Vowel lesson plans for kindergarten

Recognizing Vowels Lesson Plan

Objectives:

Students will learn how to recognize and remember the vowels as a subset of letters, as distinguished from consonants.
Students will become familiar with capital and lower-case forms of vowels.

About the Concept:

Recognizing and distinguishing vowels from consonants is an important step in the development of reading and writing skills since all words and all syllables in words contain at least one vowel. Once students recognize the vowels in both capital and lower-case forms, the stage is set for learning rules and spelling patterns for short and long vowels, final vowels, unaccented vowels, diphthongs, digraphs, silent vowels, and irregular spellings. The vowels in written English are a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y. The letter y is a vowel when it occurs in medial or final position within a word or syllable or when it occurs in initial position in proper names like Yves, Yvonne, and Yvette (pronounced EEV, ee-VON, and ee-VET). (The letter w may also act like a vowel if it follows the letters a, e, or o.) When students have learned to recognize the vowels in Name Those Vowels, they can learn the long and short vowel sounds through the song, Oh, Do You Know? (Sing Your Way Through Phonics, Volume 1). Some other songs that teach students about vowels are the Volume 1 song, Silent E, the Volume 2 Songs, Cool Vowels, The Right Diphthong, and I Before E, and the Volume 3 songs Why Does Y? and Drop It!.

Materials:

Sing Your Way Through Phonics Volume 1 CD, Tracks 7 and 8 (Listen to audio sample)
Sing Your Way Through Phonics Volume 1 Mini-Charts (pp. 33-40)
Plastic letters, letter tiles, or alphabet cards (1 letter per card)
Optional: newspapers, crayons, highlighter markers, students’s name cards

Note: If you do not have the CD or Mini-Charts, you can still teach this recognizing vowels lesson plan using the folk tune listed on the Name Those Vowels Song Lyrics page. You can create your own mini-charts using the words in bold print letters in each verse of the Song Lyrics.

Find out more about Sing Your Way Through Phonics products.
Order our cost-saving Volume 1 Combo online.

Procedure:

Say, “Now that we can recognize our letters, let’s find out about a special group of letters we call vowels.”
Distribute capital letter cards A, E, I, O, U, and Y to six students, one card per child.
Tell the class that these are the vowel letters and that every word has at least one vowel letter in it. Ask the class to name the vowel letters on the cards.
Distribute lower-case letter cards a, e, i, o, u, and y to six other students and ask the students to name these lower-case letters.
Ask the students holding the lower-case letters to stand next to their partner letters, forming the pattern Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo, Uu, Yy and ask the students to name this set of vowel letters. (Students should just name the letters without saying “capital” or “lower-case.”
Set the twelve letter cards on the chalk ledge and call six students to select either a capital or lower-case letter from each set of partners. Ask the six to line up facing the class. (Example: A-e-i-O-U-y) Ask the class to name the set of vowels they see.
Repeat Step 6 with one or two more groups, forming other combinations of capital and lower-case vowel sets.
Say, “Now we are going to listen to a song about the vowel letters to help us remember them. At first, the singers will name and sing all the vowel letters. Then, you will hear a clap when one of the vowels is left out. See if you can think the names of each vowel that is left out.” Play Sing Your Way Through Phonics Volume 1 CD, Track 7--Name Those Vowels and point to the Mini-Charts on pages 34-40.
Point to Mini-Chart p. 35. Ask, what vowel was left out? (A)
Point to Mini-Chart pages 36-39, asking what vowels were left out on each page.
Say, “What happened at the end of the song?” (All the vowels were sung again.)
Say, “Now, let’s try singing the song with the CD.”
Play Track 7 again, pointing to the Mini-Charts and reminding the students to just “think” the names of the left-out vowels in their heads and clap for each vowel they don’t sing.
Ask students, “What do we call the special set of letters we practiced today?” (vowels) “And what are the vowel letters?” (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y)

Follow-up:

Practice singing Name Those Vowels daily for a few days. Then try singing the song without hearing the words, using the instrumental track (Track 8). Allow different students to point to the Mini-Charts words while singing.
Using the Mini-Chart Templates, vary the order of vowels (Ex: e-o-i-u-a) and mix upper and lower-case (Ex: I-U-a-o-E).
As a learning center task, have students do letter sorts, separating vowels from consonants. Be sure to include capital and lower-case letters. Use plastic letters, letter cards, or Scrabble tiles.
Find vowels in books and magazines. Call attention to alternate print forms of the letter a. This might also be a good time to call attention to alternate print forms of the letter g.

Extensions:

Introduce the Read-and-Sing Book, Name Those Vowels. Readers can point to the vowels imbedded in the illustrations while singing this playful song set to the folktune Bingo. Each time a vowel is omitted in the lyrics, singers can substitute a clap, a pencil tap, a knuckle rap, a foot stomp, a rhythm instrument sound, or the word, "Sh!" Keep a few copies of the book at a literacy center equipped with headsets so that students can gain practice in listening, singing, and remembering the names of the vowels.
In newspapers, circle words with 1 vowel in red, 2 vowels in blue, 3 vowels in green, 4 vowels in orange, 5 vowels in black. Have a timed contest to see who can find the most examples of each. Winners need to read out the vowels in the words they circled to check for accuracy.
Teach students American Sign Language for the vowels. Have them sign the letters as they sing.
Play A-E-I-O-You! Each student says these five vowels and points to another student on the word “you.” After everyone has had a turn, everyone says the vowels in unison and all point to the person of their choice on the word “you. ”
Examine the vowels in students’s names. Have students trace the vowels on their name cards in a contrasting color crayon or highlighter marker. Do this with simple words in students’ sight vocabulary. (Ex: stop, walk, exit, baby)
Compare objects and animals in alphabet books for the vowel letters. For example, one book might display an apple for the letter a while another might display an ape for the same letter.

Evaluation:

Students correctly read all the vowels on Mini-Charts pp.34 and 40 without assistance, or
Students pass a written test where they circle capital and lower-case vowels sprinkled in among consonants.

Order our cost-saving Sing Your Way Through Phonics Volume 1 Combo online ($33.95) containing the CD, Mini-Charts, Song Lyrics, and Teaching Suggestions — everything you need for this lesson! Or, print out an order form to mail/FAX to us.

5 Easy Short Vowel Activities to Make Your Phonics Lesson POP! -

Let’s chat about 5 easy short vowel activities that will pop in your classroom. I know sometimes these short vowel lessons can get a little boring in the classroom. Do you ever get bored teaching short vowel lessons?

We’ve talked about teaching phonics explicitly during reading instruction…it’s important!

What is the Difference Between Short Vowels and Long Vowels?

After reading the article from Classroom, they sum it well, “As the name would imply, short vowels have a much shorter pronunciation than long vowel sounds.”

Short vowels will make a shorter sound, whereas long vowels have a longer sound, saying the vowels’ exact name. Long vowel sounds allow the speaker to move their mouth from a closed position to an open one.

When dealing with short vowels, it will be 1 vowel closed in by a consonant or consonants. Examples: man, wet, fish, tub, moth

Long vowels have many more complicated spelling patterns. There are vowel teams, the magic e, open syllables, and more!

What are the Short Vowels?

As Classroom states, “Short vowels produce only one sound and do not require the speaker to open his mouth very wide. The speaker’s jaw is relaxed and barely moves during the production of short vowel sounds. The speaker’s tongue is placed in different positions but is also usually relaxed. Short vowels can occur in stressed syllables, such as “o” in offer, or unstressed syllables, like the first “o” in tomato.”

As a former first-grade teacher and current reading specialist, I like to start the school year off by teaching the short vowel sounds. What are the short vowels? A, E, I, O, and U!

The vowels are closed in by a consonant or consonants to make the short vowel sound. Watch this video on my Instagram to see it in action! Read more to learn more about the 5 Easy Short Vowel Activities!

5 Easy Ways to Teach Short Vowels

Using a sand tray to practice letters and perfect to practice short vowels.

An example of using a vowel intensive drill to practice short vowel sounds. Using a house to practice open and closed syllables.

Let’s discuss 5 easy short vowel activities! These 5 ideas will help the students grasp the concept of short vowels while having fun!

Add Movement! When you teach the short vowel sounds, incorporate a movement for each sound. For example, for the short a sound…students can place their hand under their chin to feel the movement. Multi-sensory techniques will help make more brain connections as the students these short vowel sounds.
Closed Syllable Houses! Have the students make a little house with a door. Cut the door so it opens and closes. Laminate to reuse! Write CVC words onto the house to show how the consonant closes in the vowel and makes the vowel. This post will explain more about open and closed syllables! Here is my Instagram Reel that shows closed syllables in action.
Sand Trays! Pour sensory sand or play sand onto a tray or plate. The teacher will say a sound, the students will write the corresponding vowel into the sand. Step it up by having the teacher say a word, the students will write the vowel into the sand.
Vowel Intensive Drill: In Orton Gillingham, a wonderful way to practice the short vowel sounds is the vowel intensive drill. Each student will have the 5 vowels on separate notecards, in a little tent. See the photo below! The teacher will say a short vowel sound, the students will hold up the corresponding card. For example, if the teacher will say /ă/, the students will hold up the card. The students love this practice and it is a perfect multi-sensory activity.
Use Visuals! Try out my teaching slideshow, “We Love Short Vowels”. It provides example words for each short vowel. The students can practice reading many words as they learn all about the short vowels. It also includes corresponding worksheets to practice each short vowel.

I hope you can incorporate some of the 5 Easy Short Vowel Activities in your own classroom.

Can’t I Just Teach Word Families?

Years ago as a teacher, I would begin each school year teaching word families. To begin, I’m not saying word families can’t have a place in the classroom, but it can’t be the only way short vowels are taught. Use word families as a strategy to teach short vowels, but not the ONLY way!

All About Learning Press has an argument against relying solely on word families in your teaching.

“If you stop there—just teaching word lists grouped by word families—you will be severely disappointed in your teaching efforts.

Why? Because if you use word families incorrectly, students may end up just following the “pattern” of that particular lesson, blindly zipping through the spelling words without really learning them. What you intended to be educational and insightful becomes an exercise in following patterns—and the time you spent teaching spelling goes down the drain because your child can’t actually spell those words outside of the neatly organized list.

Another downfall of overemphasizing word families is the risk that your child will pay too much attention to the ends of words, skipping over the first part of the word to get to the answer. Instead, we want the student’s eye to start at the beginning of the word and move to the end of the word. Encouraging his eye to start at the end of the word and then jump back to the beginning of the word is reinforcing incorrect eye movement. We don’t want to reinforce dyslexic tendencies.”

“Use word families as a strategy to teach short vowels, but not the ONLY way!”
-RIndy Roberts, Learning with heart

By teaching the students to look from the beginning of a word to the end of a word, will be beneficial when they come to words with suffixes.

What about the science of reading?

I made a free guide for teachers and parents to make it easy to incorporate the Science of Reading with their students. The research behind the Science of Reading is so intriguing and I wanted to share how I incorporate it daily into my instruction.

I wanted to make it SIMPLE for teachers to make this shift to teaching phonemic and decoding skills explicitly.

Short Vowels & The Science Reading?

The science of reading is key when you are teaching. First, based on much research, teaching phonics explicitly will benefit all children. According to Secret Stories, “Decoding is essential to reading. It allows kids to figure out most words they’ve heard but have never seen in print, as well as sound out words they’re not familiar with. The ability to decode is the foundation upon which all other reading instruction—fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, etc… are built.”

“Teaching phonics explicitly will benefit all children.”

The Orton Gillingham approach uses multi-sensory learning techniques to teach decoding, encoding, and blending sounds to build successful readers. Based on the Orton-Gillingham Academy, “The Orton-Gillingham Approach is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way to teach literacy when reading, writing, and spelling does not come easily to individuals, such as those with dyslexia. It is most properly understood and practiced as an approach, not a method, program, or system. In the hands of a well-trained and experienced instructor, it is a powerful tool of exceptional breadth, depth, and flexibility.”

I have been using the Orton Gillingham approach in my classroom for 3 years now. By using this multi-sensory learning approach, the students are more likely to grasp and retain what they learn. Read more about why I love Orton Gillingham here!

Orton Gillingham phonics program has made such a difference in my classroom. It is a multi-sensory phonics curriculum. In the first grade curriculum, it builds on the correct letter formation in handwriting and the sounds the letters make.

The Orton-Gillingham Approach is multi-sensory and structured to teach reading, writing, and spelling.

It is commonly used for students with dyslexia, but can be used to help all students feel more confident when they read and write!

Resources to Help With Short Vowels

I have created the “We Love Phonics” program to make it easier for teachers to introduce and teach phonics skills. I have created a resource that will guide you for an entire school year, with lesson slideshows and worksheets that correspond to each skill.

The short vowel resource will cover all 5 easy short vowel activities. The Open/Closed Syllable resource will explain how to break words into syllables, and the explanation of closed syllables with the short vowel sound. What are your favorite ways to teach short vowels?

This product will help with the steps to distinguish between open and closed syllables.

Would you like the FREE Science of Reading Guide? Check out this FREEBIE!

Abstract of a lesson in teaching literacy "Learning vowels and consonants with Masha" | Literacy training plan (preparatory group):

Municipal Budgetary Educational Institution kindergarten No. 1 "Kolosok" of the Komsomolsky district of the Chuvash Republic

Summary of teaching literacy with children of the preparatory for the school

on the topic:

"Learn vowels and consonants with Masha"

Prepared by: speech therapist MBDOU Kindergarten No. 1 "Kolosok" of the first qualification category of Nizamova Zilya Semigullovna

Komsomolskoye, 2019

Goal: Teaching children the ability to differentiate sounds into vowels and consonants

Objectives:

Educational:

Continue learning to divide isolated sounds into vowels and consonants by observing your voice and articulatory organs;
Continue learning to highlight 1 sound in a word and correlate it with a certain color, depending on whether the sound is a vowel-consonant;
Continue to learn how to analyze the sound of the word;
Exercise in the ability to select words for a given scheme.

Developing:

Develop auditory attention and phonemic hearing;
Develop auditory memory, thinking.

Educational:

Continue to develop the ability to act according to instructions;
Continue to teach to listen carefully to an adult, to be active.

Course of the lesson

Organizational moment

- Good afternoon, guys! Look who came to visit you today? Did you recognize her? (shows the doll Masha from the cartoon "Masha and the Bear") Of course, this is Masha! She, like you guys, is going to school soon. Misha prepared tasks for Masha to check if she is ready for school. (The teacher shows a closed box with the inscription "Masha") But, Masha is afraid that she will not cope with the tasks alone. Well guys! Are you ready to help Masha? (Yes) Get ready and you Masha listen carefully and memorize!

Dividing sounds into vowel and consonant

- Before going to school, we must learn to hear all the sounds in a word and determine which sound is a vowel or a consonant. So let's make a sound! (Children sing the sound A). Does the voice come out freely? (Yes!). That's right, the voice comes out freely, which means the sound is a vowel. Let's make the sound C! (Children pronounce) Does the voice come out freely or is something preventing it? (Answers of children). The voice meets an obstacle in the form of teeth and tongue, which means the sound is consonant. (Next, the teacher pronounces the sounds O, Sh, M, U, Z, Y, E, D - the children determine whether the sound is a vowel or a consonant)

2. The game "Determine what sound and raise the circle of the desired color"

- Guys, and you, Masha, must remember that we denote vowel sounds in red, the voice comes out freely, it is sung, nothing interferes with it (a picture is shown -scheme). We designate consonant sounds in blue, the voice meets an obstacle in the form of teeth, lips, tongue (a picture-diagram is shown)

I suggest playing a game. I will name the sounds, and you will determine the sound of a vowel or consonant and raise the desired color (The teacher calls the sound - the children raise the circles of the corresponding color)

3. Naming vowels

- So, let's name the vowels again. There aren't many of them. (Children call the vowels A, O, U, Y, E, I)

4. Task "Name the picture and stick a circle of the right color"

- Guys, we can distinguish between vowels and consonants. And now we are ready to help Masha complete one of the tasks in the package. (The teacher takes out a poster with pictures and self-adhesive mugs in blue and red). You must determine what sound the picture begins with and stick a circle of the desired color next to it. If the word begins with a vowel sound, glue a red circle next to it. If from a consonant, we glue a blue circle. (Children perform the first few pictures together with the teacher. Then each child goes to the easel, loudly calls the picture, and sticks the right circle)

- Well done guys! You did it. Let's move on to the next task from the package.

5. Game exercise "Put the pictures in the right houses"

The teacher takes out two cardboard houses with a red and blue roof, as well as pictures. In the center of the house, instead of windows, there are transparent pockets for inserting pictures.

- Guys, in front of you is a house with a red roof and a house with a blue roof (The teacher fixes them on an easel). And also pictures. You will need to determine with what sound (vowel or consonant) the word in the picture begins and populate it in the right house. We will name the picture quietly, to ourselves.

6. Physical education

We know a lot of words on the vowel: Stork autumn duck hoar. (Children step on a red circle and jump on the spot) on the consonant, we also know: Beetle of firewood grass goat. (Children step on a blue circle and jump on the spot) And now, a friend do not yawn, you come correctly! (The teacher calls words to vowel and consonants, children step on circles of the right color).

7. Sound analysis of the word COM

- Let's move on to the next task from the premise. (The teacher takes out a poster and three circles: two blue ones and a red one) A riddle is written here. The mystery about the most beloved fish of Masha

A huge fish lies at the bottom, as if a block. Lies, moves his mustache, does not tell the fish to yawn. There is a house in a deep pool, , , , , , , , , , , ,0003

- We need to spell out the word COM using these circles. So, what 1 sound is heard in the word COM (Correctly C) C is what sound (Consonant). So, we put in a circle of what color (Blue) What sound goes on (Sound O) O - this is what sound (Vowel). So, lay out a circle of what color (Red). What we got (CO). Which sound comes next (Sound M). M is what sound (Consonant). So, we put a circle of what color (Blue) Name the consonant sounds in the word COM (M and C). What is the vowel sound in the word COM (O). Well done!

8. Selection of pictures for the scheme. Isolation and naming of consonants and vowels in words.

- Look at the pictures. (The teacher takes out a poster with pictures). Find and name the pictures that match our scheme. (Scheme is shown: blue, red, blue). Children name pictures. Then only consonants are called, and only vowels).

9. Summing up.

- Guys, you completed all the tasks from the package. Let's remind Masha again, what sounds are there? (Vowels and consonants) What color do vowels represent? (Red) Name the vowels (A, O, U, S, E, I). What words that begin with a vowel do you remember? (Answers of children). What about a consonant sound? (Answers of children). Guys, you were all great today! You completed all the tasks and helped our Masha! Now Masha can go to school with you!

Vowel sounds | Outline of a lesson in speech therapy (preparatory group) on the topic:

Municipal budgetary preschool educational institution

Kindergarten of combined type No. 5 "Golden Key"

municipality

Lyubertsy municipal district of the Moscow region

Synopsis

frontal classes

in the preparatory speech therapy group

Topic: "Vowels"

Compiled

teacher-speech therapist

Surodeeva Olga Gennadievna

Lyubertsy 2017

Purpose: to improve phonemic hearing and perception.

Program tasks:

Correctional and educational:

- fix the correct pronunciation of vowels [a, y, o, e, i, s];

- to form and expand children's vocabulary on the topic "Autumn";

Correction and developmental:

- to teach children to distinguish vowels [a, y, o, e, i, s] from the composition of syllables, words;

- develop articulatory motor skills;

- to teach children to change the strength and pitch of the voice;

- develop phonemic hearing and perception;

- to form children's self-control over speech through oral, tactile-vibrational and acoustic control;

Correctional and educational:

- to cultivate respect for the environment.

Program content:

1. Organizational moment: greeting, articulatory gymnastics, exercises for the development of diaphragmatic breathing.

2. The course of the OOD: getting to know the topic of the lesson, the game "Tickets".

Phonetic analysis and synthesis of sound combinations: the game "Ears on top", a task to determine the place of sound in syllables, words.
Dynamic pause: Vowels game;
Phonetic analysis and synthesis of words: game: “Magic bag”; game "Foreign Letters".

3. Summary of the lesson: Evaluation of children's activities.

Equipment: sound diagram, letters A, U, O, E, I, S, easel, red chips, blue chips.

Methods and techniques: conversations, questions, games.

Progress OOD:

I. Introductory part (Organizational moment).

Children stand in a circle on the carpet.

Speech therapist: Good morning guys!

Children: children's answers.

Speech therapist: Smile to each other, and we will start classes in a good mood.

Guys, you and I must remember our rule of conduct in class.

Children:

We always speak beautifully

Loudly and slowly

We speak smoothly and clearly

And of course we are not in a hurry.

Speech therapist: And I also want to say:

We will now again

Watch, listen, think,

But do not interfere with each other.

Let's stretch our lips and tongue.

Development of articulatory motor skills.

- exercises for lips: smile - proboscis, fence;

- exercises for the tongue: "tasty jam", "watch".

Development of diaphragmatic breathing.

- And now let's inflate the tummy like a balloon.

The speech therapist together with the children recites a poem:

Here we are inflating the balloon,

And we check it with our hand (we inflate the belly).

The balloon burst - exhale,

We relax our muscles.

II. Main part.

Speech therapist: Guys, on this wonderful autumn morning, we will go to a fairy-tale land to the land of ABVGDEY-ka. We will go there on the magic train.

And we can only get on the train...

Children: children's answers. (by ticket)

Speech therapist: You need to look at the picture and determine which sound is "hidden" at the beginning of the word.

Children: Children, get tickets, answer. (Children, answering, stand behind the speech therapist, creating an impromptu train. Game "Tickets")

Speech therapist: Name all the sounds that you just said? (Children's answers)

Speech therapist: What are these sounds called?

Children: vowels.

Speech therapist: Why are they vowels? (Children's answers)

Speech therapist: Well, let's go. (music sounds, children sit at the tables). Here we are in a magical fairyland. In the country of ABVGDEY-ka, interesting games and tasks are waiting for you, with the help of which we will consolidate knowledge about vowel sounds and letters.

Task #1. Exercise "Ears on top"

Speech therapist clearly pronounces combinations of sounds, consistently complicating the task. Children perceive them only by ear and call the number, order of sounds in combination: ay, wah, ah, wah, oya, aoi.

Children's answers.

Speech therapist: Well done, you coped with the task.

Task number 2. Determining the place of sound in syllables, words.

Children lay out syllable schemes from colored chips.

- Sound analysis and synthesis of syllables of the type: AP, AS, SA, PA.

Laying out the sound scheme of the word with colored chips. Determining the place of sound in a word

- Sound analysis of the word "Poppy", "Cat", "Kit", "Bull", "Soup"

Speech therapist: you guys are a little tired. Let's take a break and do the following movements. (Music playing)

Dynamic pause.

Game: “Vowels”

Children repeat movements and text after the speech therapist:

There are only six vowels,

They are easy to sing, read:

[A] - blooms on Astra,

[I] - flies on the Oriole,

[O] - sits on the Donkey,

[U] - looks at the Street,

[E] - responded to the Echo,

[s] - got into the inside of the words,

Cheese ate a pumpkin And he asked for more!
Speech therapist: The next task is called “The Magic Pouch. Some of you will receive tasks and will answer, while the rest will listen carefully. (The child loudly calls out the word written on the piece of paper. Children specify the number of syllables in each of the words, suggest highlighting and determining the position of vowels in the named word.)

Speech therapist: Guys, tell me, how do we designate a sound in a letter?

Children: letter.

Speech therapist: What is a letter?

Children: this is what we see and write. A letter is a sign representing sounds in writing. Game "Foreign Letters".

Speech therapist: A caterpillar came to visit us and brought the letters we got acquainted with. Guys, don't they seem strange to you.

Children: children's answers. (letters left unfinished)

Speech therapist: Take a pencil and type in the letters.

Children complete the elements of the letters.

Speech therapist: what did we do?

Children: we typed the letters correctly.

Sh. Summary of the lesson. Reflection

Speech therapist: You liked playing in the country ABVEGDEY-ka.

This tree grows in the country of Abvgdei-ka, let's decorate it with leaves

(children decorate the tree with leaves). If it was easy for you and you completed all the tasks, decorate the tree with a yellow leaf. If you experienced difficulties - orange. (Children who have orange leaves fix the material in an individual lesson).

Speech therapist: What tree did you get?

Children: Autumn, colorful.

Speech therapist: Our trip to the country is coming to an end, but I think we will return there. Why do you think?

Children: To learn about other letters?

Literature:

1. Programs of compensatory preschool educational institutions for children with speech disorders. Correction of speech disorders / Filicheva T.B., Chirkina G.V., Tumanova T.V. M.: Education, 2010.

2. The program of education and training of preschool children with severe speech disorders / L.