Is the vowel short or long?

One thing I have noticed year after year (after year after year) is that beginning readers often have a hard time figuring out if a vowel should make a short or long sound in the word they are attempting to read. There are so many rules in the English language and it can be VERY hard to remember them when learning to read.

One way to help new readers become more confident and proficient with their reading is to help them recognize the patterns in words that decide if a vowel is going to make a short or long sound.

I LOVE teaching with sorts! Soooo, I made a sort activity for all five vowels in my TPT store which can be found here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Short-vs-Long-Vowel-Sort-with-CVC-CVCe-CVVC-short-a-e-i-o-u-5894985

This activity gives students the opportunity to sort short verse long vowels for each vowel (a, e, i, o, u).

There is even an extension activity at the end that asks students to identify patterns they notice to decide if a vowel makes a short or long sound in a word. Having the students reflect on what they did and verbalize it will help them to truly understand the learning and be able to apply the learning to new words in the future.

Enjoy!!