A solid understanding of short and long vowel sounds is important in building students’ reading and writing skills.

Teaching Phonics Skills

Kindergarten students need explicit and systematic instruction in phonics skills. It is one of the fundamental skills students need to be successful readers and writers.

As I continue to teach my students letter sounds, I want to ensure that my students have a strong understanding of long and short vowel sounds.

Vowel Sounds

Since each vowel (a, e, i, o, u) has 2 sounds that they can make (long and short). This means that I have been giving explicit instruction on these 2 sounds using our classroom sound wall and through our phonics routine.

Because these letters and sounds are a bit more complex, I like to spend some extra time focusing on vowels. This ensures that these sounds are solidified for my students.

Vowel Bootcamp

To make this explicit teaching systematic for my students, I created a vowel BootCamp to make sure they really develop a deep understanding of them. I go through each vowel’s sounds at the beginning of each meeting.

Then, I do some activities to help students hear and see those letters within words. I use CVC and CVCe words to make this developmentally appropriate and effective for my students.

I will also be doing an interactive activity with students choosing the correct middle sound for CVC words. Then, I will drag and drop the vowel to complete the word. This will be a great whole group lesson to do with my students.

Find the Vowel Bootcamp here: