Two Vowels: Idea #216

As a teacher, I noticed that vowel sounds were particularly more difficult for my students to learn than the other letter sounds. Especially the 'e' and 'i' sounds. When I taught students how to read a word with two vowels side by side, I used the following familiar phrase: "When two vowels go walking, the first vowel does the talking." I used this phrase countless times during the year to help my students read words with two vowels. Here is a list of 20 words that apply to the rule:

1. hail
2. tail
3. fail
4. pail
5. sail
6. team
7. bean
8. heat
9. seat
10. beat
11. goat
12. goal
13. foam
14. roam
15. coat
16. soap
17. toe
18. foe
19. due
20. sue

Words that have ee also apply to this rule (like feet, reel, wheel, etc.) You can find a great movie that teaches this very concept on the website www.starfall.com. Just click here to see it! Have fun teaching your student this great way to read words with vowels!