How to Teach Short Vowels to Kindergartners

Source : Audrey Akins , ehow.com 

You can teach short vowels to kindergartners by modeling the sound for them, showing pictures that represent the sound and using movement. The Daily Puppy also suggests singing a song to teach short vowel sounds. The website has a song teachers can use by displaying it on a whiteboard or rewriting it onto chart paper. These are just a few ways to teach short vowel sounds.

Instructions

1. Show students the vowel letter and say the short vowel sound. For example, tell them "This is 'a' and it says /a/.
2. Display pictures that begin with the short vowel sound. Pictures will help students remember the short vowel sound. For this sound, use pictures that begin with short "a" such as apple and ant. Once students understand the short "a" sound, show them other pictures that contain the short "a" sound such as hat, bat, and cat. Tape the pictures to the board, write the words underneath the pictures and underline the letter vowel to emphasize that sound.
3. Give students a short, quick gesture to help them remember the short vowel sound. This helps kinesthetic learners remember that a short vowel sound is quick . Use movement such as having students tap their leg or quickly clap their hands together once when they say the sound quickly.
4. Model saying the short vowel sound and quickly clapping your hands once. For this example with short "a," you'd say /a/ and quickly clap once simultaneously. Afterward have the students do it with you. At this point students have seen the letter, heard the sound, seen pictures that represent the sound and said the sound for themselves with a gesture.
5. Play a game having students identify the short vowel sound. This is possible once students know more than one vowel sound. For example, if students are focusing on short "a", say words that have the short "a" and another short vowel sound. Have students do something to indicate when they hear the correct short vowel sound such as stand up, raise their thumbs or hold up a predetermined item. They would sit down, point their thumbs down or put down the predetermined item when they don't hear the short vowel sound they're supposed to be listening for.
6. Repeat the process when introducing another short vowel. Remember to use pictures and assign some type of gesture that can be used to help students remember the short vowel sound. To teach or reinforce short vowel sounds, Scholastic also has a lesson plan that suggests to "read aloud one or two books where words with short vowels are prominent such as 'Caps for Sale,' 'The Fat Cat,' 'An Extraordinary Egg,' 'The Little Red Hen,' 'Titch' and 'Whistle for Willie.' "