Spelling Lesson 7 (Short Vowels)

Spelling Lesson 7 (Short Vowels)

As with every spelling lesson, revise some basic sounds. Revise tricky words such as ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘me’, ‘we’, ‘be’ ‘was’, ‘to’, ‘do’ ‘are’ and ‘all’.

Step 2: Main Point

The main point of the lesson should start with revising the short vowel sounds: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/. The children can tick them off one by one on their fingers, starting with the thumb for /a/. Many spelling rules are formed on the basis of the short vowel sounds. The children need to be able to identify the vowel sounds in worlds, and to know which ones are short. Use a box and puppet ( a mouse if possible) to help them listen for the short vowel sounds:

For /a/, place the puppet at the side of the box. For /e/, make the puppet wobble on the edge of the box. For /i/ put the puppet in the box. For /o put the puppet on the box. For /u/ put the puppet under the box.

The children make a fist with one hand. They pretend that this is the box and that their other hand is the Inky mouse. Call out the short vowel sounds for them to put their mouse hand at, on the edge of, in, on, or under their fist, as appropriate. You may refer to the short vowel sound sheet.

Step 3: Spelling Sheet 7

Call out words with short vowel sounds. The children practice identifying the vowel sound and saying where Inky should go, e.g. ‘cat’ has a short /a/ sound so Inky goes at the side. For each word in on Spelling sheet 7, the children identify its short vowel sound, find a boz with that sound and copy it into the box.

Step 4: Dictation

Read the words (still with low difficulty level) and sentences for the children to write down.

Step 5: Spelling List

Now come spellings. This time, the spelling list is different, as it features four days of the week. As a class, say the letter names for the tricky words ‘you’ and ‘your’. The longer word ‘yesterday has three syllables and can be remembered as ‘yes’, ‘ter’ and ‘day’.

Dictation (words)

• bat
• beg
• pin
• flag
• drop
• send

Dictation (sentences)

• I sat on a bench.
• She had a bad hand.
• It was a big bang.

Spelling List

• it
• dog
• bran
• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• you
• your
• yesterday

Spelling Sheet 7 'Short Vowel Sounds' Worksheet 7.1 ‘Short Vowel Sounds’