Training Students to See Long Vowel Patterns: 2 Free Phonics PowerPoints with Interactive Activities

 Welcome to my annual blog post!  Just kidding.........Here are my latest freebies, products, and thoughts....

   I am always looking for ways to move students from the sound level to the pattern level and to REALLY understand the difference.  I don't know if any of you are torn between "discovery" during word study and "direct" teaching.  I certainly know that I am.  Since I am not the regular classroom teacher, I sometimes feel I can't afford the luxury of guiding students to be independently noticing things.   I am the quick in and out teacher who is supposed to come up with something fabulous.  I do know that there is nothing more powerful than a student coming up with a "rule" because they own it when they do that.  But there have been times that I am not sure I can lead them to discovering things in such a short time.   I go back and forth. 

    Because I push in to do a quick word study lesson, I designed the following long vowel PowerPoints to do several things.

First, I wanted to train students to distinguish between long and short vowels.  So, the first PowerPoint is solely designed to do this.  Pictures fly in and the students hold up signs that read "Short" and "Long" before the answer is revealed.

However,  if it seems like too much work to hot glue short and long onto sticks  (I actually ended up using tongue depressors), then you can use them as "pinch" cards.  Students have a piece of paper in front of them and they pinch the answer.   I just knew I would be using them for each vowel and they were bright and pretty and probably more fun for kids to feel like they were voting. On a different day, I would have picked the easier way.

In the second PowerPoint, students are given a sheet with patterns in columns.  As the picture flies in, they predict which pattern the picture will have by pointing at the column.  Then, the pattern flies in and the student writes the word under the correct column.  Then the rest of the word flies in and students check the whole word.  This continues for 30 pictures.

I lead them to understand that if they hear a short sound, they use one vowel.  If they hear a long sound, they pick a pattern.  Here is the anchor chart I use:

(You can get this anchor chart in the sample file, which is a FULL Long A set, including 2 PPTs, the writing sort and the Long A story.)  

Finally,  I got creative.  I wanted to connect the spelling to reading.  I wanted to emphasize to students that spelling can help them in reading and to have them practice looking for the patterns in their reading.  So each long vowel PowerPoint has a story connected to it.  Here is the long A story.  It is rather difficult to make up a story using spelling words.  I remember the agony we used to go through when one of my son's teachers required this weekly.  So I did it one last time!

The kids have so much fun using highlighters!  It is amazing to see kids get so excited to do this reading activity! 

To get the FULL Long A set click here:

Free Phonics PowerPoints Short A vs. Long A

To get the Long Vowel PowerPoint Bundle, click here:

Long Vowel Phonics PowerPoint Bundle

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great rest of the year!

Anna

Free Listen and Write Long Vowel Patterns Worksheet

I have been an awful blogger as of late, not attending to my blog, but this year has been a year of change.  I wonder how many of you out there feel the same way.  There have not been enough hours in the day to keep up with it all.  However, necessity is the mother of invention, and I have some kiddos who needed some extra beginning long vowel practice, so something had to be invented.

These students have completed the Cut, Paste, and Spell picture sorts, and while that has helped them a lot, they need a little more help practicing noticing the difference between long and short vowels.  Here is a chart that I am using to help them take charge of their learning by encouraging them to "discover" long vowel pattern rules like, if you hear the long o sound at the end of a word, use the ow pattern.  There are lots of discoveries kids can make.  I spent the first few years teaching word study and pointing things out, thinking that kids would remember.  I said things like, "look!  If you hear a long vowel use ch (like in peach) and if you hear a short vowel use tch (like in catch).  I would hear "ooohhhh" like everything was clear as a bell but many still would forget the rule.  Now I do everything I can to have students discover their own rules.  I won't give it to them ever.  It doesn't help.  If they discover it, they own it.  You will sometimes see me pulling my hair asking kids what they hear and what they know about sounds and how are the sounds the same and how are they different and any question I can think of without telling them a rule.

I also created some worksheets that are not cut and paste, but I still wanted the students to look at the pictures and practice listening to themselves say the words and write the words looking for patterns.  In addition, other students are finishing their morning work more quickly these days and I needed something that provided some more practice but was quicker than the cutting and pasting.  I created phonics worksheets that was similar to sorting, but also made them choose whether they heard a short or long sound first, so that I could train them to ask themselves that question first.  Until it is automatic, it will delay them noticing patterns related to sound.

Here is how it turned out:

 
You can grab this freebie here: Free Listen and Write Long O Worksheet

If you are interested in the full books, I have created 4 of them to correspond to the pictures in the 4 Cut, Paste and Spell books.  They are available as individuals or as a set.  Each book has at least 30 pages.

Listen and Write Books, Set of 4

Listen and Write Word Families
Listen and Write CVC Words
Listen and Write Blends and Digraphs
Listen and Write Long Vowel Patterns


Thanks for stopping by!  If any of these are useful, please let me know in the comments section.  I have had almost 30,000 visitors, and I would love to hear from some of you!


Happy Teaching!

Anna