What is a Vowel Team?
A vowel team is a spelling pattern that uses two or more letters to represent a single vowel sound.
Often, the vowel sound for a vowel team is long (like the long e in “neat”). However, sometimes vowels work together to make other sounds (like the short e in “bread”). In this post, we’re going to focus mostly on the long sounds – but I have also taught students about words where vowel teams do not make long vowel sounds.
When teaching children to read, it is important to help them understand vowel teams so that they can decode words accurately. There are many different ways to teach vowel teams, but in this post, we will focus on three types of activities. I’ve included these downloads too: flipbook, vowel teams strips and sorting vowel team words (an anchor chart may be created too). Make sure to visit our Engaging, Educational Online games that will help your students in preparation for the MAP test.
Why Teach Vowel Teams?
First of all, it is important for several reasons. First, it helps them to decode words accurately. When children understand how vowel teams work, they can sound out words more easily and understand how the letters in a word work together to create a specific sound.
Second, understanding vowel teams help children with spelling, they can more easily spell words with those sounds. For example, if a child knows that the “ai” vowel team makes the long “a” sound, they will be able to spell words like “rain” and “sail” more easily.
Finally, teaching children about vowel teams is important for reading comprehension. When children understand how words are put together and how sounds are created, they can better understand what they are reading. This is because they are able to focus on the meaning of the words, rather than struggling to decode them.
Flip Books
Flipbooks are a fun and interactive way for children to learn how to read. A flip book is a small book that is made by cutting a piece of paper into strips and then stapling the strips together. Each strip has a different sound on it, and when the child flips through the pages, they can see how the vowel team works together.
Sorting Words/ Vowel Team Anchor
Sorting vowel team words is another great activity for teaching children about vowel teams. This activity is simple and can be done with just a few materials.
- Shuffle the cards or pieces of paper and spread them out on a table or the floor.
- Ask the child to sort the words into piles based on the vowel team that is used in each word. For example, all of the words with the “ea” would go in one pile, while all of the words with the “ay” vowel team would go in another pile.
- Once the child has sorted all of the words, review each pile with them and talk about the different vowel teams that were used.
I’ve heard that, in some places, vowel teams are taught before silent e. However, I prefer to teach vowel teams after working on silent e, because silent e feels a bit more “straightforward” to me. There are many different vowel teams, and mastery often takes years! (So if your students struggle with vowel teams…you’re not alone!)
In conclusion, vowel teams are an important part of learning to read and spell. By using activities like flipbooks and sorting vowel team words, children can understand how vowel teams work and how they can use them to decode.
Get the downloads:
Related Posts
- New I Spy With My Eye CVC Words Short Vowel Activity
- R Controlled Vowel Words List. 30+ Bossy R phrases
- Bossy R Hands-on or R-Controlled Vowels
Check these Free Digital Libraries if you want to help to improve your students’ Reading and Writing.
