
Author: Elaine Kirn-Rubin
Suitable for: 5-8, Secondary, Young Adult,
COLOR
What They Are: three (3) packs of leveled Picture/Word Cards arranged into 57 "Quartets" (sets of four-of-a-kind vocabulary items containing identical vowel sounds); also a 90-page Activities & Ideas Book of product description, pedagogy, prep + activity steps, game rules + variations, reference lists, language-skills lessons, and more
Why You Need Them: In regard to pronunciation, oral reading, and orthography, Vowel Sounds & Spellings are among the most complicated areas of vocabulary or language-skills development. Supported and enhanced by info and instruction from the accompanying 90-page Activities & Ideas Book, these 288 Word-&-Picture Cards will help reduce the confusion, frustration, and pain that often arises when tackling the patterns and rules of instruction related to vowels.
What the Activities & Ideas Book Does:
- show the items while modeling and pointing out salient features of their articulation, getting learners to produce them comprehensibly
- use the technique of "Oral Vocabulary Quizzes" to connect items with their Parts of Speech, meanings, and uses in context, inserting "Mini-Lessons" in Grammar & Structure when useful
- conduct "preview" activities for phonetic and graphemic awareness by having learners identify, distinguish, and compare sounds & spellings
- "teach" subject matter in stages by starting with the function of vowels as syllable nuclei; comparing simple ("short")--and then complex ("long") vowel sounds with one another before contrasting them in larger groupings; reviewing what's helpful to know about voiced vs. voiceless and other consonants; showing and telling learners what they need in reagrd to syllable-stress patterns of words
lists all 288 items in a 10-page Vowel-Sounds Chart highlighting vowel spellings; locates them in the 3 leveled Card Packs; explains and illustrates pronunciation in diagrams, and shows exceptions; later displays many more relevant vocabulary items to consider
gives a "mini-course" on recognizing, using, and classifying words of 4 different parts of speech that not only teaches the concept but also integrates it into lessons/activities targeting Vowel Sounds & Spellings
instructs users on how to enjoy the materials in ten (10) different classic competitive card games; suggests additional activities like "Fill-in Spelling Tests," "Finding Vowels," "Vowel Bingo/Lotto," "Path-Board Games," and "Brainstorming.
What the Word & Picture Cards Do:
- a Beginning Pack of 60 one-syllable items--most in the basic Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) "closed syllable" pattern--containing the 15 most frequent, recognizable sounds in this order: ă ĕ ĭ ŏ a:(r) ŭ oo û(r) ā ē ī ō ū ou oi.
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an Intermediate Pack of 20 sets of four different one-syllable words--with regular, less common, and unusual spellings of the 15 vowels listed above--plus 20 additional cards (5 sets of four) containing ô â(r) ī(r) ō:(r) ū(r), for a total of 20 distinct sounds
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an Advanced Pack containing items with all previous vowel sounds in stressed syllables of polysyllabic items--plus two more: aĭ(r) and aŭ(r), targeting 22 sounds in all