I introduced the concept of long vowels to Jade today. Leapfrog’s Code Word Caper DVD is a great help with this. It teaches that when two vowels walk together, the first one says its name and the second vowel doesn’t say anything. It teaches silent e in the same manner. As an added bonus, it teaches a few digraphs as well. Having an educational video around keeps Jade contentedly learning while I am helping Ian with his language or math.
One way I helped Ian to learn long vowel sounds was by helping him tell the difference between a word with a silent e and without one. So I made little cards with words on them like cape, Jane, and cane. I cut them out individually and folded the silent e’s under. We went back and forth reading can, cane, can, cane. This enabled him to see that the words were alike in all respects with the exception of the silent e. Jade and I tried the game this morning, and she liked it!
Full Circle Homeschooling 