Long A
Background Information & Activities

© 1999-2012 BrainPOP. All rights reserved.

Before beginning this topic, we highly recommend screening the Short Vowels and the Silent E movies for review. This movie will introduce the long a sound and common ways it can be spelled. We recommend watching the movie with the closed captioning on so children can further develop their word and sound recognition skills and build phonemic awareness.

Remind children that the vowels a, e, i, o, and u can be pronounced with a short or long sound. Review short vowel sounds together and come up with a word that uses each sound, such as mat, let, bit, rot, and cut. Then review the long vowel sounds and come up with a word that uses each sound, such as hate, feed, kite, boat, and cute. Then compare the words mat and mate. How are they alike? How are they different? Remind children that when a word ends in a silent e, the vowel becomes long (or says its name). Explore other words that use the long a with a silent e, such as date, mane, frame, pane, share, case, and bare. Note that there are some exceptions to this rule, including the word have. You may want children to spell each word and draw an illustration for it.

Write the word chair on the board. Review with children that together the vowels ai make the long a sound. Together, brainstorm words that have ai, such as hair, pail, mail, paint, saint, and chain. Encourage children to use rhyming strategies to help them come up with words. Some children will recognize that ai often comes in the middle of the word. Challenge them to come up with a word where ai is in the beginning, such as aim or aid.

Show the month of May on a calendar and invite children to read the name of the month. Explain that together the vowels ay make a long a sound. Brainstorm 'ay' words together, such as bay, lay, day, say, and ray. Some children will recognize that ay often comes at the end of the word.

Brainstorm other words with a long a sound, such as paper, bagel, and radio. The general rule is that when a word has more than one vowel and the first vowel is an a, it is long. There are many exceptions to this rule, however, so beginning readers should pronounce words in different ways to figure out which pronunciation sounds correct. Write the words acorn and angel on the board and have children read them out loud. Explain that when an a is at the beginning of a word, it might have a long sound. Brainstorm other words that follow this rule, such as apron and April. Remind children that when they encounter a new word, they should try pronouncing it in different ways. Encourage them to keep a notebook of new words and inspire them to read and write every day to help them develop their skills.

See more lesson plans and resources: BrainPOP Educators.

Long A Teacher Activities

© 1999-2012 BrainPOP. All rights reserved.

The Long and the Short of It

Come up with a word with a short a sound and add a silent e to make a new word with a long a sound. For example, write the word cap on the board. Then have a student volunteer add a silent e. What does the word become? Have students sound it out all together. Repeat the activity again, using words such as tap/tape, car/care, mat/mate, or rat/rate. Have students write the words down in their notebooks and make illustrations to go along with the words.

Ran in the Rain

Have students turn words that have a short a sound into words that have a long a sound. Use magnetic letters, letter tiles, or have small groups write individual letters on sticky notes and use them to spell a word and then rearrange, add, or take away letters to create new words. For example, you can start with the word "ran," which has a short a sound, and add an i to get rain, which has a long vowel sound. The word pan can be turned into pain or pane. You can add multiple letters to form paint. Encourage students to be creative as they add and/or take away letters to form new words.

Long A Family Activities

© 1999-2012 BrainPOP. All rights reserved.

Long A All the Way

Give your child sticky notes and have him or her label things in your home that feature the long a sound. You can sound the word out together and help your child spell the word. Then, as a twist on the activity, give your child a sticky note labeled with an item. Have him or her read the word and then find the item in your home. You may want to use words such as drain, strainer, frame, paper, apron, or pane.

A Poem

Write a poem together that uses words with the long a sound. You may want to watch the Rhyming Words movie for review. Have your child write the poem and read it aloud to friends and family members. He or she can act out the poem or create illustrations that go along with the words. He or she may want to create a rebus poem. For more information on rebus poems, you can watch the Poems movie. You can even set the poem to music to create a song!