The Magic of Vowels

As children progress through the grades, we expect them to master the sounds of the 21 consonants, the long and short sounds of the five vowels, as well as the many different vowel combinations. What is amazing is that most youngsters do eventually achieve mastery. However, it is a matter of good teaching that we make their journey as painless and as enjoyable as possible.

 

It is the visual imagery of words that offers the greatest prospect for advancing reading, writing, and speaking vocabularies. The Magic of Vowels program was designed to promote the development of this important word visualization consciousness.

 

The program consists of word puzzles that show the consonants in a word but leave blank spaces for the vowels. Students are challenged to visualize the full word and insert the appropriate vowel(s). For example, ch_n invites the student to insert an i to complete the word chin. Puzzle exercises are organized on a simple to slightly more complex continuum.

 

Try Magic one-on-one or in teams. It is easily adapted to a games approach. 1st to 4th grade reading level.