How to Teach Kids Spelling

Easy, Fun Tips to Help Children Understand Vowel Play and Diagraphs

Nov 21, 2008

A key tip to teaching spelling is to focus on one sound at a time. After basic vowels and the long "ee" diagraph, it's time to move to the long "a" sound.

The best way to get kids to master the complexities of English spelling is to teach them to understand the sound of words. To do this, it's a good idea to begin with basic vowel sounds, and then move on, one by one, to vowel combinations.

Simple Aids to make the Exercise Memorable

The Different “a” Sounds

Start off with a mime of the triangular “A”, using your fingers to make an “A” triangle, and making the "a" shape with your mouth. Invite your child to do the same. Your child must already be familiar with two “a” sounds : one, as in CAT or MAD, and two,as in CAR, BAR, MAR. Explore how the shape of the mouth changes for both the sounds, from a nice wide triangle in CAT to a more closed, almost oval shape for CAR. Play around with mouth shapes and sounds for a bit.

Long “a” Diagraph : “ai” Words

Then, slowly blend in the “i” sound to make an “ai” sound. Make your child experiment with the sound. Together, explore how the shape of the mouth alters with the sound.

Ask her to think of a word that makes a similar sound. Lead her to words like PAID, MAID. Discuss how “A” is pairing up with “I” to form the long “a” sound. Prop up the graphic “A” that you have created, and place the cutout of the lower case “i” on the horizontal bar to make an “Ai”. Then, ask your child to identify more words making the same sound. Spell them together and write them out on the cards one by one, using the same graphic of “A” and “i” for easy recall. Spell about five words like this : MAID, PAID, GAIT, HAIL, MAIL.

Long “a” Diagraph : “ay” Words

Once your child has a fair idea of the “ai” sound, go back to your graphic "A", and ask her to think of another alphabet that combines with “a” to form a similar long sound. Throw around words like HAY, PLAY. Lead her into the “ay” sound. Then, place the small cutout of the “y” on the horizontal bar of the “A” so it now reads “Ay”. Together with your child, identify about five words making the same sound, and write them out on the cards as you spell them, using the same graphic of the “Ay”. Words you could use for this: CLAY, SWAY, WAY, DAY, PRAY.

Long “a” Sound in the 'Vowel-Consonant Followed by "e" Pattern"

Once your child is fairly conversant with the different sounds of “ai” and “ay” it’s a good time to introduce the long “a” sound that occurs in a vowel-consonant followed by "e" pattern, as in CARE. Show him or her the card with CAR on it, and say the word together, paying attention to the sound and the shape of the mouth. Then, add a lower case “e” next to the R, and say the word together.

Discuss what happens to the “a” sound, how it lengthens on account of the “e” that follows the consonant. One by one, write out the words MAR, BAR,TAR, FAR on the blank cards, saying each word out aloud. Add a lower case “e” to each word, and together explore how the word changes. (Do not introduce words like MAT, FAT, CAN, at this stage, since the base "a" sound here is different, and likely to confuse.)

Wrap up the game with a quick chanting of the five “a” sounds you have explored, using the graphic “A” to demonstrate. Repeat the game using different sets of words a couple of times. When this becomes easy, then it’s time to move on to other vowel combinations like the long "o" diagraph or the long "i" sound.

The copyright of the article How to Teach Kids Spelling in Kids Educational Activities is owned by Kalyani Candade. Permission to republish How to Teach Kids Spelling in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jan 11, 2009 5:45 PM

Guest :

this is wonderful i'm going to use it today,wait the result..