Do your kids misspell and misread simple words?

Kids who mispronounce vowels will misread and misspell simple words. Misspelling and misreading can become a stubborn, negative habit. So, intervene now and teach your kids how to say and spell vowel sounds correctly.

What are vowels?

Vowels are speech sounds that can be sung or sustained because we make them with wide-open mouths. Try saying a, e, i, o, or u. Notice that you must open your mouth wide and that you can sing and hold those sounds like a song. Vowels are the most important sounds. We can't pronounce any word correctly without including a vowel sound. Try saying "help" without the vowel sound /eh/. You would only be able to say "hlp," which no one would understand. That's a problem if a mad dog were chasing you. But when you add the /eh/ sound, someone might come to your rescue.

Vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u) stand for two types of sounds: a long sound and a short sound.

Long vowels sound like the letter name they represent: think of /A/ like in the words "able or aim."

Short vowels sound like

/a/ as in "apple"

/eh/ as in "egg"

/ih/ as in "it"

/o or aw/ as in "octopus"

/uh/ as in "up"

Most kids don't have difficulty saying the long vowel sounds because they remind them of the letter names they already know. But many kids have difficulty saying the short vowel sounds because a few of them sound the same. For example, kids often confuse the /ih/ in "it" with the /eh/ in "egg."

You can help kids pronounce vowels correctly by showing them the proper mouth position that creates an accurate sound. I've included a chart of the correct mouth positions along with a link to my phonics sounds page to help them practice the correct sounds. Remember: practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Download your vowel pronunciation chart here.

Practice your phonics sounds here.