Punch 8 - Vowels

Vowels
A-E-I-O-U and sometimes Y, our vowels . . . this is a vital punch! Vowels are the vocal sounds in our words. Including Yy as a vowel, every word has a vowel letter and every word has a or several vowel sounds. Without vowels we can't sound out an-y-thing and therefor we can't read an-y-thing. This is information your child needs to know.


So, it is time to show these letters as a group and name them. It is time to teach your child what vowels are. The first step in this process is to single these vital letters out from the pack. We will do this visually and audibly.


Visually create charts such as these:

With a simple hand made or computer generated chart you can see how easy it is to make the vowels stand out. Be creative with your charts and also have your child make his or her own periodically as a lesson. As we did with regular alphabet charts in earlier lessons, simply read and point to the letters, do not sing the alphabet song. 








Audibly there is nothing like a catchy song, chant or rhyme to impress the brain. That's what great commercial jingles are all about:
* >Sorry- audio glitch - back up by 4/26/11*
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This is a chant I do that kids ALWAYS respond to, they love it. Be sure to say it slowly and clearly to them a few times before you put it into it's faster chanting rhythm.


In practicing the vowel names the charts and chant should be a daily activity until the letters are mastered. Practice writing the vowels out of order and asking him to name them. Likewise say the letters out of order having him write them. Mastery in this case would be your child's ability to answer "What are the vowels?" and "Why are they important?"