What are Long Vowels?

Kids typically learn long vowels in first grade. Long vowels are common vowel patterns and it’s important to teach each one explicitly. Often, long vowel sounds are pronounced as the name of the letter itself. For example, the long a sound is /ai/ as in sail and it makes the same sound as the letter name a. In contrast, the short a sound says /a_/ as in hat.

Kids master short vowels in Kindergarten, develop fluency with short vowel words and sight words and by the time they reach first grade they should be ready to tackle long vowel patterns one at a time.

What are long vowels?

silent e

The first long vowel sound kids usually learn is silent e. There are numerous names for silent e: final e, bossy e, magic e, and I’m sure a bunch of other creative terms. Silent e simply means that the e at the end makes the first vowel long. For example, in the word hope, the e at the end makes the first vowel long (makes it say it’s name). In contrast, in the word hop, there is no e at the end, therefore the first vowel is short.

Silent e sounds include:

a_e as in cake

e_e as in these

i_e as in rise

o_e as in hope

u_e as in cute or duke

There are many more long vowel digraphs including…

ee as in see

ea as in seal

ai as in mail

_ay as in day

oa as in boat

ow as in glow

igh as in sight

The y at the end rules…

The y at the end rules mean that if a y is at the end of a little word, the y says the long i sound. If y as at the end of a longer word, the y says the long e sound.

_y as in my

_____y as in bunny

In sum, long vowel sounds include a_e, e_e, i_e, o_e, u_e, ee, ea, ai, _ay, oa, ow, igh, _y, ____y.