In our Play School App Blending letters game, students are encouraged to build on prior knowledge of long and short vowels.
In the story and presentation section of this game, words are presented. For example:
Paint Bean Mice Toad Tune
In order to teach this through game play, students have to show two flashcards to the app. They have to identify which Consonant and vowel is working together to make a particular sound, like “PA” in “PAINT” or “BE” in “BEAN”
In the practice and production stages, children match two flashcards till all the words in the group are learnt. In the next level, new pictures are presented with different consonants but same initial long vowel sounds. Students have to match two flashcards to correct picture until all the letters are learned in this group.
Cake Jeans Pie Boat Mule
In Production Stage 2 of this level, children are shown a new set of words and they have to again identify the consonant and vowel at work.
While teaching this in the classroom, you can also introduce the concept that if a word has two vowels, the second one is usually silent. For example, “AI” in PAINT or “OA” in BOAT.
Follow this up with a flashcard game “Blender Bender” for guaranteed classroom fun!