By Laura Scott

English consonants and vowels are anything but simple! Helping students feel confident with consonants, blends, and vowel combinations requires explicit instruction and a lot of practice. This blog is packed with ways to achieve just that! The activities below are specific to vowel combinations. However, they can be applied in various Pre-K–2 classroom settings with consonant or vowel sounds, blends, or spelling patterns. 

Introduce & Review Vowel Sounds: Engage All the Senses

When teaching or reviewing vowel combinations, engage students’ senses to create a strong memory hook and appeal to all learning styles (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.). Students need to see, hear, say, and feel the vowel sound.

Ask students to say the vowel combination sound out loud while doing one or more of these activities:

• Trace the vowel combination in sand or rice that you pour into a small container. You can also use shaving cream, sandpaper, or textured paper for tracing.

• Magnetic letters are excellent for tracing and allowing students to manipulate the letters and discuss their shape.
• Write the vowel combination on a table or whiteboard using a dry-erase marker.
• Use watercolors to paint the vowels or a crayon or marker to write the vowels on paper.
• Visualize the vowel combination as you write it in the air. When students air-write, they should imagine the color of their pen, creating the shapes of the vowels on an imaginary whiteboard. Students should be able to mentally “see” the vowels they are writing.
• Discuss the shape your mouth makes when you say the vowel combination. Encourage students to feel how open their jaw is, how their lips move, and where their tongue moves. Students can touch their throats to feel their voices say the sound.

Find & Decode the Vowel Combination in Words

Once students are familiar with a vowel combination, apply this knowledge to words. Try a word scavenger hunt, finding words with the target vowel combination in books or around the classroom. Make a list of the words you find. Practice reading the words and circle or highlight the vowel combination in each word. Discuss any repeated spelling patterns you notice in the words you listed.

Discussing unfamiliar vocabulary words on the list helps students create a meaningful connection, making it easier to remember the vowel combination. You can draw or glue pictures next to the words to help students associate them with their meanings.

Another way to use the list of words is with reading and writing activities:

• Students can practice decoding the words on the list with fun pointers or using sliding masking cards. Write the words on index cards to practice decoding in isolation. You can also match the word on an index card to a picture demonstrating the word.    

• Ask students to work with a partner. One student can spell the word while the other writes it. Students can circle or highlight the vowel combination.
• Challenge students to write sentences using the words on the list. They can also create a story using as many words as possible from the list.

Providing students with various opportunities to see, hear, read, and write letters, vowel combinations, and words is essential for building a strong foundation in phonics. Try using some of these activities regularly in your classroom to support phonics growth.

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Our 44 Vowels Matter books are excellent for introducing and practicing vowel combinations. The accompanying video demonstrates ways to use the Vowels Matter AR book to teach and reinforce the ar vowel combination.

Click here to learn more about the Vowels Matter book series for Pre-K–2 classrooms.

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Laura Scott taught English Language Learners of all ages for twelve years and spent three years as a bilingual coordinator and co-teacher in dual-language K-1 classrooms. She is part of the Hameray team. Laura values giving a voice to all students by supporting teachers as they bravely try new approaches to learning in their classrooms.