- #3-Learning How to Read Begins with the ABCs
- #4-Memorizing Words Before Sounding Them Out Leads to Reading
- #5-Building Vocabulary with Numbers, Colors, and Shapes
- #6-Teaching Phonics with Three Letter Word Families
- #7-Unlock the Final Stages of Reading with Advanced Phonemic Awareness
- #8-Reading Comprehension Strategies Lead to Independent Readers
- #9-Reinforcing Reading with Writing
