Hi everyone! Today I have a little resource to share with you that I use on a daily basis. It was previously found in my Printable Intervention packs and Hands-on Short Vowel packs, but I decided I needed to share it all on its own. That’s how much I use it!
Vowels can be so hard to remember, especially since some really sound similar. For our beginning readers and struggling readers, it can be especially difficult to distinguish between and remember these sounds. From the beginning, I introduce this visual and I model how to use it. I learned this from a dyslexia specialist and it is SO helpful.
When we are beginning to sound out words, I tell my students to first determine the vowel sound by singing a little chant that matches the picture. For example, for a short a word, I’ll say, “apple, apple, /a/ /a/ /a/.” Then, I’ll sound out the word. If students get in the habit of doing this early on, they are more likely to read the words accurately and master their vowel sounds. As they progress and begin reading sentences, we obviously don’t do that for every word. However, they still do that chant when they are stuck on a word or if they don’t remember the vowel sound. I also have them “check their vowel” when I hear them read a word using the incorrect vowel sound. Here is a video of my son using this bookmark in action.
