Vowel Rules in our ABCs Bossy E, Walking Vowels, Y Becomes a Vowel, I Before E Except After C, R-controlled Vowels

BOSSY E When an e is the last letter in a one-syllable word, it makes the first vowel in the word make a long sound, so it shouts out its name. Add an e to mat (short a sound) and what happens? M A T E—now the a has a long a sound—it shouts out its name. Oh, that Bossy E. Let’s do another one. Add an e to cut (short u sound) and what happens? C U T E—now the u has a long u sound—it shouts out its name. Bossy, Bossy E!

rain bead lied boat pain beet boot foot hoof The Walking Vowels When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking. When two vowels in a word are beside each other, the first vowel in the word is the one that makes its long vowel sound. But not all words follow this rule. Let’s say words with vowels that are written together. rain bead lied boat pain beet boot foot hoof

Y Behaves Like a Vowel by sky guy shy family happy sunny gym gypsy Sometimes when you hear a long e sound or a long i sound, you might see the word is spelled with a y, not an e or an i. In one-syllable words, the y sounds like a long i at the end of the word. In two or more syllable words, the y sounds like a long e at the end of the word. When a y is inside the word, it makes a short i sound. by sky guy shy family happy sunny gym gypsy

I Before E Except After C Words with an e and an i beside each other are spelled with the i before the e except after c. But if the e and the i together make a long a sound in a word, then it is spelled with the e before i. Let’s look at some examples. i before e except after c—piece, niece e before i when it’s after c—receive, receipt e before i when ei sounds like a long a—weigh, neigh

R Controlled Vowels We have a bossy R because it controls how a vowel sounds. When the letter r follows a vowel, the vowel will take on a new sound that is not a short or long vowel sound. ar makes the sound in are, bar, car, far, jar. er, ir and ur make the same sound. They make the sound in her, jerk, bird, dirt, sir, fur, turn. or makes the sound in or, for, cord, fork. ar can sometimes make a sound like in the word care, and er can sometimes make a sound like in the word there. So ar and er can sound alike, because care and there rhyme.

Let’s Have Fun With Our Vowels 1. Tell me which words have a bossy e. 2. Which words have vowels that go walking? 3. Which words does y behave like a vowel? Say the words with an i before an e except after c. Name the words with r-controlled vowels. rake, rat, seat, tape, hard, ate, camp, far, cat, rain, bake, by, tail, her, he, need, lead, receive, shy, neat, scene, niece, ride, high, hit, hide, heat, hoop, hope, hot, horse, hum, mule, cute, mouth, hoop, happy, piece