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short vowels

5 Effective Ways to Practice Short Vowels Within Text

5 effective ways to practice short vowels within text

Learning short vowel sounds is a critical part of the early reading process. Usually, short vowels are some of the very first sounds children learn. Some students will catch on quickly, while others will need more instruction and review. Here are some fun ways to practice short vowels in a whole group and small group setting so that you will keep your students engaged in purposeful learning!

  1. Short Vowel Chants – After introducing a vowel, teach your students a chant. Place the words of the chant under a document camera or on a Smart Board so that your students can read while you chant. Practice it many times, add motions to the words, and practice saying words that have that specific vowel sound. Throughout the day, use this chant as a brain break or transition helper. Students LOVE these chants! You’ll even hear them singing the chants throughout the day. Watch our short O chant here.
Short Vowel Chants help to increase student engagement and practice short vowel sounds. They are wonderful to use as transition helpers or as brain breaks!
Short Vowel Chants help to increase student engagement and practice short vowel sounds.

2. Identifying Vowels in Readers – Find easy printable emergent readers or sight word readers online. These texts are perfect because they are normally very repetitive. Even readers that support your thematic units, which are generally less repetitive, are great for this activity. As you read with students, have them identify consonants and vowels. Students mark a “V” over the vowels that they find in any word. Soon, you will see little “V’s” popping up on math assignments and homework pages. You may also allow students to highlight vowels or use the thin post-it notes to mark them. (This turkey reader can be found from A Year of Many Firsts)

Identifying short vowels by annotating text

3. Leveled Readers with Short Vowels – I was lucky enough to inherit a class set of Harcourt decodable leveled readers. These are gold!!! Each book has three short stories. Each story is only about 5 pages, so students do not get frustrated. The words used in the book are specific to a certain vowel. Usually (at least at the lower levels), the books focus on CVC words. Students are over the moon with excitement when they see vowels that they know and can read! They feel successful. They are engaged in reading the entire time. Happy students. Happy teacher. (If you do not have access to any decodable readers, you can find some online through Amazon or you may even consider creating a Donors Choose project for them.)

4. Short Vowel Reader’s Theater – Use Reader’s Theater scripts that focus on one short vowel sound at a time. Students each take a part and read the script together. This provides speaking and listening practice, as well as, short vowel practice. Use these in small group or in a “Read to Someone” station. Kids are always eager to read a play together!

short vowel reader's theater

5. Short Vowel Comprehension Passages – As students begin to master short vowels in isolation and within text, move forward to the comprehension of short vowel words. Use passages that are focused around one rime (an ending like -op in hop) to reinforce the short vowel and rhyming words. Once students decode the passage, begin reading again to fully understand what is going on. Student comprehension is strong when it is not blocked by stumbling over difficult words or unknown vowel combinations. (Reading passages with a familiar repeated rime is not “real world”. This simply gives students confidence when reading so that they are able to have an understanding of what they actually read.)

Short vowel 5W comprehension passages for primary grades

I hope you can take an idea or two back to your classroom! If you have other ideas on how to practice short vowels within text, share them in the comments below!

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Skill-based Fluency Instruction

Fluency Overview

In the past, fluency was defined as the ability to read smoothly and effortlessly, at a quick, automatic rate (Harris & Hodges, 1995; Logan, 1997). A student’s reading rate and accuracy are very important because less time spent on decoding leaves more time for the brain to focus on comprehension. However, after recent research, fluency has come to encompass much more. It now includes prosodic elements such as expression, volume, phrasing, pacing, and smoothness. When students read with prosody, they are able to capture the meaning of the story or script. Current research supports phrasing, pacing, and smoothness as elements that help develop fluency in students. (Clark, Morrison, & Wilcox, 2009)

Students who do not read fluently segment the text and read it word by word. However, students who read smoothly with appropriate expression, pacing, and phrasing make reading sound like natural language (Zutell & Rasinski, 1991). Fluent reading develops when students are able to make their reading sound like individuals speaking as they do in daily life.

Although fluency is a large part of reading curricula, it is often neglected in reading instruction (Reutzel & Hollingsworth, 1993; Zutell & Rasinski, 1991). Many teachers refer to traditional methods of measuring fluency. This is usually comprised of giving students an unfamiliar passage and timing their reading while keeping track of errors. Research has shown that varying the fluency practice is beneficial in the classroom in order to motivate those students who are not motivated by competition (Tyler & Chard, 2000; Worthy & Prater, 2002). Repeated readings of familiar texts are necessary in order for fluency, and therefore prosody, to increase.

Fluency in My Classroom
            If you teach primary grades, then I’m sure you are used to the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) Assessments or something of the sort. These are short stories that we ask students to read while we time them and note any mistakes. Last year, I had very high first graders who already read fluently, so our ORFs were easy to administer. I didn’t stress about them. I simply tested my kids, plugged in their scores, and clicked submit.
            Fast forward to this past fall. During the first half of the school year, I taught in a private school. One of the small groups that I worked with consisted of first graders who were struggling readers. Fluency was….not quite their strong point.
            Fast forward to January. I transferred back to the public school I was at previously. I now work with third graders, many of whom are at a lower level than the first graders I had last year. So I began to ask myself….What are they missing?
            After attending a training in Orton-Gillingham, {LOVE! If you ever have the chance to go, GO! Run! I recommend it over any conference I have ever been to!} I was convinced that students (or at least the ones I have worked with) were lacking basic instruction in phonics skills. If I could teach them the skills that they were lacking, would they then be fluent? Could they then comprehend?
 
Skill-Based Fluency
            I love the idea of fluency practice every day, especially in the primary grades. I have seen the benefits of repeated readings, and the smiles and giggles from successful readers. BUT I have always thought that fluency passages were sort of…random. I’m not saying that they are ineffective. I am not telling you not to use them as part of your curriculum. In fact, many curriculums require them.
Let me just explain my reasoning…
If I am teaching silent E, wouldn’t it be great to immerse the kids in silent E? Letting them SEE silent E everywhere they look or read will help them to identify silent E in the future. Right? So, why not include that skill in your fluency instruction?
I began doing this with two different groups of struggling readers, and have seen the positive effects already! We use LOTS of hands-on activities to drive this concept home. The following pictures are from two groups of students – first graders and second graders.
One activity that my students love is this silent E set from the talented Lavinia Pop.
Use sound chips when saying each sound.
Add the silent E with a dry erase marker and use the sound chips to read the word again, changing the vowel sound.
I then ask students to change the onset of the word while keeping the rime the same. Once they have written the word, they cover the onset so that they see the pattern in the rime. They come up with as many words as possible.
            Another day during the same week, we read these Rhyming Poems which are WONDERFUL because they have Elkonin boxes for the rhyme sounds. We use sound chips again here. The students would put a sound chip in the box each time they heard a long vowel and saw a silent E. Then, they would underline the silent E words. In pairs, they would face each other and take turns reading the poem as I listened in and gave advice on pausing and pronunciation of words.
            During the same week, I introduce fluency sentences. Jen Jones {my literacy hero} created these amazing fluency sentences that are organized by skill. AHHHHH! Can you hear the hallelujah chorus?! Perfect for RtI and intervention groups!
Students read each sentence and underline and silent E words that they read. I then have them check with their partner to see if any have been missed. Then, they add any underlines that they missed.
I have the kids whisper read to themselves as I listen in to them one at a time. Then, we read together. Finally, they read to a buddy.
You will see here that this sweetie underlined “the” in the second sentence above. This was a GREAT teachable moment to discuss the fact that “Not every E at the end of a word is a silent E.” Use these mistakes to help students understand the reasoning behind the skill.
This student needed more chunking. The text was too overwhelming. I drew lines between sentences and had him only focus on three sentences at a time. He then wrote down all of the silent E words and read them from his white board before continuing to the next few sentences.
            At this time, I am currently working with struggling second graders for my final practicum project. These short vowel fluency passages from Miss DeCarbo are a savior! The kids seriously love spinners, so that’s a plus! This set requires students to hunt for words and participate in repeated readings of the text. And guess what!?! They are ALL based on a phonics skill!
This page focused on “ack”. The kids were SO excited that the word backpack had TWO “ack” sounds in it!
After completing all of the steps and reading the passage together as a group a few times, students buddy read. They listen for changes in their partner’s voice each time there is punctuation.

Focusing on a skill while practicing fluency has been SUCH a blessing for my second graders. They are not at grade level and cannot handle second grade fluency passages. Using these passages with the same phonics skill repeated over and over again helps the students to read a full paragraph without stopping to “sound out” any words. They know the phonics skill and are able to apply it throughout the passage. After one day, I had these kiddos giggling and reading with expression in their voices. Why? Because the text was predictable and they had confidence in their skill.

As you go off into your classroom this week, think about including your skills into your fluency practice. There are oh so many ways that you can do this. Just keep practicing in a variety of ways, and make fluency fun! As they say, “Practice Makes Permanent!”