Reading: Phonics Camp
Short Vowel Hopscotch
Today's Snack: Shortbread cookies (brand
name Lorna Doone) with milk poured in a short glass.
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Supplies:
Sidewalk chalk | pavement | 2 or
more students
Whiteboard, marker and eraser
The English language is based on sound. We've isolated 70
different sounds that alphabet letters make, alone and in combination. Once you
learn those 70 sounds - called "phonograms" - and the rules of spelling, you
can "decode," or read, just about any unfamiliar word that you come across, and
spell it correctly, too.
The basic building blocks of phonics are the vowels - a,
e, i, o and u. But did you know there are at least two ways to pronounce each
of those vowels?
We have the "long" sounds of the vowels - when they "say
their names" - how it sounds when you say the letter names a, e, i, o and u.
But we also have the "short" vowel sounds. Now the vowel
sounds are a little different. The short vowel sound of the letter "a" is the
same as the "ah" in apple. When we write it out, we write / a / as in apple.
The other short vowel sounds are / e / as in egg, / i /
as in wind, / o / as in dog, and / u / as in cup.
So instead of a, e, i, o and u, we have ah, eh, ih, ôh
and uh. We put a little "hat" on the short-vowel / o / just to help us remember to pronounce it like the / o / in
dog.
Children enjoy brainstorming other words that use the
short-vowel sounds. Try to come up with at least two for each of the five short
vowel sounds. Talk about the meaning of the words and challenge the students to
use them in a sentence.
Now draw a hopscotch shape on the pavement with at least
five sections, and inside each section, write one of the five short vowels. It
can be a big circle with pie-shaped sections, or a big square or a big
triangle. If you want to, you can put each short vowel in twice and have 10
sections.
Now take turns and have each child hop to the short vowel
sound in the letter that you call out. Use the word in a sentence if it will
help the child "hear" the word and the short vowel sound. Let each child try to
make three points. After each attempt, it really helps children if you will
write the word on a whiteboard so that they can read it as well as listen to
the sounds the letters make. Then erase for the next turn!
Here's
a list:
/ a / /
e / / i / / o / / u /
and ten it on run
at bed is top up
can red in off us
man let will hot but
an yes little lot must
last tell this box just
am get him dog run
have then did got cut
chance send six block sung
bad them ring not Sunday
had well live long sun
hand men big lost under
land led sit cost cup
hat spent bring across club
stand end if gone full
ask went his stop trust
as wet miss pot crumb
has yet sick rot number
ran letter spring copy until
that west river loss button
