When a vowel sound, in a word, is pronounced the same way the letter is itself, we call this a long vowel. If a vowel does not sound as it does as an individual letter, it is referred to as a short vowel sound. A typical example of both vowel sounds can be found in the word cake. This word features the long a vowel and the short e vowel. The spelling of words and the way it sounds are not always on par. This is something you will need to remind yourself consistently as you progress with this skill. You will find that the long vowel sound is present very often when two vowels are positioned next to each other and when a word ends in the letter e. You will get the hang of this as you spend more time with the concepts and sounds here.
We cover all 5 vowels in here. We also have individual vowel worksheets. If you look at the blue navigation bar to the left, you will see the individual letters listed. We will also begin to add a bunch of short vowel worksheets over the next several season that will be intense. Long vowels sounds just as they appear on the page or screen for that matter. Interesting Fact: The only 15-letter word that is spelled without repeating a single letter is "uncopyrightable". Can you find the 2-long vowels in that word? It's "i" and "a".
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The long A sound is what you hear when the letter A says its name. You can hear this sound in words like: make, hay, play. Say the name of each picture. Color the pictures where you hear this same sound.
You can hear the high U sound in the word "cube". Say the name of each picture. If you hear this Uu sound, circle the picture. Read each pair of words. Circle the word in each pair that contains this particular sound.
The long O sound is what you hear when the letter O says its name. You can hear this sound in words like: domino Lego toes
What Are Long Vowels Sounds?
Pronunciation is the same as their letter name. A, e, i, o, u are the five vowels in the English language, and each of them has a corresponding long vowel sound associated with them. ai/, /ee/, /ie/, /o/, /yu/.
The usage of these types of vowels is very common but tricky because they can be spelled in multiple ways.
Examples of These Types of Words
Words in which the vowels pronounce their own names are called Long vowel words. A few examples will make it clear to understand. When you read the words written below, listen to the sound of the vowel letters.
- Long a - baby, cake, train, say, gray, sleigh - When done with e - we, eve, pear, street, niece, brandy - Long i - ice, strike, fight, by - Long o - no, chrome, foe, float, bow - Long u - unit, cute, few, blue, soup
How to Make These Vowel Sounds
Long vowel sounds can be made in these four ways:
1. Placing the Vowels at the end of a syllable. For example, In she and hero (he-ro) the vowels at the end of each syllable make the sound long.
2. Using a silent e to elongate the previous vowel. In the words strike and bone, the silent e placed at the end makes the vowel long.
3. Using Vowel teams to make a long sound. When used as a team, vowels work together and make one long sound. For example, treat and chief have lengthy vowel sounds due to vowel teams.
4. Placing I or O before two consonants. For example, in the words bold and find, the long vowel sound is due to i and o.
The A Sound
The following eight spelling patterns represent the sound of long a:
1. a - halo 2. a_e - space 3. ai - gain 4. ay - tray 5. ei - reindeer 6. eigh - neigh 7. ea - swear 8. ey - survey
The E Sound
Similar to long A, a ong E sound is also portrayed by eight different spelling patterns:
1. e - even 2. e_e - theme 3. ee - free 4. ea - reach 5. ei - ceiling 6. ie - believe 7. ey - honey 8. y - sunny
The Big I Sound
These 6 spelling patterns represent the sound of long I:
1. i - tiny 2. i_e - white 3. ie - cried 4. igh - knight 5. y - apply 6. y_e - style
The Legthy O Sound
The long o sound can be represented by 5 different spelling patterns:
1. o - go 2. o_e - phone 3. oe - toe 4. oa - boat 5. ow - snow
Wow the U Sound
Yoo and oo are the two sounds of a long U. Both of these sounds have the following seven spelling patterns:
1. u - human, ruby 2. u_e - huge, rude 3. ue - argue, true 4. eu - eulogy 5. ew - pew, stew 6. oo - mood 7. ou - wound
How to teach students these tyoes of vowel sounds
1. Start with only one spelling pattern
For long a, if you choose the spelling pattern ai, (snail, raisin, aim), practice till your students have it perfected before moving on to the other patterns, e.g., ay and a-e.
2. Teach the types of syllables
Children can only have a clear understanding of long vowel sounds if they understand the basic six syllable types. So start by teaching them if you haven’t already covered that in class.
3. Use Multiple Varieties to Practice the Spelling Pattern
Dictation is one of the simplest yet most important ways to practice and master vowel sounds. Other than that, you can use games, sort-the-word, find-the-word, flashcards, and more activities to make the learning process fun.
