Vowel Teams
Examples:
coach
gain
play
seed
dream
night
What is a Vowel Team?
Definition:
A long vowel is the sound a vowel makes when it says its name. Typically, a vowel is long when there are two vowels adjacent in a syllable, such as brain, coat or oatmeal. This is called a vowel team syllable
Word List to Practice Reading
High-frequency words with ay: play, may, say
ai and ay
A long vowel is the sound a vowel makes when it says its name. For example, the /a/ in brain and hay says /ā/. Typically, a vowel is long when there are two vowels in the syllable or the syllable is open.
Helpful Hints:
When we hear the long /ā/ on the end of a word or syllable, we use the AY spelling.
When we hear the long /ā/ in the middle or beginning of a word or syllable, we spell it with either AcE or AI. There is no way to know which spelling is correct, without having read the word repeatedly.
Do not teach, “when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” This is incorrect 60% of the time.
Practice:
Practice spelling. Use the word list to the left to orally call out words and have your child write each word you call.
Word List to Practice Reading
OcE words are included as a review.
oa
A long vowel is the sound a vowel makes when it says its name. For example, the /o/ in boat and toast says /ō/. Typically, a vowel is long when there are two vowels in the syllable or the syllable is open.
Helpful Hints:
When we hear the long /ō/ in the middle or beginning of a word or syllable, we spell it with either OcE or OA. There is no way to know which spelling is correct, without having read the word repeatedly.
Do not teach, “when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” This is incorrect 60% of the time.
Practice :
Practice spelling. Use the word list to the left to orally call out words and have your child write each word you call. As a challenge, have your child sort words by oa (example: foam) and OcE (example: home).
Word List to Practice Reading
High-frequency words with ee and ea: see, green, keep, need, three, eat, read, clean
ee and ea
A long vowel is the sound a vowel makes when it says its name. For example, the /e/ in jeep and breach says /ē/. Typically, a vowel is long when there are two vowels in the syllable or the syllable is open.
Helpful Hints:
When we hear the long /ē/ in the middle or beginning of a word or syllable, we spell it with either EcE, ea or ee. There is no way to know which spelling is correct, without having read the word repeatedly.
Do not teach, “when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” This is incorrect 60% of the time.
Practice :
Practice spelling. Use the word list to the left to orally call out words and have your child write each word you call. As a challenge, have your child sort words by ee (example: green) and ea (example: mean) patterns.
Word List to Practice Reading
High-frequency words with igh: right, light
igh
A long vowel is the sound a vowel makes when it says its name. For example, the /ī/ in tie, cry, and sigh says /ī/. However, in the patterns ie and igh are used to form a long vowel sound.
Because English words do not end in -i, -y covers for -i at the end of English words. The -y has a long /ī/ sound at the end of a word or when the syllable is open.
Practice :
Practice spelling. Use the word list to the left to orally call out words and have your child write each word you call.