Recognizing Vowels Lesson Plan

Name Those Vowels

Objectives:

Students will learn how to recognize and remember the vowels as a subset of
letters, as distinguished from consonants.
Students will become familiar with capital and lower-case forms of vowels.

About the Concept:

Recognizing and distinguishing vowels from consonants is an important step in the
development of reading and writing skills since all words and all syllables in words
contain at least one vowel. Once students recognize the vowels in both capital and
lower-case forms, the stage is set for learning rules and spelling patterns for short
and long vowels, final vowels, unaccented vowels, diphthongs, digraphs, silent
vowels, and irregular spellings. The vowels in written English are a, e, i, o, u and
sometimes y. The letter y is a vowel when it occurs in medial or final position within
a word or syllable or when it occurs in initial position in proper names
like Yves, Yvonne, and Yvette (pronounced EEV, ee-VON, and ee-VET). (The
letter w may also act like a vowel if it follows the letters a, e, or o.) When students
have learned to recognize the vowels in Name Those Vowels, they can learn the long
and short vowel sounds through the song, Oh, Do You Know? (Sing Your Way
Through Phonics, Volume 1). Some other songs that teach students about vowels
are the Volume 1 song, Silent E, the Volume 2 Songs, Cool Vowels, The Right
Diphthong, and I Before E, and the Volume 3 songs Why Does Y? and Drop It!.

Materials:

Sing Your Way Through Phonics Volume 1 CD, Tracks 7 and 8 (Listen to audio
sample)

Sing Your Way Through Phonics Volume 1 Mini-Charts (pp. 33-40)

Plastic letters, letter tiles, or alphabet cards (1 letter per card)

Optional: newspapers, crayons, highlighter markers, studentss name cards

Note: If you do not have the CD or Mini-Charts, you can still teach this recognizing
vowels lesson plan using the folk tune listed on the Name Those Vowels Song
Lyrics page. You can create your own mini-charts using the words in bold print
letters in each verse of the Song Lyrics.
Find out more about Sing Your Way Through Phonics products.
Order our cost-saving Volume 1 Combo online.

Procedure:

1.

Say, Now that we can recognize our letters, lets find out about a special
group of letters we call vowels.

2.

Distribute capital letter cards A, E, I, O, U, and Y to six students, one card

per child.

3.

Tell the class that these are the vowel letters and that every word has at least
one vowel letter in it. Ask the class to name the vowel letters on the cards.

4.

Distribute lower-case letter cards a, e, i, o, u, and y to six other students

and ask the students to name these lower-case letters.

5.

Ask the students holding the lower-case letters to stand next to their partner
letters, forming the pattern Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo, Uu, Yy and ask the students to
name this set of vowel letters. (Students should just name the letters without
saying capital or lower-case.

6.

Set the twelve letter cards on the chalk ledge and call six students to select
either a capital or lower-case letter from each set of partners. Ask the six to
line up facing the class. (Example: A-e-i-O-U-y) Ask the class to name the set
of vowels they see.

7.

Repeat Step 6 with one or two more groups, forming other combinations of
capital and lower-case vowel sets.

8.

Say, Now we are going to listen to a song about the vowel letters to help us
remember them. At first, the singers will name and sing all the vowel letters.
Then, you will hear a clap when one of the vowels is left out. See if you can
think the names of each vowel that is left out. Play Sing Your Way Through
Phonics Volume 1 CD, Track 7--Name Those Vowels and point to the MiniCharts on pages 34-40.

9.

Point to Mini-Chart p. 35. Ask, what vowel was left out? (A)

10. Point to Mini-Chart pages 36-39, asking what vowels were left out on each
page.
11. Say, What happened at the end of the song? (All the vowels were sung
again.)
12. Say, Now, lets try singing the song with the CD.
13. Play Track 7 again, pointing to the Mini-Charts and reminding the students to
just think the names of the left-out vowels in their heads and clap for each
vowel they dont sing.
14. Ask students, What do we call the special set of letters we practiced today?
(vowels) And what are the vowel letters? (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y)

Follow-up:

1.

Practice singing Name Those Vowels daily for a few days. Then try singing the
song without hearing the words, using the instrumental track (Track 8). Allow
different students to point to the Mini-Charts words while singing.

2.

Using the Mini-Chart Templates, vary the order of vowels (Ex: e-o-i-u-a) and
mix upper and lower-case (Ex: I-U-a-o-E).

3.

As a learning center task, have students do letter sorts, separating vowels

from consonants. Be sure to include capital and lower-case letters. Use plastic
letters, letter cards, or Scrabble tiles.

4.

Find vowels in books and magazines. Call attention to alternate print forms of
the letter a. This might also be a good time to call attention to alternate print
forms of the letter g.

Extensions:

1.

Introduce the Read-and-Sing Book, Name Those Vowels. Readers can point to
the vowels imbedded in the illustrations while singing this playful song set to
the folktune Bingo. Each time a vowel is omitted in the lyrics, singers can
substitute a clap, a pencil tap, a knuckle rap, a foot stomp, a rhythm
instrument sound, or the word, "Sh!" Keep a few copies of the book at a
literacy center equipped with headsets so that students can gain practice in
listening, singing, and remembering the names of the vowels.

2.

In newspapers, circle words with 1 vowel in red, 2 vowels in blue, 3 vowels in

green, 4 vowels in orange, 5 vowels in black. Have a timed contest to see who
can find the most examples of each. Winners need to read out the vowels in
the words they circled to check for accuracy.

3.

Teach students American Sign Language for the vowels. Have them sign the
letters as they sing.

4.

Play A-E-I-O-You! Each student says these five vowels and points to another
student on the word you. After everyone has had a turn, everyone says the
vowels in unison and all point to the person of their choice on the word you.

5.

Examine the vowels in studentss names. Have students trace the vowels on
their name cards in a contrasting color crayon or highlighter marker. Do this
with simple words in students sight vocabulary. (Ex: stop, walk, exit, baby)

6.

Compare objects and animals in alphabet books for the vowel letters. For
example, one book might display an apple for the letter a while another might
display an ape for the same letter.

Evaluation:
1.

Students correctly read all the vowels on Mini-Charts pp.34 and 40 without
assistance, or

2.

Students pass a written test where they circle capital and lower-case vowels
sprinkled in among consonants.

Lesson Plan Title : Four Corners and a Wall - Matching Vowel Sounds
Age Range: Kindergarten through Grade 2 (Elementary Level)
Overview and Purpose : This lesson gets students up and moving. It is designed to
assist in helping students practice their long and short vowel sounds as their
vocabulary continues to build.
Objective: The student will be able to match a picture with the correct short or
long vowel sound.
Resources:
Large cards with one vowel written on each one
Index cards with pictures on them
Activities:
Ahead of time tape four of the vowels in different corners of the classroom, and
one in the middle of a wall. Pass out the picture cards to the students and tell
them when you say, 'go' they should go stand under the correct vowel. After the
students are under their vowel, ask them to check each other's pictures to make
sure everyone is in the correct spot. If someone chose the wrong vowel, help them
figure out which one they should stand under. Mix up the cards or pass out
different cards and play again.
Closure:
Another way to utilize the cards would be to place the vowel cards across the top
of a bulletin board, then hold up the pictures and have the class name which vowel
it can be placed under. Continue until all of the cards have been used.