Phonics : The long vowel sound /a/

A long vowel sound is the one that says its name.

E.g.

/a/ as in cake
/e/ as in elect
/i/ as in bike
/o/ as in note
/u/ as in cute

A long vowel is denoted by a diacritical mark called a macron (¯), which is a line above the vowel.

A vowel sound is long usually under these conditions:

1) When a vowel is placed at the end of a small word or syllable, it usually says its long sound, as in 'no' and 'me'( with exceptions e,g word 'to').

2) When a word contains two vowels, the first vowel is usually long, and the second vowel is usually silent. e.g., bake.

3) When two vowels sit next to each other in a word, the first one vowel makes a long sound and the second vowel is silent, e.g coal.

The long vowel /a/ words used in today's story are :

bake, cake, clay, shape, date, plate, tray, play, rain, pray, say, way, maze, train, gay, and day.

Sample word 'Cake'

Following our regular study pattern, write the word on 'cake' on a card. As you slide your fingers from the letter 'c' to the letter 'a', lay stress on the long vowel sound of /a/. Then complete the word using the other letters.

Story for the long vowel sound /a/:

The Cake, Rain and Train.



I bake a cake.
It is made of clay.



I give it a nice shape.
In it, I put some dates.



I put it on a plate.
I take plate and put it on the tray.



I go to play.
But it rains!



I pray and say, "go go rain, no no rain.
I am on my way to play with the maze,
I play with the train,
I have a day."

Take care.