Teach Your Child About Other Vowel Sounds with These Free Resources
Please enjoy these free resources to teach your child about the other vowel sounds. These other vowel sounds are tricky because they don’t really fit into the short or long vowel categories. First, there’s the long and short oo, followed by r-controlled vowels, and finally diphthongs. These vowels sounds are something that many adults may not know how to properly name, so you may be learning alongside your child, and that’s okay!
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 Other Vowel Sounds 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. (For example with the r controlled vowels you could say, “Every time the letter r comes after a vowel, it’s going to make a different sound.”
- 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 these other vowel sounds. Learning about other vowel sounds while reading quality literature is what will really solidify your child’s understanding of these other vowel sounds.
- When your child is stumbling over a word with one of these other vowel sounds, you can point out why the word is tricky by talking about the rule.
- 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 Other Vowel Sounds Video
- Start watching this video after your child is familiar with one sound for each letter of the alphabet.
- These video is almost like a cheat sheet for parents so that when you’re reading together, you can point out the spelling patterns for these other vowel sounds. Learning about other vowel sounds while reading quality literature is what will really solidify your child’s understanding of these other vowel sounds.
- When your child is stumbling over a word with one of these other vowel sounds, you can point out why the word is tricky by talking about the rule.
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
