Short Vowel Activities
Teaching short vowel activities in your classroom doesn’t have to be boring! I love incorporating short vowel games into my phonics instruction. What is the trick for getting your students to master reading short vowels? PRACTICE! Maxwell Gladwell explains in his book, The Outliers, that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to completely master a skill. 10,000 hours! Wowza. Whether or not that is completely true for short vowel activities, I do believe that how you practice short vowel reading activities is just as important as the amount of time you spend practicing. These short vowel games provide the perfect amount of repetition AND fun for teaching short vowel activities in your classroom.
Short Vowel Activities: Tic-Tac-Toe
When I begin teaching short vowels, I always start with short a. Every year that I have taught, whether it’s first grade or second grade, my kiddos always LOVE to play Tic-Tac-Toe. These tic-tac-toe short vowel activities are no different! These short a vowel games can be used for distance learning or in the classroom. You can assign them to Seesaw, Google Slides, or play them as a whole group with the interactive PowerPoint. They are also great to use for short vowel center activities if you have access to devices in your classroom! The students will read words based on short vowel word families and categorize them as real or nonsense. There are 7 different Tic-Tac-Toe games for each short vowel.
Click HERE to watch a video and see the short vowel games in action!
Short Vowel Activities: Hot Seat
Next up is a short vowel practice game that will have your students on the edge of their seat . . . literally! I introduce to you Short Vowel Hot Seat. In this short vowel activity, you can use the different levels to choose the best fit for your students. This is a game-changer for differentiation in the classroom! Level 1 uses basic short vowel reading practice, level 2 has short vowels with blends, and level 3 has short vowel words with various endings.
How do you use these Hot Seat Short Vowel Activities in your classroom?
- Choose the correct short vowel practice skill and hide the word cards under student desks or chairs.
- Throughout the day, randomly call out “HOT SEAT!”
- The students will look under their desks/chairs for a card. If they read it correctly, you can reward them with a prize! I usually give them a Skittle.
Short Vowel Practice: Mystery Word
I love this next short vowel activity because it requires zero prep and barely any materials! All you need is a list of short vowel words and a whiteboard. The first time I used this activity was as a short a vowel game, and my students became hooked! To play the game, remind the students of the short vowel practice skill you are currently studying. For example, if we are practicing with short a, then the students know that each word will have a short a vowel sound. Choose a word and write blanks on the whiteboard to represent the number of letters in the word. Then give the students a clue about the word. Have the students take turns guessing the word based on the clues. To make this a short vowel interactive game, you can have the students record the words on individual whiteboards or on paper.
EXAMPLE:
The mystery word is CAB.
Clue #1: Write three letter spaces on the board.
Clue #2: Tell the students that this word is a type of transportation.
Short Vowel Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade
These short vowel games are great for kindergarten and first grade! I hope you are feeling excited and ready to tackle short vowel practice with your students. Click any of the pictures above to snag these short vowel activities. If you are looking for more word work activities to use with your students, check out this FREE Boggle and Noggle Game!
